A newborn year.  A fresh beginning.  A clean slate.  (A cliché sentiment.)

Cliché or not, I love this time of year and the optimism that comes with it.  It’s like getting a brand new notebook with smooth blank pages.  What will you write in it?  Will you fill the pages with your thoughts?  Record the good times to remember later?  Will you write out your struggles, your trials, your prayers?  Will you list your goals and plans?  Will you pen a poem?  Will you sketch the faces of those you love?  The pages smell so clean and fresh.  And the possibilities! OH! The possibilities are endless!    

(We’ve talked about my OCD relationship with new notebooks, right?)

Happy New Year!  I think it’s going to turn out to be a big one. 

You can view the promised cruise pictures here and here

A good friend of mine pointed out this week, that while I may have the best of intentions, what my character is really lacking is follow through.  Ugh.  Painful but true words.  And I’m working on it.

So, we’re back from vacation.  Back to reality.  Sadly, my reality includes work, a messy house, and chilly weather.  But as they say in Jamaica, it’s “No problem, mon!”  And truly, after a heavenly seven days of relaxation and fun, I do feel like nothing could bring me down from my vacation high.  We have tons of pictures, and I will upload them as soon as I can, (Possibly as early as this evening!  I KNOW!) mercifully omitting the lovely shots of me in my bathing suit  (You’re welcome!)  This post will unfortunately have to remain sans photos for now, but I wanted to at least announce my return and give some of the highlights of our trip for all two of you who were eagerly awaiting my return to the blogosphere.

First, for those of you who don’t know, we left town ten days ago to go on a Western Caribbean cruise.  It was my first cruise, and you may remember that I anticipated the vacation with a little bit of subconscious anxiety and a lot of conscious excitement.  I could not have imagined the fun and fabulousness that we experienced!  

Our ship’s ports of call–Labadee, Haiti; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; Grand Cayman; and Cozumel, Mexico–were bookended with two days at sea.  And EVERYTHING about our seven-day experience was amazing!    We were blessed with perfect weather and mostly smooth waters.  Our ship was huge and luxurious.  The service was top-notch, and the food was plentiful and delicious–Royal Caribbean does it well.  We spent a lot of time swimming at the ship’s pool.  We lounged on the beach at whichever island-of-the-day.  We did a little shopping.  Experienced a little local flavor.  Made friends with a cool couple who shared our assigned dinner table.  We snorkeled in Grand Cayman.  Hiked to the Mayan temple ruins in Tulum, Mexico.  Gasped over the breathtaking ocean view in Tulum.  Tasted the best Mexican food in existence.  Got more tan than ever in my life–in spite of slathering on SPF 30 numerous times a day.    

I also had an epiphany.  Up until last week, I had never really understood people’s intense love for the ocean.   Admittedly, it is beautiful.  But to me, nothing could ever compare to the beauty of the mountains.  Nothing could be so breathtaking, so awe-striking as a mountain view.  But standing on the beach cliff at Tulum, the Mayan ruins at my back and the aqua ocean waves crashing in below me, I was struck.  I have gained a new appreciation for the awesome beauty of the ocean.  I never knew such colors existed in nature!  I have found there is room in my heart for both Mountains and Ocean.  Though I will always have a favorite, Ocean and I have found an understanding,  and I have fallen in love.         

Stay tuned for pictures.  No, seriously.  I mean it.

It has been many weeks since I posted a WOGM entry.  That certainly is not because God is not at work in my life.  On the contrary!  God is at work daily to achieve His sovereign purpose in the earth as well as in me personally.  He is so good to me!  Today I am reflecting gratefully on the fact that God has both a broad-strokes and a detail-oriented personality–and I mean that most reverently.  It is true that not only does God have a Master Plan that is bigger than me, bigger than all of humanity–it’s as big as eternity past to eternity future–but He also has a very personal, very intimate plan with me li’l ol’ me in mind.  It amazes me! 

