Byers Peak

Monday, December 12, 2011

Newsletter

We have had some issues with our printer and haven't been able to get a copy of the newsletter out to everyone on our list. So temporarily I am posting it here - sans pictures however as I can't figure out how to post it "proper like" the way we designed it! :)


2 Corinthians 12:9

“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

This verse was recently highlighted in a sermon at our church and in sharing our life with you it is fitting that I pass it on. Being self-sufficient is something that comes quite natural. Hold on, let me put that another way – the personal expectation that I am to be self-sufficient comes quite natural! What an amazing and encouraging aspect of our gospel that Christ does not ‘save us’ and point us in the right direction with some helpful instruction. But that He is continually saving us – indeed completing us! Are we aware that we are made to live with nothing less than the power of Christ resting on us? Am I aware that I am made to live with nothing less than the power of Christ resting on me? How often does the power of Christ live through me? Is He the one who is my strength – or am I ‘doing the best I can?’ As Jen and I share our life with you, our hope is that you see more than us; hopefully you will see Christ at work and be drawn to worship Him. What these letters often do not contain is daily blunders! We can assure you, if good comes from our lives – it comes from Christ and Christ alone. Please join us in giving Him praise!

Ministry Update – From Reid

Hello from Snowy Colorado!! We saw something recently we’ve never seen before: snow on trees that still had their leaves! 108 days after our last snow fall, large flakes descended and coated the ground on October 6th!

But snow is not all that has descended on our campus! During these 108 days, God richly blessed our Summer Guest Ministry as several youth groups, some as far away as Minnesota and Illinois, joined us for weeks of Bible Study, personal devotional times, on campus games (including basketball, volleyball, disc golf, climbing wall), off campus camping, hiking, and mountain biking, and area ministry projects!

Also descending upon our campus – this year’s Bible School students! September 7th, 34 students joined our community.

This fall, after having the spring to adjust to new surroundings, relationships, and responsibilities, Jen and I are blessed to have more active roles in the Bible School! We both lead covenant groups – small discipleship groups that meet once a week; we also host a ‘family group’ consisting of our two covenant groups that meets for breakfast a couple of times each month; and I teach a class series entitled “Preparing your Heart for God” - which focuses on our relationship with God and keeping the channels of communication with Him strong and clear. In addition, I lead a group of students to Denver a couple of times each month to volunteer in the ministries of the Denver Rescue Mission.

What an incredible blessing it has been to be involved with the students in these ways! Our Lord has sent an incredible bunch of young people our way who have strong hearts to know, love, and follow Him. We could not be more thankful over the opportunity to join them in their journeys!

We are also excited to update you on some of the business developments. My predecessor, Christine Miller had done a fantastic job of setting up a strong accounting system that I continued to follow and for the first time in the ministry’s history we finished our fiscal year without relying on outside financing! We also have been addressing some long standing building needs and it has been awesome to watch our Lord faithfully meet the needs for these projects!

Home Life – From Jen

One of our favorite discoveries has been all the wildflowers that pop up everywhere in the summer time! From the columbines (the state flower) to daisies, wild roses, lupines, paint brushes, etc. - I think God makes up for the harsh winters here by surrounding us with His glory and creativity! Fall also has been incredible with aspen trees ablaze in bright yellows and oranges! It seems the scenery here changes with every week.

We want to extend a huge Thank You! to several loved ones who are helping us with Ian’s education!! Ian started his 6th grade year at Winter Park Christian School which is a classical K-12 school located in our church. He is enjoying it tremendously! So much so, that he was disappointed when school was cancelled because of a holiday!

Julie-Joy and Jenna are attending Classical Conversations again. Working with several ladies in the county, we were able to start up a new chapter this semester! This consists of leading morning and afternoon tutoring sessions once a week.

One of the joys this summer was the many friends and family members who came to visit!

