Happy New Year!

Happy almost 2008 to all!

Our Christmas was very good. Tim, Jess, Peter, and Amy all came over on Christmas Eve and we played Trionimo's for a good part of the afternoon. The first game I won and the second game I had to keep drawing more tiles to find one to play. Every tile I drew was -5 points and by the time I finally got the right tile I was at least -165 points. Needless to say the person who won should have been very grateful to me for all the points I gave him!

That evening we had our neighbors over and held a delightful Christmas Eve service in the barn. It was the first time we did it in our barn. The wind whistled through the cracks as we sat on hay bales shivering. Down below us, we could hear the cattle softly mooing once in awhile as we sang Christmas carols and the smell of sweet hay smelled good, although I don't think Joseph and Mary heard a siren and I'm not sure if they heard a peafowl scream like I did, but who knows. :) Daddy had a list of Scriptures for the men to read; Creation and the fall, God's special people and His message to them (the Israelites), Christ's birth, Christ at the cross, us as Gentiles being adopted and grafted into the family of God, and the eternal Kingdom. We also had communion. It was very special. We hurried into the house afterwards and served up cups and cups of hot chocolate with cookies. Yummy.

In our family, we each made a homemade Christmas gift for a family member whose name we had drawn. It was really neat to see what different ones had made. A cheese press, a camp chair, a shirt, a doily and dresser scarf, some wooden tops for turkey crates, and Jonathan made something really neat. He made a wooden bowl out of a chunk of firewood for Becky! After he put mineral oil on it, it brought out the grain so it looks even better. I told him that I would like one next! :)

When we draw names for Christmas the name we drew is a secret. It is so much fun trying to keep the gifts and the person as a surprise. It is fun to try to guess who somebody else has and what their doing. Well, don't ever try to be too nosy with Ben because I walked upstairs and saw something on his door...



It was a poster board sign stuck to the door with a dart. ( No puns about Darts, please;)


"Please Stay out. Survivers will be prosecuted and not receive their presents. Thank you."

So, don't mess around with Ben at Christmas time or you won't get any presents. :)

Have a happy New Year! May the Lord become closer and dearer to you this year.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Dart family!
May the Lord fill you with joy, peace and love. And may He grow closer and dearer to you every day.

While you celebrate your Christmas please pray for Aaron Phillips and his family. On Dec. 12th, Aaron (20) was on his way to work when his truck slipped on the ice, rolled down a bank and hit a tree. He was found shortly after the accident. We are praising the Lord that the tree was there because otherwise he would've rolled further down the bank and no one knows how long it would have taken for him to be found.

About every bone in his head was broken or cracked, including the two bones that are supposed to be "impossible" to break. There is a deep brain bruise that may have affected the left lobe of his brain which might affect his recognition and knowledge of right vs. wrong. He is in the trauma center and is still sedated.

The biggest concern right now is that he needs to wake up so they can evaluate his eye sight and hearing. He has moved his legs and arms in purposeful movement so that is good.

While the doctors are encouraged with the little signs and surgeries, he has an awfully long way to go.

Please keep his family in prayer as this is going to be a very hard Christmas for them.

At www.leah.org/AaronPhillips there are updates about Aaron. There is also a webpage dedicated to Aaron at www.caringbridge.org/visit/aaronphillips.

God bless you this Christmas.

It's Winter!

(The front of an old library)

We have a few inches of snow on the ground and it is about 20 degrees with an east wind that's cold! The snow crunchs delightfully under your feet. Tonight a snow storm is supposed to come through and we might get up to 2 feet of snow.

Yesterday, Jonathan and I went out skiing. We go cross country just as long as it's is a small country. There is a nice hill behind us that gets some really nice snow drifts sometimes. It is a good skiing and sledding hill. It is also fun to go over some of the snow drifts on a snowmobile. :)

Our neighbors have a small pond that is iced over and we are looking forward to skating on it. Winter is fun. The boys like it because they get to plow driveways with the Ford tractor and make big snow banks - not good ones to deposit money in but we like to deposit little kids in it. :)

(Our living room)

Mom and Becky have been busy baking Christmas cookies and the rest of us have been busy taste-testing the dough and finished products. Our favorite thing is when Mom fudges on a couple batches of fudge!

Christmas music has been playing quite regularly. My favorite CD is the "Celtic Christmas". I love the sounds of the different kinds of drums and instruments. I like Christmas songs throughout the year - Christ's birth is just as true and important in the summer as it is in December. Praise the Lord!

