Nashville- Children/Health

"Considered a weed, thistle grows on the streets and alley's where the women of Thistle Farms walked. Thistles have a deep tap root that shoot through concrete and survive drought. And in spite of their prickly appearance, their royal soft purple center makes the thistle a mysterious and gorgeous flower. " At Thistle Farms, harvesting thistles is a way of walking in the world and choosing to love the parts of creation that others have forgotten or condemned."

This morning NashVegas had the chance to sit in and learn about the women of Thistle Farms.  To most of us, sleeping securely at night in a comfy bed is something we all have taken for granted. For these women the privilege of pillows, a comfy bed and the security of knowing they will be safe is a luxury. As each woman told their story our hearts and eyes wept for the sorrow and struggle they had been through to get to where they are today. The simplicity of a birthday or the terror of a stolen car has been lost in these women's inspirational pasts toward surviving addiction and sexual abuse. After our time in the circle we began scraping wooden boards that will be used in their new café where the women will find additional work. Thistle Farms provides any women with a job, through the organization, when they decide they are ready and secure enough to help others.

At Thistle Farms the women spend their days making products like body butter, lip balm, candles and essential oils in order to make a profit to keep the organization up and running.  These products are made from all natural ingredients and are all hand - made. The most used ingredient we found they use, is love.  While sorting inventory and labeling products the women were able to share with us their journey to thistle farms and remind us how thankful we all our for the lives we have been given. Our largest take away point was the gift these women have given to us. Everyone has story to tell and because of the moments we shared with them, they will now be a part of ours.

After a long heartfelt day at Thistle Farms we headed to Kindred Spirits, a therapeutic riding center. Each of us broke into several smaller groups to work around the farm on a variety of tasks such as: scooping poop, grooming horses, cleaning the chicken coop, playing with the animals, and weed whacking the grass within the fence lines. We learned a lot about the founder, Alicia, who started her dream at fifteen and then at twenty-five, with the help of her parents, has made it all come true! Some of our group was trained on how to assist with the lessons and will be returning bright and early tomorrow morning!

Sad to be going home, we decided on an Italian dinner cooked by all the boys in our group. We had Caesar salad, fettuccini, spaghetti, and garlic bread. All hyped up on full stomachs we gathered for our reflection and are ending the night with 007's Skyfall.