It was awesome having Reid’s grandmother, the Brunck Family from Rehoboth Baptist Church, our home church in NC, Reid’s sister and family, Reid’s Mom, Reid’s Dad and step Mom, as well as my sister Julie (recently returned from Africa) and my parents! While we had a lot of activity in our home, we enjoyed every minute of it and were reminded again of how blessed we are by our loved ones and their constant prayers and support for the things God has called us to do.

Prayer Requests

We cannot tell you what your prayers mean to us! The other day, I received an email from a precious friend who said that the Lord had been laying our family on her heart all weekend and she had been regularly lifting us up in prayer. I had been particularly discouraged and yet really sensed the Lord’s presence and comfort. Thank you so very much for your prayers as God lays us on your hearts. Here are some specific requests:

- Christ empowered creativity and energy for Reid and Jen’s ministry opportunities.

- Wisdom in raising our children to be all Christ desires for them to be.

- The sale of our home in South Carolina and continued housing provisions here.

- Our need for monthly financial support will increase this January. Last January, we were blessed by families who gave to help us get started. Many of those gifts we spread out over this year to supplement monthly support.

Please let us hear from you. We are in a stage where we are missing our family and friends from home and enjoy hearing from you all as it helps us to feel connected.

With Love,

Friday, December 2, 2011















I am not a photographer....I wish I were! :) But I shall have to leave that to people more creative than myself...and with better equipment...in the mean time, here are a few snapshots of our life recently. Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree! :) More about that later... The girls have been learning about the human body at Classical Conversations and as a part of our morning program we made these replicas of where the different organs go and what they look like! :) It really was a lot of fun! :)





















































Some pictures from the amazing sunrise we saw the other morning - and yes, that bird feeder is frozen! :) Should have taken it down! :)








































And last but not least, here are some pictures (in backwards order) of our Thanksgiving Day afternoon outing up the road to get a Christmas Tree in the woods. If you get one that way, you should be aware that you won't find a perfect tree! :) Those only grow on Christmas tree farms. But ours ended up looking half way cute once decorated....























































The quote here should be "we were restless so Mom sent us outside to play" :) Leaving you with these and our "snowman" - Bob..... ;)









Friday, November 18, 2011

In Pictures







Here is a picture of what has been going on at our house lately. The other day we had a little girl tea party. No particular reason - it was just a good day for one! :)














































We had a moose come through the yard the other evening...while very dangerous, they are also extremely graceful animals!










































A Thrift Store Find/Surprise from Reid. I saw this set at the thrift store - and while I certainly do not need another teapot, I just loved the color and shape. The price was sweet as well, but I decided we needed milk more than I wanted another teapot. I headed to the grocery store and came back to the truck to find that Reid had run back to the Thrift store and gotten the set. He speaks my love-language and I am so thankful for him! So - well, that's all in pictures for now. :)






Friday, November 11, 2011

November at the Dales

Oh dear - it has been over month....that's not good. So one brief up date at least. Today is Veterans day...I have a grandfather, 3 uncles, a cousin and countless extended family that have or are serving in the military at this point in time and am very thankful for them. Today is also St. Martin's Day in German. Legend has it that Martin, a Roman soldier, cut his cloak in half to share with a poor man freezing to death in the snow. Today Protestants and Catholics and non-religious people alike will let their little ones make lanterns and follow a procession through town at dusk/night and eat pretzels at bonfires etc. to commemorate the thoughtfulness of St. Martin. We've made lanterns ourselves as I'm trying to bring in a few little German traditions into our family life. We plan to walk up the road a little ways when it gets dark.

Other than that things are quiet around here for the most part. The Torchbearer Americas conference is at Timberline this weekend with directors and delegates from all 6 centers on this side of the globe - His Hill, Portantorchas, Ravencrest, Capernwray Harbour, Capernwray Quebec and Timberline of course. We're looking forward to getting to know some of the extended Torchbearer Family over the weekend.

The kids have been sick with various viruses and colds so these last few days have felt a little confining, though we're so thankful we at least have room to spread out right now and are so grateful for God's continuing provision for us to be able to stay in this home at this time. We're enjoying getting to know some people in the community through our Thursday night small group with other families from church as well as through Classical Conversations. Winter has definitely arrived as once again everything around us is white and our fireplace runs non-stop. Reid and Ian have spent a lot of time chopping wood in preparation for this season.