Sunsets and Sunrises

Have you ever seen a sunrise like this?

"Unto Thee, O GOD, do we give thanks, unto Thee do we give thanks: for that Thy name is near thy wondrous works declare." Psalms 75:1




"From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD's name be praised." Psalms 113:3

"...stand still and consider the wondrous works of GOD." Job 37:14




"Oh that men would praise the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!" Psalm 107:8

PICTURES!!!!!!

Hey, I have PICTURES!!

Hurray!!

They are pretty big right now, but I am working on perfecting it.

Thanks to God!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a neat Thanksgiving. Peter, Amy, Tim, and Jess were all able to make it for the day. We also had a good friend over also. It was good food, good fellowship, and good fun.

It had rained all the day before and all night and into the morning and turned to snow. Yesterday, there was snow that has covered almost all of the ground and snow flurries in the air and it was cold! Last night, Dad, Mom, and I took some things to a craft show about 45 min. away. On the way home we saw a thermometer in a town that said 18 degrees. BRRRR!

Today, I am going to the craft show to take care of our table. It is a neat country craft show in an old hall. During the sale, there is a piano recital for little kids.

Jonathan has been working this past week at a place near Buffalo hanging christmas lights. The advertisment for the place says, "A million lights in a mile drive!" It sounds like quite a place.

Well, it's only a little bit of a post but that's all for now.

God bless and may the thoughts of THANKSGIVING be carried through to every day.

It's Fall!

"For the beauty of the earth,

For the beauty of the skies,

For the love which from our birth,

Over and around us lies,

Lord of all, to Thee we raise,

This our hymn of grateful praise."

Fall is such a neat season. I love all the changing, vivid colors of the trees, the cooler temperatures, and the light of the fire in the woodstove, and the smell of applesauce simmering away on the cookstove.

Last week, Dad, Mom, Jonathan, Ben and I went up north near Lake Ontario to one of the several big apples orchards and picked apples. We picked about 17 bushels of drops and hope to pick more this week. We like to have about a total of 200 quarts of applesauce each year and this year we are almost out.

Mike, Ben, and I have gone down back several times to get firewood. We also keep an eye out for deer rubs and scrapes. Deer season is getting near and the boys are eager for it. Jonathan has built a couple of tree stands and is trying to figure a good place to put them up. He is also beginning his trapline and caught a possum so far. He is enjoying being done with school very much! :)

The geese are beginning to flock together as they get ready for their flight down south. It's hard to believe that it is time for that again. The other night we got our killing frost finally. Usually we get the frost in September or early October. Jonathan and I slept outside last night. It was only in the 40's so we kept pretty warm. We want to sleep out each month for a year. We started in June, so we'll see how it goes. :)

Have a happy fall!

Our Campout

Last week, we went to our annual homeschool campout at Golden Hill State Park (or Thirty-mile Point as it is on the map). The campground is situated right on Lake Ontario; there is a marina, and a working lighthouse on the grounds. You can actually pay $200 a night to sleep in one of the two apartments in the lighthouse!

Dad and Mom go to the campground in the beginning of the week and come pick us kids up towards the end of the week. This week, they came and picked Jonathan, Ben, Sarah, Paul, and I up on Thursday (23). When we got there, it was really hot and humid. Dad and Mom said that earlier that week it had been really cold and the people who were on the lake front sites were all bundled up in jackets, sweatshirts, and blankets.

