Katherine

We are talking more Spanish these days. A beautiful young girl from Costa Rica has joined our family, recently. Her name is Katherine. She is 19 years old. She is expecting at the beginning of September and needed a place to stay. We gladly opened our home and she's now part of the Hoovers! It's been fun introducing her to all kinds of new foods, such as, Subway and Wendy's. And then there is all the strange foods we make at home. We know she would rather eat rice and beans all the time, but she's taken the changes by stride. By the way, we do eat rice and beans, just not as often as the Costarican's do.

I (Gloria) kind of forgot what it's like to be pregnant! You know with all the emotions, nausea, and hunger petitions! But we've certainly have had fun going shopping and picking out clothes that she can fit into and taking her to her doctor's appointments. By the way, we found out on Friday, she's having a boy! Something new for the Hoover family! It's strange to think we'll have a baby in the house soon!


We ask that you pray for Katherine. She has encountered and continues to encounter some challenges. I can't go into it all, but just ask that you pray. Pray that God supports her, pray for the little boy that's growing inside of her, pray for her parents and extended family, pray that through this, Katherine would just know that God loves her so much.

Easter Activities

I tried to make a angle food cake, but it totally flopped! I was bummed since I was so hungry  for it! :(  I remember my mom telling me that making an angle food cake was tricky, now I know why!
We also made cookies, that DID turn out. :)
Carmelinda, along with her friends decorated eggs. 

My friend, Laura decorating the cake! 

Julissa and Willi

It was fun to see Carmelinda's creativity come out! 

There were many processionals that  went past our house. 

Processional on Easter afternoon. 

The neighbors decorated the street with red and white streams on Easter day. 

Love is the Air

Recently, DeLynn and I have started a dating couples group in our church. We have enjoyed investing in people's lives in this way. God has taught us a lot in our marriage and we want to pass on what we can to these young couples (pictures shown below, except for one couple). This is a small group that will be offered in our church for several weeks, several times a year. We look forward to meeting many new couples and helping them get off to a good start! 

Pete and Paola are a very special couple since we were able to do premarital counseling with them at the end of last year. They are the host couple for our small group. They are expecting their first child at the end of the summer. 

Special couples night that included.....

Romantic Songs!

More romantic songs!

We decided to have a little fun and had a fondue party. For some of the couples it was their  first time ! 

The fondue was a hit! 

One Sunday Morning....

About two weeks ago, DeLynn was talking to one of our neighbors and he found out that we could catch   the train very close to our house and take a ride to San Jose! We had so often heard the train go past our house, but we didn't know where or when it went. So we decided it was time to take an adventure! The train ride itself took 45 minutes, one way. We spent two hours in in San Jose hanging out and then rode the train back home! 

Probably the biggest surprise for us was how much more of the culture we saw and how much more there is  to learn. We saw things such as, beautiful, huge houses (we even saw a castle), we saw several slums that were terribly poor, because it was Sunday, we saw families hanging out together, lots of children, stray dogs, went over some very scary bridges and almost hit someone crossing the railroad tracks! 

All in all, it was incredible, perfect family day!  

We saw a lot of cute children waving at the train. 

Choosing

After meeting with the social worker at the children's services here, and taking two weeks to pray and process what we heard, Yesterday, DeLynn and I started filling out the adoption papers. It asked questions such as: "What ages, minimum, maximum." All kinds of questions about what we would be willing to take as far as emotional status, intellectual status, medical status, whether we would be willing to take a child who's parents were alcoholics, drug addicts etc. and so many more questions.

Carmelinda asked DeLynn and I the other day why we wanted to adopt. We have wanted another child for SO long, but now that the process has started, I guess I take that question more seriously. So the question has stuck with me. I've really thought and prayed about that, asking God to reveal the answer to me. Wanting another child is a good answer but I felt like I needed something deeper than that. Suddenly God spoke to me, "You want to adopt because you want to show someone else the love of God. I certainly don't know everything about the love of God, but I know a little. I want him or her to experience the love of their Heavely Father." Like DeLynn said, after I shared this with him, "It's called discipleship." That's what our family is all about! We are all in this discipleship walk together as a family.

As I've been filling out the paper work, God has given me joy and peace, something I didn't have before in this area. DeLynn and I are both excited and like to talk about it, another thing that hadn't really happened before. We also have a peace about the timing. We don't know when this will happen, but God is good and He knows. I am excited about the priveledge of choosing our child. Something that happened to me 40 + years ago.

I wish mom was here. I'm sure she could identify with me a lot in this experience. There are a whole new set of emotions and feelings in this part of the journey. But I'm SO glad my dad is here to share this experience with us. We ask that you continue to pray for our family and our future child.

T'was the Night Before Christmas by Carmelinda Hoover

T’was the night before Christmas and all through heaven

All the angels where sleeping except for seven

T’was almost Christmas but the houses were quiet

Some were left silent but the others a riot

When they looked down they saw good, old, jolly Saint Nick

But then they realized it was an old cheap trick

They saw kids tossing and turning in their beds

You could tell there were thoughts of Christmas in their heads

They started getting loud and woke up the whole town

They saw an angel come out, he looked like a clown

The lights of the town started going off and on

Then all the angels some looked down and saw a nice fawn

Then they remembered it was almost Christmas day

They remembered the manger in which Jesus lay

The birth of Jesus Christ is very important to them

Why Jesus came as a baby to save all men

After that thought some angels went back to their house

Most angels saw an angel wearing a blue blouse

The angels that stayed up started to sing and sing

The angels sang and then some bells started to ring

They sang beautiful classics like joy to the world

The kids in heaven were having fun and they twirled

"Nobody should be sad or mad on Christmas Eve"

Said the choir director named Mr. Joe Steve

Christmas day was only a few hours away

All the angels stopped singing and started to pray

Out of nowhere graceful snowflakes started to fall

They heard a voice say, "Merry Christmas one and all!"

　

　

　

A Costa Rican Holiday Celebration

One of my favorite things to eat in Costa Rica over the holidays are tamales. This year I decided I wanted to learn how to make them. My friend, Esmeralda from Talamanca, my other friend, Kimi and I, along with our families, decided to have fun making them together. Here is how you make them!

The fire is set. Esmeralda is adding chicken broth, salt to the boiling water.





The pork is cooking.





Our men making sure the fire keeps going and talking about the next soccer championships!



Chop, chop, chop!



Put cilantro and garlic in the blender.

And of course rice!

 

Cutting and cleaning the banana leaves.







Mixing the dough.



It smelled SO good!






Keren and Margarita









Boiling the tamales.





 





Banana/Plantain leaves.



The ingredients; potato, pepper, pork, rice and the dough.



The finished product. Now to eat them!