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
The Cheap Seats
on saying no to plastic surgery and yes to the b team By Mary Ellen Mitchell, Lydia’s House co-director The night before my partial mastectomy we went to my son Sam’s middle school soccer game. He’s playing for our neighborhood, Norwood, instead of his club team because, with the addition of my mid summer breast cancer diagnosis, we just couldn’t manage the transportation and weekend demands of select athletics. Our neighborhood, while rapidly gentrifying, shows few signs of that in its school sports program, so it’s been a bit challenging for Sam to lose and lose again. When we pulled
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
Celebrating 10 Years on October 6
We hope you’ll join us for a house blessing and cookout + a chance to see our new yard, playset, driveway mural, stations of the cross and atrium. It’s a really exciting time at Lydia’s House! RSVP here or email debbie@stlydiashouse.org
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