On Friday, we all enthusiastically voted to go canoeing. We went down to the marina and set in our canoes and kayak. Ben was very excited to go in the kayak; it's been something he has been looking forward to very much. Sarah and I went in one canoe and Jonathan and Paul went in the other one. The wind was fairly strong out on the lake, but the waves weren't very big. It was so good to be canoeing again! After a while we went back in to see if anybody else wanted to go out. Mr. Torrey did, so he went with Paul and Jonathan took the kayak. While Jonathan was getting in the kayak, Mr. Torrey and Paul left. By the time we got out there, they were pretty far out. After a bit, we caught up with them and told them that we needed to stay closer to shore. The wind carried us back to shore and east of the marina. It was hard trying to turn against the wind. We found out that Mr. Torrey hadn't been in a canoe for years and didn't know how to steer. :) Jonathan tried to give directions, but it just wasn't working. They couldn't turn the canoe forwards, but they could paddle backwards, but not enough to get much headway against wind. :)
Dad told us on the two-way radio to have Sarah and I tie their canoe to ours and haul them back. THAT was a interesting time! :) Sarah and I weren't very experienced in the canoe either, but we had been doing pretty good.
So, we tied the back of our canoe to the back of theirs (note:BIG mistake!:) and started to pull away. We would get going pretty good when Mr. Torrey would pass us and we would be in the back. Then Mr. Torrey and Paul would start paddling for a little ways and get turned around so we would be in the front. Jonathan paddled around us trying to give us instructions but every thing would get messed up. We would sit there and laugh at the lunacy of it all (well, at least a couple of us would:).
Also, Dad had the radio and would call us once in awhile to see how we were doing. The problem was he would call at the most inopportune times.
We weren't that far from the marina but it was hard going against the wind. As you can see, we did get back. :) We all were exhausted though. We had had lots of fun and learned a few lessons on how to work a canoe better and working together.

In the evening, our neighbors came to up to see us at the campground. We had a good time throwing rocks into the lake, telling about our adventures, and eating mountain pies and s'mores. There was a reallly neat display of lightning out on the lake.

My brother Peter and his wife, Amy and Amy's family, the Liptaks, came that night to camp for the weekend.

Saturday, we took lunch over to the marina and went canoing again. :) This time I went in the kayak. It was fun to learn how to use it. It is a whitewater kayak so it is hard to keep it going in a straight line. That afternoon, there were whitecaps on the the lake. That is fun! We didn't go out very far and we were in a protected place. :) We canoed for a few hours.

That afternoon, the Bucks came up. No other homeschooling families were able to make it up and we missed them. We played softball till it was time to eat, then had a good time of fellowship.

Sunday, we had our church service there. Afterwards Peter, Amy and the Liptaks got packed up to leave. Some of us went to play a little volleyball and then we played four-sqaure. We were going to play some more volleyball, but something else came up -- we went canoeing for a couple hours again. :) That time, the lake was very calm, so Mom and Dad went out and canoed up past the lighthouse. We went to bed that night a little sad that it was our last night there.

In the morning, we started to pack up... the worst time of camping! Although, afterwards we went and...went canoeing again, what else! :) Needless to say, we were much better at canoeing then than when we first started. : ) Mr. Torrey did a very good job at steering. :) On a side note, :) it is alot of fun to sneak up behind people and spalsh them with your paddle! :)

There is a pretty big Amish community up in that area, so on the way home, we stopped at the Amish general store. That was fun. They had alot of neat books there. Mostly they were Rod& Staff and Christian Light Publication books.

So, that was our weekend of camping. I am sorry it has taken me so long to post about it.

Harvesting

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are. The olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Smiply amzanig ins't it? So, wahts the use of laerinng how to slepl?!

------------------------------------------------

We have been enjoying our fresh produce from the garden. The other night at supper, our whole meal were things we had homegrown - chicken, peppers, cucumbers, potatoes, and tomatoes. Yummy!
Some of our sweet corn is ready to eat. Daddy likes to soak the corn in its husks and roast it on the grill. Soon, the results of our 700 pounds of seed potatoes will be able to be dug up. A friend, Sarah T. and I got down our vegetable signs and started to repaint them.
Next week, we go on our annual homeschool campout on Lake Ontario. There is a lighthouse on the campground. During the night, the light goes round and round. It is our favorite campground. Hopefully, I can post some pictures of it. :-/

Tomorrow and Friday, we are butchering more chickens. So, until next time, "May the Lord continually bless you with heaven's blessings as well as with human joys."

Love

How often, Lord, our grateful eyes
Have seen what Thou hast done,
How often does Thy love surprise
From dawn to set of sun.

How often has a gracious rain
On Thine inheritance,
When it was weary, wrought again
An inward radiance.

Thou Who upon the heavens dost ride,
What miracle of love
Brings Thee more swiftly to our side
Than even thought can move?

