By By Mary Ellen Mitchell, Lydia’s House co-director December 2019 Dear Friends, As I reflect on the last year, first I’m grateful for the opportunity to be in leadership here at Lydia’s House and to have my work and family so integrated in this experiment in shared life and community. Our children are better for it; our days are more meaningful. As such, perhaps the piece of life that stood out most boldly for the Mitchell-Eilerman contingent of this operation was this operation, with Lydia’s House taking a new role in our family as the employer of both me and Ben
Lydia’s House Saint of the Year!
We celebrated All Saints this past weekend in typical Lydia’s House fashion— with a “saint parade”, music, and of course Chinese food. We enjoyed creative liturgy based on the many saints that form our life at Lydia’s House. Children and adults alike had the opportunity to dress up as these saints in costume! The Feast of All Saints, or “All Saints Day”, is a holy day recognized by many Christian denominations. This festival, celebrated each year on November 1st, cherishes the lives of all the saints that have come before us and will go after us. A Lydia’s House All
A Lydia’s House Guest Story
Below is the story of a former Lydia’s House guest. Her story was shared at this year’s Women for Women event in September, where her story was portrayed by a Cincinnati Shakespeare Company actress. You can read it below if you happened to miss the event. Thank you, Lakeitia, for opening your heart so graciously to tell your story. My name is Lakeitia, and this spring, living at Lydia’s House helped me bring my family — and myself — back together. My life shattered four years ago, February 23, 2015, when my mom passed. My whole life, it was just
A Day in the Life at Lydia’s House
Every day at Lydia’s House is one of a kind. One of the pivotal rituals in our life together is our celebrations. We celebrate in copious amounts; we celebrate birthdays, moves, achievements, graduations, and milestones. Sometimes there might be several celebrations in one week! Here is how a particularly eventful evening at Lydia’s House might go. After coming home from our long days of work, running errands, school, and daycare, we gather to share our nightly community dinner. One of our lovely volunteers, called “meal angels”, prepares us all a delicious meal. We set the table with napkin rings that
Thank You for Supporting Women for Women 2019!
This year’s Women for Women event was (in our opinion) the best yet! The weather was absolutely perfect—thanks be to God! Thanks to the generosity of those who have taken part in the Women for Women 2019 campaign, Lydia’s House has raised $52,000 towards our goal of $50,000 to support the installation of solar panels on our office and apartment buildings. The evening featured chillingly beautiful performances from Muse Women’s Choir. Zenzi Mda from Cincinnati Shakespeare Company portrayed the story of our beloved former guest, Lakeitia . Maria Krzeski hosted the event at her fabulous home and even preached a
