Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Growing in a little bunch right outside my front door is a little shamrock plant. As I thought about it, it just was a little reminder of God's wonderful workmanship and care. This little plant that no one planted or is taking care of or waters is growing right between the crack of a hard cement floor. Persistance, perseverance and most of all dependence on the Lord! What a lesson for me to take to heart.

"Saint Patrick's Day has come to be associated with everything Irish: anything green and gold, shamrocks and luck. Most importantly, to those who celebrate its intended meaning, St. Patrick's Day is a traditional day for spiritual renewal and offering prayers for missionaries worldwide."

Happy Birthday Jeri! Sunday night we went to Ye Olde Ship in dowtown Fullerton to celebrate Jeri's birthday. A good time was had by all... my chicken & veggie curry was fantastic.

Today was a good day... I ran a mile and a half tonight with no knee support on =) I'm tired but I feel good. I heard a song on the radio that I really liked driving home tonight. It is called "Do it Anyway" sung by Martina McBride. Here are the lyrics. If you get a chance listen to the song sometime...

You can spend your whole life building something from nothing
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway
You can chase a dream that seems so out of reach
and you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway

God is great, but sometimes life ain’t good
And when I pray it doesn’t always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway, I do it anyway

This world’s gone crazy and it’s hard to believe
that tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway
You can love someone with all your heart, for all the right reasons,
and in a moment they can choose to walk away
Love ‘em anyway

God is great, but sometimes life ain’t good
And when I pray it doesn’t always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway, I do it anyway
You can pour your soul out singing a song you believe in
then tomorrow they’ll forget you ever sang
Sing it anyway, sing it anyway

I sing, I dream, I love, anyway

I call this.... PARANOIA! As I pulled up this morning to park here at work I came upon this scene I call "paranoia". Seriously, do you have to park straddling the line just because you own a fancy car? Sigh...

Amazing Dez... Yesterday was the LA Marathon. Desiree did it running and walking in 6 hours and 43 minutes... no training...

Thank God for good friends and neighbors...

Last night I got home about 6:30 pm or so after working out on the track....tired...sweaty...hungry... a shower seemed like such a wonderful thing especially since it was really cold outside. I come on in put my things down and head for the kitchen to wash my hands and get something to eat. Turn the faucet on..... oh dear..... what? No water? That's weird. Now what do I do? I have no idea where to start looking. So I grab my phone and keys and walk up the street to Charlotte's. I explained my dilemma and asked if her son Bill was around to help me figure this out. He has gone to the store, but dear Charlotte has me come right on in. Serves me a nice bowl of hot lentil soup and some homemade cornbread. Mmmm...so delicious. So we decide to call my other neighbor across the street to see if he can help. Topper is gracious enough to come out in his bathrobe to check the meter and see whats wrong. Just as he thought...the construction guys broke something and instead of fixing it they just turned it off. SIGH! I thank him and go back inside. Uggg...I need a shower! I call Desiree and tell her my sad story so she tells me to come on over and take a shower. In the mean time it had started to pour down rain. So I quickly gather some things and head on down the hill. On my way there I call Charlotte and give her an update and she tells me that I am more than welcome to go over and spend the night in her extra bedroom. I feel so blessed and cared for! So after a nice hot shower, hot cup of coffee and some delicious cookies at Desiree's I head on back up the hill. Charlotte has everything ready in the spare room with a towels and all. When I got up this morning she had left everything ready for breakfast on the kitchen counter, even the coffee pot ready to go. All I had to do was plug it in. I enjoyed a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice, a bowl of cereal, a slice of bread and a nice hot cup of coffee. It is so nice to have such wonderful friends...I am so blessed!

Last Tuesday night was Senior night for the Biola basketball teams...their last home game. I have been taking their SR Night photos for several years now. It was nice to be there and see the guys play. I've missed most of the games this year. After the game I had dinner with Coach Johnson and his wife Colette. It was nice visiting with them and catching up. The seniors this year were Matt Emadi, Kevin Cook and Solomon Mercado.

Yesterday and today have been really beautiful sunny days. However, Thursday evening after work it was raining... but what's a little rain when you are on a mission to "workout", right? Yep, you guessed it. Desiree and I went ahead and did our running and jogging out on the track in the rain. It was actually really fun! We finished it off with some crunches. The rain was very "fine" and coming down softly. Next morning I woke up to a gorgeous sunny day and a nice view of snow up in the mountains. On my way to lunch as I was riding in a friend's car I tried to snap a picture of the mountains. It's not the greatest but you get the idea... (click on the picture to see it bigger)

Time flies by and I actually didn't realize how long it had been since I had posted something here. Life has been busy as usual at work, but that is a good thing. This past month has been a growing month. Growing in my faith and trust in the Lord. For the past month I have also been working out with Desiree with the goal of doing a Triathlon sprint in June. It's been great so far. Saturday was our first riding day. We went out early to Huntington Beach and rode for almost 2 hours. It was a beautiful day for riding. Here are five ingredients for success that have helped me in my training (thanks Dez):
1. PURPOSE: Know exactly what your goal is

2. PASSION: Having a burning desire to achieve it

3. PLANNING: Determine how you will go about achieving it

4. PERSPIRATION: Hard work following your plan to achieve it

5. PERSEVERANCE: Don't let anything get in the way of achieving it

A beautiful sunset tonight...another amazing gift from God...