August and September in the Bethany House

I bet some people are wondering why I, Erin Murphy, one of the four founders of the house is still around, yet is not listed as a year two housemate. Well I am here to tell you just that 🙂

Being as my VISTA term is a year long and I started in November of 2011, I will be at the house until early November 2012, just about a month from now. I unfortunately was not able to extend my year of service to two years so I will be leaving Trenton at the end of my service so I was not able to stay on for a second year at The Bethany House. I am happy though, that my exit meant that 4 new housemates instead of just 3 were able to come into the house.

Now back to the original reason for this post. I just wanted to catch everyone up on what has been going on, in short, at the house the past 2 -ish months.

Here it is in bullet point form:

• Jamie, Grant and Elizabeth left the house
• Amy signed on for a second year
• No Vespers were held during August to account for vacations and the transitions of the founding residents and new residents
• The new roommates Kamran, Hera, Hannah, and Laura moved in around the middle of August.
• Random bonding happened between the new roommates in the form of official trainings, intentional chats, housemate dinners, food shopping trips and late night discussions.
• The first Official Thursday Vespers  occurred on September 13th, 2012 where they planted  Fall crops in the community garden and bonded.
• The 2012-2013 residents were Commissioned on Sunday September 23rd, 2012 at a commissioning service at Westminster Church.

We look forward to having our house dinners just between us residents on Wednesdays and Vespers weekly on Thursdays.

Be Well.

-Erin