Our love is like a little pool,
Thy love is like the sea,
O beautiful, O wonderful,
How noble Love can be.

by Amy Carmichael

The Reception

Well, here we are again. :) Last Saturday, (July 28th) we had the double reception for Peter and Amy and Tim and Jessica. Two weeks before, Tim came down with the shingles. We thought he would be able to come to the reception but the shingles got worse so he and Jess did not come. :(

All during the week, we kept checking the weather and it predicted up to 70% chance of rain. We had to think of what we would do with our guests if it did rain. So, we cleaned out our 100 ft. long greenhouse in the warm sunshine - emptied it of all the tables, weeded... It looked so nice when we were done. Saturday morning, it sprinkled for a minute and then the sun came out and it was sunny all day long. :)

We had about 110 people for the party. It was so neat to see people that we haven't seen for such a long time. Becky made a beautiful cake with lovely decorations and we had pictures albums out of Tim and Jess' wedding and of Peter and Amy's. We also played the DVDs of the weddings playing.

It was alot of fun. But we didn't get to play much volleyball. :) (I love volleyball!)

Tomorrow, we and our neighbors are going to butcher about 115 chickens. It will take us all day long. The most chickens we have butchered is 106 in one day. It is so much fun getting together with other families to butcher.

One note: It is supposed to be in the 90's tomorrow. Praise the Lord we have an air conditioner. :) A couple good batches of homemade ice cream with homemade fudge sauce are in order. : )

So, until next time, keep cool and God bless.

A New Post

Joys come from simple and natural things:

snow on the trees, sunlight on the water...

Sigurd F. Olson (modified by Abby Dart)

Sorry I haven't posted for so long. I am having trouble uploading pictures. First it was Peter and Amy's wedding pictures, and now it is any pictures. I hope I can get it figured out soon. Have a good day. :)

Banding Geese

On June 28th and July 3rd some of us went with Dad to where he works and volunteered to help band geese with the naturalist, Sonny.

These pictures are from both days.

Sonny and the assistant naturalist, Denise, had scouted around to find a couple good groups of geese and then kept an eye on them to see what their feeding pattern was.


The geese cornered.

They try to band geese now because they are going through a moult and can't fly and the goslings usually haven't developed their wing feathers yet or don't know how to fly yet.

We would try to catch the geese when they were in a pond. We had from 13-20 people helping. If the geese were next to the pond, we would spread out and try to push them into the pond so they would group together in a tight group. The canoes would push them onto the dike where we would close up on them and chase them into a pen that had been put up earlier.


Setting up the pen.



Caught!!



Sonny showing Dad how far to spread the bands to fit on the leg of a goose.

A couple people got into the pen and handed them out to others who held them, then handed them to Denise and Sonny who sexed, aged, and banded them.



L-R: Dayne (he is staying with us for the summer), Emily and her sister Hillary (our neighbors), kneeling down is Denise, and other helpers from the DEC.




Sarah (a friend). Hold on!!

My job was note keeper. I had a page where I would write down where the banding location was, the date, what we were banding -- CaGo, for Canada Geese, age which would be HY-Hatch Year, or AHY-After Hatch Year for the adults. The band number also, for instance 9548-82243. If we caught a retrap that had been already banded, they would read off the band number to me and sometimes there was a reward number on it ex. 25478. The reward bands helped encourage people to return the bands so the DEC could track the patterns of the geese. The quota for the northern part of Region 8 where we are, was 150 new geese banded. We got over 200 counting retraps also.




Hillary and I.

Occasionally there would be a goose that was a little mad and would bite, but they weren't too bad.



Brother Ben waiting.




Another group picture.

When the geese were in the pond, sometimes they would stretch their necks straight out on the water and swim around. It looked so funny. They will do that in the weeds so predators can't find them as well, but in the water.... it doesn't help. :)


Sonny and I looking over the records.



That's all for now. Look forward to a post on Peter and Amy's wedding July 7th, soon.

Independence Day

Happy Fourth of July!

Thank you, Lord, for the godly leaders who began our country.

May we remember to pray for our country and our leaders each and every day.

God Bless Us, Everyone!

Our Dogs

Someone asked me to post some pictures of our dogs :), so here are a collection of our two dogs, Randy (Ben's dog) and Fritz (Becky's dog). Both dogs we got at the pound and they are mixes. Randy, I think has some Australian shepherd in him and Fritz has some Great Pyrenees in him.



Randy is a good farm dog. He loves to be with people and to ride on the wagons and the back of the truck. He is a very dainty, dignified dog too (compared to Fritz).







We like to dress Randy up sometimes (poor dog).

"What big eyes you have."

"All the better to see you with, my dear."

Peekaboo!

Fritz on the other hand is a very happy-go-lucky dog. He adores Becky, his servant/master.

