New Year

So I have decided to celebrate the fiscal calendar this year and celebrate the month of July as one of new beginnings. I recently took off a week from work for some much needed solitude. A dear girlfriend of mine reminded me of the difference between solitude and isolation. Solitude is time resting in the peace of the Lord. Isolation is loneliness. How often I confuse the two.

The week was spent in fellowship with beautiful women surrounding me in love and encouragement. It came in the form of tearful phone conversations, long chats and on the patio, hugs without words and prayer. It was beautiful.

The idea for time off came from an unexpected source, the HR department of my work. Knowing the many pains and struggles of our lives right now she encouraged me to rest so I could come back to work renewed...and that I did. I have found myself enjoying the every tasks again and companionship of my follow employees. The work I do is inspired by a deep faith that every one of my employees can and will grow into their utmost potential. My job is believe in their professional and personal potential and provide them with tasks that will cause them to grow. Every day at least one staff questions me as to whether they can actually accomplish the new task I have assigned them. I take this opportunity remind them of how far they have come and how far they will go. I love my job.

I also accomplished some organization of the sort while away from work. I was able to clean the house, do laundry and put groceries in the refrigerator. Sounds silly but there was such a sense of accomplishment with each of these very simple yet meaningful tasks. No task is to small when life seems overwhelming...every success must be celebrated.

Because I can't blog without mentioning our two beautiful pups, Philippe and Chloe I will also mention that the week included several play dates at Grandma and Grandpa's house. How they love to see Bryan. I think he is the only other being I have met with the same amount of energy as Chloe monster. They swam together often for hours. Even better was the evening and following day of nothing but sleeping which meant rest for me!

Of course, Philippe naturally leans more towards Uncle Gordon. He is more of a quiet spirit. Uncle Gordon patiently encouraged Philippe to take the big plunge off the first step in the shallow end of the pool to fetch the ball on the other end. I think Gordon must of patiently encouraged Philippe more than 15 times do this. Philippe hesitated almost every time but given the safety of Gordon's teaching spirit he would. All the while of course Chloe is independently jumping off the deep end swimming after Bryan while barking her little tail off. I guess even dogs and humans are not all that different in this aspect...