Just last week we booked our flight to NC/SC for Christmas. Because Reid will be leading a group of students on a missions trip to NY in December we ended up not having as much time as we thought we would have - we will only have a couple of days in each place so our ability to meet up with friends and supporters will be somewhat limited. That being said - you are welcome in our home at any time if you're wanting to enjoy a Colorado winter or summer vacation (both seasons here are wonderful). Signing off for now! :)

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Guess what we woke up to?

I'm sitting here in the living room this Saturday morning, looking out our picture window as it's snowing. Someone said we can expect 5-10inches but I'll be really surprised if we get that much - the snowflakes aren't big enough.

Reid somehow figured it out that it's been right at 100 days since it snowed last.....that means we have snow in some way, shape, or form for 5 out of 7 days. I like to think of it differently! :) I don't go by when it snows but by snow actually covering the ground - it melted in May and I've been told that it doesn't stick until November.... those stats are a little better. Though I'll be honest - the snow this morning is not unwelcome. Reid and I are cold weather people. On the other hand, the summer here really has been amazing - no air conditioning - and there hasn't been a single day when we've needed it either! :)
I was told at the store that there was a pumpkin shortage a few years ago and since then all pumpkin canning companies have gone out of business except for Libby's. That's why they have not stocked the stores with canned pumpkin so far. By this time I would have made my Aunt Kathy's pumpkin bread - and today would be the perfect day - with a cup of tea or chai. I think I shall make cinnamon rolls instead....Papa style! :)


I took this one the other morning - the color was really unusual! I love the blues and yellows up here.



The view of Timberline from our balcony.
That's all for now folks! :)

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Picture Update

So, Reid downloaded a bunch of pictures from his phone and I thought I'd post a quick picture update - since those are worth 1000 words! :) Life isn't usually all "mountain tops" up here - it really is all about walking with God in the nitty-gritty every-day, ordinary day and trusting Him for all things, resting in His grace and mercy every day to get us through. But here are some snapshots of some of the more fun times in recent weeks. Above - we took the family hiking to the weather station on top of Berthoud pass....it is QUITE a hike - but the kids were TROUPERS! I love being above treeline - is is such a beautiful change of scenery.
On the women's retreat we hiked up Sol Vista for the sunrise and some solitude/prayer time - it was the last day for the ski-lift to be open for the summer season so we went back up that afternoon with the family - the aspens are BEAUTIFUL right now and there was this lovely aspen grove right at the top.
Some of our students on kitchen duty! Gotta love the hair nets!
One of the focuses of Timberline is outdoor spiritual training - so much to learn about ourselves and our Creator God when we're outdoors, exploring, learning etc. So one thing the staff did was get the students up at 2:00am to hike Mt. Ida over in the Rocky Mtn. National Forest. Some pictures below at the summit.

Chris and Tina - our "exceptions" as we call them - a married couple that have joined us as students for the year. What a NEAT couple - they are in our family group and Reid and I have really enjoyed having them in our covenant groups and getting to know them better.
Kim - my fellow staff covenant leader - love this young lady! She's a student from last year and a fellow south-Carolinian - and so much fun!
I love this picture of Jessica - also a former student, now in charge of house-cleaning at TL. Our girls especially love these ladies!!
At the top! :)
Reid and Jim took a group of students hiking on their first weekend here.

Another Berthoud Pass hiking picture :)
That's our family almost at the top of Berthoud - Reid ran down the continental divide hiking trail a little ways to take this one.

Some of the Brasher ladies together... Mom, my sister Julie, my aunt and the girls over near Estes Park

Love this picture of Jim (our head cook), Pete (our program director) and Ian! But the rainbow is quite nice! :)
The girls in Denver when Papa and Mama June were visiting.


J-J birthday shopping for Mama in Denver with Daddy.
Ok - I think that's all for now! :)