A Wanderer Returns

I waltzed into A Crafty Coffee this morning a little later than usual, but still before 9.30 and the place was already buzzing with craft and conversation! As I stood at the bar, a bumped into Mr Sparkles, a very good friend, and decided to sit with him so that he would feel less intimidated by the massive group of female crafters taking over the Lounge.

Sadly, Coffee has been taken into hospital, I have mentioned on here previously that she has been very unwell but things have reached new depths. Mr Sparkles was a great encouragement to talk to about this as he has first hand experience with the same illness. I am planning on making a visit to see Coffee tomorrow, all things being equal.

So, as Mr Sparkles and myself sat and enjoyed a cuppa or two, a wanderer returned! We were very pleased to welcome back DH who had to leave us owing to work commitments. She returned with a very pretty shawl she is working on, and she told us all about her job, and the interview she was having this afternoon for a new one. I was able to share with her the 'rumblings' about a crafting day and she was very happy to be a tutor for the day!

DH and myself retired to the coffee table area where there is more light. I took a quick look around and chatted to a new lady while I was on my way. I saw about 20 people again, some faces I know very well by now, but others less so. CP was tickled when I went over to sit with her and SD. She said, 'I love the way you circulate to speak to everyone, like a bride at a wedding'. I suppose I feel that since Coffee and myself 'founded' the group, I need to make sure everyone is welcome and happy and feels comfortable. It's silly really because the group would take care of itself very well without me.

So, after last week when PT and myself chatted with SD about her ME and what she would most like prayer for, I felt I should follow that up. Interestingly, S decided she would most like not to be in pain, and to have the energy to function without crashing out. I asked her how she'd been ... to which she was delighted to reply that she has had a week free of painkillers and that she has done more in the past week than she has done in ages but has not felt wiped out. I very quietly said, 'wow, what an answer to prayer'. Her friend said, 'it was all the laughter' to which I replied that laughter is a great healer but SD said, 'AND the prayer'. I feel so encouraged to offer to pray with or for people irrespective of their faith background as a result of this.

Anyway, onto more crafty matters ... two interesting things came out of this morning. Both IW and KB want to be tutors on our crafty day and KB and myself discussed having a spiritual/emotional crafting day whereby we endeavour to visually represent feelings/thoughts etc. The second VERY interesting chat was at the very end. I was intorduced to a lovely lady who wants to set up a craft based therapy group for people with mental health problems and also to have ameans for those people to be able to sell their work. I insisted that we have a conversation about it because many of our number have mental health/emotional/physical health problems and because I am aware of a group of people who want to have a premises on our High Street selling local crafts, fairtrade goods and food/drink. As we sat and chatted it became apparent that there were ways in which our groups could all overlap. How jolly exciting. WHAT NEXT?