Posts Tagged ‘Family’

Winter Family Fun Day 2018

Well that was fun!  Each winter and summer we host a family fun day to highlight all the good stuff the Bethany Birches program has to offer.  This winter we will host 5 weekends of winter camp for grades 3-11.  Find your session here: bethanybirches.org/winter

About 80 folks enjoyed winter family fun day this year.  The youngest in attendance appeared to be less than a year old and the oldest seemed to be nearing 80.  That’s what we like to see!

As the founder of our back country ski program I enjoyed leading that very much.  We had some skiers who never skied before and a couple who were seasoned.

Of course there was lots of tubing!  Due to the recent snow the run was a little slower the first half of the day.  Waxing the tubes helped.  Big thanks to neighbor Bob Lambert who faithfully drove the truck and trailer all day so people didn’t have to walk the steep 1/4 mile hill after each run.

Lunch was great!  Thanks to Wonder Woman, Batman, Wendy, and Joanne for making great food and lots of it.  I’m still wanting those brownies.

On top of the skiing, tubing and lunch we roasted marshmallows, painted snow, had an epic broom ball tournament in which there were 5 overtimes, knitted, played carpet ball, gaga and 9square among other things (including a very artistic drawing pictured here).  Thanks to all of you who came out for the fun and I hope to see you up here for a winter camp!

Love,

Brandon “Tuna” Bergey

Thankful For The BBC Family

Greetings friends. Some of you are single. Some of you have six children.  Some of you are newly married or recently divorced. Whatever your status with respect to your family, know that we are glad you’re part of the Bethany Birches family.  The BBC family is one that you can choose to be a part of and we’re glad you have chosen to join this family and we look forward to the next time we’re together. Until then, have some grace with your biological and other chosen families.  I believe many of our societies problems could be solved through united and loving families.

Reflecting on this recent election I realized that there are a whole bunch of folks in my American family whom I don’t understand.  And I would like to understand them.  Not to prove them wrong or to change their minds, but to connect and deepen my own understanding.  This is a key to learning to love my neighbor. Or my brother/mom/uncle/aunt.

So why not use this Thanksgiving day as an opportunity to both enjoy your family and friends and to get to know someone a little deeper. Ask a question about his life. If she supports a political or religious perspective that you don’t understand (or even hate) why not ask her about it?  How will his chosen candidate solve a problem that exists?  Don’t react against what you see as off-base but rather listen deeply and thank your brother/sister/grandparent for sharing vulnerably.  Consider sharing vulnerably yourself. I believe that everyone’s perspective and actions make sense given their unique inputs.

Here’s to courage and patience enough to love our families: Cheers.

Brandon “Tuna” Bergey