"Now What?" in Nashville

As usual I am rarely in one place for very long. I spent a few days last week in Hartwell pulling out my pitiful Spring/Summer wardrobe from my storage bin. Then packing for another trip to Nashville. I am here now having attended an education day at Thistle Farms. I met with them last week to see if they would be interested in partnering with Galeria dos Sonhos. The story kinda goes like this: I went to the Writer's Conference at The Treehouse in Nashville that my friend Paulette was hosting just because I knew I was supposed to and I wanted to do something for myself and this was it. While there I met Wendy who at the words, "Mozambique" and "social business" insisted that I meet the gang at Thistle Farms. I came as soon as I could and after simply attending their Wednesday morning prayer group suddenly found myself at a table with their marketing director, chairman of the board and intern. I thought they were going to tell me their best practices but they wanted to know all about our work at Galeria dos Sonhos. They were really, really impressed with our quality and business model and essentially want to partner with us. It would eventually look like a website where you can buy our goods and hopefully their selling our goods in their retail space. They have a cafe' in Nashville. They are having a huge seminar in October to raise money and awareness about social issues including sex trafficking and want to sell our goods there. We will have a large order to fill and a big order like that is huge for us and could sustain is for a few months, which is wonderful. I also foresee this relationship is a way for the staff in Mozambique to have moral support. Thistle Farms has access to a wide range of doctors, counselors and social workers which our staff would love access to in working with former prostitutes and alcoholics. So the partnership is exactly what we need. I came to attend the education day to take a closer look at the organization, their budget and how they run day to day. I also met others who want to create like models in their cities. I stayed over an extra day to attend the prayer group this morning and loved, loved being around these women. They remind me so much of my strong, resilient Mozambican friends and it feels like home. I had been feeling like I was not doing enough to get the business up and running and getting our goods on shelves, but I also had a feeling that I was to hold out for the perfect partnership and I feel that this is a beautiful start. It has taken time and days just sitting around Nashville. Today I volunteered by making cards in their paper making/stationary department and made a new friend who is also "in between jobs". We swapped stories and renounced lies and encouraged one another and it was so perfect. In between feeling like I need to be doing something grand rather than sitting in a folding chair poking holes in handmade paper God shows up and lets me see that He is in control.