I have many things to be thankful for.  I also have many lessons to be learned.  I’ve been a born-again Christian for almost twenty years.  I’ve been surrounded Bible-centered teaching and preaching literally all of my life.  I even graduated from a Bible college.  But some days it seems I am struggling to learn the basics of what it means to be a follower of Christ.  Basics like walking by faith and not by sight.  But what does that mean?  Because it’s the Sunday School answer, I glibly quote “whatsoever is not of faith is sin,”  à la those Bing search engine commercials, possibly jerking the phrase completely out of context (even while knowing what a big no-no that is.)  But how do we DO that?  How do we eat, drink, pay bills, brush our teeth, etc. in faith?  How do we NOT do it in faith?  What does a Christian walking in faith LOOK like?  I feel like I should know the answers to these questions by now.  And while I experience some frustration with myself at having to get back to basics in my walk with God, I am so thankful that He continues to patiently teach me, just like a Father who takes pity on the child who failed to do her homework again, and sits up with her all night to help her finish before school the next morning.   (Hey, it’s not a perfect illustration, but certainly one I can relate to.) 

So today, I thank God for patiently continuing to work.  And if you’ve got this walking by faith thing down, or even if you don’t, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject.     Happy Monday!

For the past two falls the Polished Cornerstones (that’s our church ladies’ Bible study group) has had a soup tasting meeting.  Each lady brings a crock of soup and a muffin tin.  The soup is for sharing and the tin is for sampling.  The first time I heard the idea, I thought the muffin tin idea was a little strange, but it turns out the tin is the perfect solution for maximum soup sampling without over-stuffing.  Of course all the soups were delicious, but this year, my favorite was Mrs. M’s tortellini soup.  I had never had tortellini soup before, and I was surprised with how yummy and easy it was!

2 T butter or margarine

Fresh garlic minced or finely chopped (I used 2 cloves)

3 cans chicken broth

2 cans pasta-ready diced tomatoes (I liked the garlic and oregano seasoned variety)

1 bag ricotta cheese tortellini (I used frozen)

Fresh spinach

In a large sauce pan, melt butter and add garlic to the butter until aromatic.  Add chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, add tortellini.  Once bubbling again, add diced tomato.  Cook pasta according to package directions (10-15 min) Add as much spinach as you like. (I added this at the very end and took the pot off the heat almost immediately because I like my spinach leafy and underdone.)

Note: if you like your soup extra broth-y, go ahead and add one more can of broth, but keep the rest of the ingredients the same.  If you prefer a thicker soup, just add 2 cans of broth and only 1 can of tomatoes. 

Pair the soup with a nice, crusty garlic bread, and it’s the perfect comfort meal for a chilly fall evening.  Buon appetito!

(I did a google search of tortellini soup, and it looks like there are a variety of recipes out there with a wide range of complexity.  This one is simple, but I think next time I’ll be brave and try a more complicated version.)

Oh my!  The time, she has flown!  I can’t believe it’s been over two weeks since I’ve written.  I’ll dispense with the usual apology for my negligence, and just get to it.  Best to just dive right in, no? 

Last Friday I was honored to be an attendant in my friend’s wedding.  It was a beautiful yet adventure-filled wedding, and Kim was a stunning bride.  I was impressed by how calm, prepared and determined to enjoy the celebration she was, no matter what unforseen obstacles arose.  Since I stayed over in the city with the bride the night before the wedding, it made for a very full, sleep deprived and eventful two days.  John and I were exhausted when we got home in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday, and our weakened immune systems could not withstand some nasty kind of flu bug.  We’re feeling much better now, but it was touch-and-go there for a while. 

Touch-and-go.   I wonder where that expression came from?  It is a strange idiom, don’t you think?  According to this I don’t think I’m using it properly.

Ehem.  I digress. 

In other news–I have only news and no deep musings or entertaining tidbits to share–John and I are taking our first ever just-the-two-of-us vacation since our honeymoon 5 1/2 years ago.  We’re going on a Caribbean cruise!  I know!  Exciting, right?  Except that since we booked it, I haven’t been able to escape the nightmares revolving around hurricanes and life vests and ski-doos and claustrophobic cabins and such.  Honest-to-goodness. I’m excited.  Really.  I am!  But somewhere in my subconscious there must be some anxiety over this vacation that I don’t feel in my waking hours.  In any case, John is excited enough for the both of us, and he HAS been on a cruise before, so I’ll just trust his judgement.

And for the final piece of news,  we are officially spending Christmas with my parents in the land of the Great Salt Lake.  Woohoo!   Why we decided to spend all our vacation time (rather, John’s meagre vacation time) in the space of  3 months, I couldn’t tell you, but I’m not going to complain.  All I know is it’s going to be fun and it’s going to be busy, and it’s going to be touch and go for a few months.  (See what I did there? Heh.)     

Stay tuned for a really yummy recipe for quick and easy tortellini soup.  Delicious!