By Honna Brown, volunteer coordinator, reflects on 2 years at Lydia’s House as she prepares to leave the role. “Wait, don’t leave- please don’t leave!” This might be one of the most squealed phrases from the mouths of the children of Lydia’s House. However, this young friend of mine was more persistent than many others. He draped his small body over the railing, continuing to holler, “Please!” I looked back, smiled, waved and told him I would be back soon. His mother poked her head out the door and told him to come back inside with everyone else. No sooner than
HOLDING ONTO JOY
In September, after already experiencing the dramatic changes Covid-19 brought, we decided we couldn’t just sit around and hope for good times NEXT year… we had to make the last few months of THIS year count…as hard as it is! In mid-October we decided to do an outing. We contacted all former and current guest and scheduled a day trip to Kings Island. Despite the cold weather and apprehension (is an amusement park a good idea?) we made it happen. We made GOOD memories for 2020. All summer Mary Ellen has been in the process of directing construction and volunteers
Introducing the Lydia’s House Atrium
Laura Menze, Lydia’s House Occupational Therapist A year ago on a staff retreat, we spoke of our longing to introduce more robust spiritual practices into the life of Lydia’s House. We brainstormed and let the ideas simmer in our collective consciousness. In our time of waiting and curiosity, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) rose to the surface as a good fit for our community. Mary Ellen Mitchell’s children were part of this formation as young children and she was excited to introduce this to the children of Lydia’s House. Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is a Montessori based religious
Women for Women 2020
Our event will be different this year (like many things). If you’d like to receive prayer materials and pray with us on Mondays in October please send your address to bethany@stlydiashouse.org Tune into Facebook live to join us with this link: https://www.facebook.com/LydiasHouseCincinnati/live/ Watch a short video to learn more about this year’s format, why we chose to gather in this way, and how you can join!
Pandemic Practices
by Meridith Owensby At first glance, the particularities of pandemic life are awful for intentional community. You should not socialize unnecessarily. You should not sing together. You should stay six feet away from one another at all times. Your kids can’t go to school and shouldn’t hang out with other kids. If ever there was an argument to be made against intentional, high-density communal housing, this is it. And yet, I would argue that our community’s existence and practices have served to preserve joy and hope during this pandemic season. In fact, we even found ways to embrace new
