April 14, 2025
Susan Hoover
Dear family and friends,
Greetings once again! It's been awhile. Meanwhile, the Lord's mercies are new every morning, and every day we have much to rejoice about and praise Him for. "Commit your way unto the Lord; trust Him, and He will bring it to pass." Psalm 37:5. Think of it. All those things we tend to worry about. The "what-ifs", the cares and problems of life that surround us and at times can threaten to overwhelm us. Commit them to the Lord! He'll nicely take care of everything. It may not always be what we want, but His plans are always good, His ways higher than ours. We may trust Him completely.
Today we are seeing the sun
again. Seeing sunshine is worthy of note, because for the last
week or more, we have had many, many grey and dark days. With or
without rain, the sky has been whitish or grey and we have had
little sunshine. It seemed spring had come, but it has kind of
retreated again. It's been cold too. Last week we had several
nights with sub-freezing temperatures. But things are already
very green, and blooming. The white blossoms on the ornamental
pear tree in our back yard, are coming down now to make way for
the leaves of summer. When the breeze blows, the white blossoms
coming down create a beautiful scene, it actually looks like it
is snowing at times. The daffodils are kind of hanging their
heads a bit sadly now since the frost last week, but I think
they were about ready to be finished anyway.
One morning last week Peter and I took a drive to Emmitsburg, Maryland, to see the white blooming trees lining Main Street. We had seen them the week before, on our way home from Lancaster, but Peter would have liked to go back and take pictures. So we did, but we were too late. The blossoms were gone already and all the trees were green! We decided it's okay, at least we saw them and we can remember what they looked like. It was a nice drive nevertheless on one of the rare sunny mornings we've had. Emmitsburg is about 20 or 25 minutes from here.
I have a very important
announcement to make today! Our daughter Maria and her husband,
Andrew Russell, were blessed with a baby daughter yesterday
morning, April 13. On Palm Sunday! How special! She weighed 6 lb
6 oz, and they named her Abigail Marie. We've gotten several
pictures -- of course she looks very sweet. Pure and innocent!
Fresh from the hand of God. This is their first child.
This makes 14 grandchildren for Peter and me. Seven boys, and seven girls! I think that's pretty neat.
We've been busy with various things, in preparation for our departure for Paraguay. Sorting through stuff is always a big job! I have done a few small sewing jobs, mostly adjustments and such. I still have one more such job that I want to finish.
Yesterday Peter and I attended the morning service at Chambersburg Mennonite Church. The message was about the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Afterwards we met quite a number of people, including some that we knew! Lydia Hostetler was one. We knew her years ago, when we lived at Shippensburg.
After the service, we drove a bit farther and toured the Pinola area, where we used to live, about 25 years ago. Many things have changed, but some things are still familiar. We saw the two houses that we have lived in, plus a number of other familiar sites. Came home for a slightly late lunch.
After a rest time I made popcorn, then after the bowl was empty we drove to Renfrew park and took a walk. Walking along the trail to the new mill, and back again to the parking lot, is very close to a mile! We enjoyed the stroll. It was partially cloudy, but it was warmer than it has often been during the last week. Good fresh air and exercise.
We look forward to Chris
and Maria and their family visiting us yet this month -- we are
so glad they are planning that! They also plan to visit some
more people in PA on the same trip. Maria has a number of
cousins, aunts and uncles living in the Lancaster/Ephrata area.
On Saturday, we enjoyed having some young folks in to have lunch with us. Lyte and Ruth Shell, Rebecca Menning, and Grace Lamont came for a visit. Was great to see them all again! It happened to be Lyte's 20th birthday, so that was special too. Tim and Naomi Shell and their youngest son, Truth, are currently serving in South Korea. We miss their presence here in Pennsylvania but wish them the best of God's blessings where they are. They also plan to spend time in Mongolia, where they have lived earlier.
Blessings on your week!
Because of Jesus,
Susan for the Hoovers