By By Mary Ellen Mitchell, Lydia’s House co-director At 2pm on Christmas Eve I started gathering vases and table cloths to head to Lydia’s House because we were hosting “songs and stories” and an Italian dinner by candlelight, an event Meridith and I concocted to try and make things more festive at a homeless shelter. I typically hate Christmas, but the guests at Lydia’s House take it to a whole new level, often fighting, drinking or withering in honor of the birth of our Savior. As such, we thought it might be nice to give them something, besides sadness, to focus
Beating the Winter Blues
We’ve had some very welcome sunny days lately but January and February were brutal in Cincinnati. Living in a shelter with children can be especially rough. We tried to do a lot this winter to make life more bearable including An after Christmas pool partyA random Friday night bowling partyA Galentines extravaganza Interspersed with these big events we also were thrilled and excited to welcome a baby in a (surprise) home birth, keep on keeping on with our weekly Wednesday night family programs, attend the New York Encounter, complete level 1 Catechesis of the Good Shepherd training, share a couple
Merry Christmas!
The holiday season is upon us, and Lydia’s House has been getting into the Christmas spirit. Throughout this month, we have been doing lots of festive activities to fit the season. Our month started with having Breakfast with Santa! Our families enjoyed a pancake breakfast, made crafts, sang Christmas carols, and of course, took a few pictures with Santa Claus. We want to give a special thanks to the Ladies of the Moose (Lodge 301) for putting this event on for us! As many of you may know, December 6th is St. Nick’s Day. St. Nicholas is the patron
A Visit to the Hof
By Mary Ellen Mitchell When we were 24 (in 2005), Meridith and I took a trip up the east coast to visit intentional Christian communities and imagine what our futures might be. Our last stop was the Bruderhof, which Meridith described as “kind of Amish, kind of Catholic worker.” We stayed with a family, worked in the laundry, and saw their peace barn. Years passed, Lydia’s House was born, and we looked to lots of places to get help and inspiration for this work. In 2019 Bethany Kurtz came to us, as she was leaving the Bruderhof, having discerned that
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!