His nickname is "Pooh Dog". A "dog of very little brains". :)

In the summer, he loves to lay right in front of the fan hogging all the breeze. In the spring, he loves to gallop right through the mud puddles.

One of the dogs favorite places to lay, at the top of the stairs.

See the treat?

This is a teacher talking to his Sunday School class.

Teacher: If you wanted a toy that Johnny had what commandment would you be breaking?

Sammy: The tenth one -- Thou shalt not covet.

Teacher: Very good. Now if you took a piece of candy from your little brother without asking, what commandment would you be breaking?

Sammy: The eighth one -- Thou shalt not steal.

Teacher: What about if you pulled your dog's tail?

Sammy: Umm. I don't remember what number it was but something like, "What God hath joined together, let no man pull asunder."

Mr. Timothy Dart and his wife, Mrs. Jessica Dart

Hello, everyone! This is Abby. Here are a few pictures of Tim and Jessica's wedding, June 8th. These pictures were taken by Becky and Jonathan. I took hundreds of pictures on Tim's Canon 30D camera but they took his camera with them on their honeymoon so I won't get to see my pictures for two whole weeks!!!

THE BRIDE, JESSICA!!!




Mom Hill, Jessica, and Mom Dart.




Becky was able to make it to the wedding despite the Chronic fatigue!! Thank you to all those who prayed for her. Praise the Lord!!


The new sisters: Becky, Jessica, and Abby.







"Dad, can you help me tie my tie?"




The matron of honor, Laura Herlan and the bride, Jessica.




Peter and Laura Herlan were the ones who got Tim and Jess together.

These beautiful flower bouquets were made by Amy Liptak.

The best man, Peter Herlan, and the groom, Timothy
anxiously awaiting at the front of the church!!




The bride and groom with Pastor Nuijens in prayer.




There are no pictures of the big kiss right now because the memory stick on the camera was full!
You'll have to wait till I get Tim's camera back.

The RINGS!!

Picture Time!!

The beaming, new Mr. and Mrs. Dart.

Dana Reynolds, Jessica, Tim, and Peter.
Dana and Peter were the ushers.




The bride, Jessica, spending a special moment with her mother.




The bride and her father share a hug.




The weather forecast was a slight chance of severe thunderstorms, possibly a little hail, lots of rain, and high winds up to 70 mph, and very hot. At 5:00 pm, it started to sprinkle and thunder out. During the service, it got really windy and started to rain. When everyone was dismissed and went outside for the reception it had cleared up and was comfortable out. The sun actually started to shine and there was a pretty sunset.


The enlarged Dart family!
L to R: Abby, Amy Liptak (Peter's bride-to-be on July 7th),
Peter, Becky, Mom Dart, Jessica, Timothy, Dad Dart,
Jonathan, Mike, and Ben.




The Hill family!
L to R: Josh and his fiancee Lisa, Mom Hill, Jessica, Tim,
Dad Hill, Falon (John's girlfriend), and John.




Amy, Peter, Mike, and Jonathan with big smiles!




Mom's brother Bruce, Karen, with their two sons
Kevin and Brian. We were so glad they could be here.

Tim and Jess went to the Adirondack Mountains for their honeymoon. There will be more pictures when they get back.......

Jonathan's Graduation

Hello! This is Jonathan, and I will be posting here once in awhile. Starting now! These pictures are of my graduation June 2nd, 2007. I don't particularly like my picture taken but I survived. The first is me taken after the ceremony.

The second is while I was receiving the diploma. Looking at it closer, I was giving Mom the rose.

Third is with a very good friend, also named Jonathan. He and I had to goof off to have a good picture.

Just teasing. :-)

I had two friends in the class as well. The first is Simeon. He plans on pursuing electrical engineering and business management.

The second is Stephen. He is not exactly sure what he is going to do. He enjoys music. He learned "The Maple Leaf Rag" off of a player piano.

I almost forgot, I have one more that Becky wanted me to put on here. It is of me sitting with the rest of the class. I am in the middle. The one with the shining face. :-)

There were 106 graduates in the '07 class.

They read our life verse and goals while we were on stage. I picked 1 Kings 2:3. I really like the passage where King David charged his son Solomon. Starting at verse 2 of 1 Kings chapter 2,

" I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man; and keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgements, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself."

My goal is to be a patriarchal leader in my own family and flexible to the Lord's calling.

That is all for now, and until next time this is Jonathan Dart, Lord bless.