Come get to know me on a deeper level.

It’s hard for me to know where to start an introduction. It’s been especially difficult with this entry being the first of all others to come. I thought the best way to begin is to welcome you to meet my little family. I think it’s very important for people who join our Parfait Mischen family to know the people behind the company. But I’m going to be honest up front, I don’t plan on sharing everything about our lives in this journal. I put a high value on my privacy and both my husband and I are introverts. I also believe that our daughter should have a say on telling her own story when she is old enough. A wonderful book that helped me justify my feelings about social media was “Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World” by Cal Newport. I think there should be a beautiful dance between making an impact and still having a personal life that isn’t constantly spent updating Instagram highlights. This journal, I hope will be a help to families wishing to add a puppy to their family roster or to whoever needs what is shared here. So here we go! Hello, I’m Megan Castillo.

The last two years have been a full blown marathon. It’s not easy running a small business. There are risks, desires you have to put on hold, (the big one) and being mature with your money spending. I’ve read somewhere that when you start your business, don’t plan on making a profit for 5 years. We are going on four years and we’ve found that saying to be accurate. Our big drives to not spending our profits was that we don’t like debt and that we wanted to make sure that we were able to properly provide for the dogs and puppies in our care. Our house set up was based on what our dogs needed. Now our sweet babies have a renovated dog barn that has all the comforts of home with a little extra. I can’t wait to show you their home in another entry! A lot of love and time went into that barn.

Now that a bulk of beginning a business marathon has been completed, (there were a TON of tears along the way as my husband James can attest) we are trying to restore an old normal again. Running a small business turned me into a temporary workaholic because there was something that always needed to be worked on. I couldn’t rest when I did have down time, I found myself pacing and fidgeting. I forgot the basic things that brought me joy. I had to relearn what it was like to be me. God brought me peace and I’ve begun to return to what it was like before we took on this new venture. We are beyond thankful that we were given this blessing of our small business, and the lessons learned in the start up. God also brought us an angel to work for us. Our Sammy is a sweetheart and does my grunt work while I’ve taken over the tech side of things.

Our family has focused on putting time back into ourselves, slowing down, and enjoying the small things again. For me, those are watching our little one catch fireflies at dusk, a cup of loose leaf tea, putting puzzles together, finishing a novel, going for a run, taking a bubble bath, and building new friendships. Life is composed of many different seasons, and I wouldn’t trade the one we’ve just completed for anything. It was difficult, but it stretched me as a person. It has started a new future for our family and has brought a whole lot of joy to families who have adopted our sweet puppies. I’m beyond grateful for this opportunity. Right now, a word that I’m personally focusing on is “simple.” Because when God allows a season in my life to be calm and slower, I want to stop and enjoy the small things and simple things.

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