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See who stopped by for lunch today! →2012……My year to “FOCUS”Posted on December 28, 2011by Care Tuk
 
 
 
 
 
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As the days of 2011 begin to wane, the excitement of a new year begins to build. I hope you feel the same excitement, and that you might think about subscribing to this blog as a way to keep in touch with where we are heading and headed!
As each  year closes,  I  puposedly spend time alone with the Lord, asking  Him for a word or phrase to hang on to as the year unfolds. Let’s just say that  for me, this year, the word was not a total surprise, as it is : FOCUS.
I pondered the word for a couple weeks, then one night when I couldn’t sleep,  I grabbed a blanket and sat in front of the wood stove and grappled  with verses and chuncks of the Bible, along with a thesaurus and dictionary in hand as I did  some ‘research’ on the word focus. There was no loss for definintions or explanations!!
But the one I like the best is one that states: the place at which  ‘rays’ meets, after reflection.
How much clearer could THAT be!! And what a cool word picture, especially with our Northern Lights, spectacular sunrises and sunsets – no matter what time of day or night they come!
As I continued on as  the o-dark-thirty hours continued (it doesn’t get light until around 10:30 am here right now!) the following seemed to gel and bear witness for me:
F: Flexibly and faithfully,
O: Openess of heart and obedience,
C: Concentrate clearly,  with  intentional clarity
U: Unwrapping – unconditionally unfolding and unlocking
S: Straightforwardness with sincerety and simplicity.
So there you have it. My 2012 “theme”  in a nutshell.  Pray for me, as I will for you. My ‘nudge’ is to not only ‘focus’ more locally, but to really get a grasp on what it means to be an author, and a successful one at that. We have been blessed – not by just ‘sales’ but more importantly, but the testimonies, letters, calls and comments we have received at how, throught the book, and my speaking events,  lives have been touched, hearts have been healed and scales and hardened hearts softend. What a gift…….what a blessing……..what an honor.  We only ask to be a vessel, and are so blessed that you are  journeying with us!

What a week!! We went from minus 25 to 45 above in a few short days. After a great time last weekend trying out my new bionic arm snowmachinging, a weather system that was SUPPOSED to bring us another great foot of snow (added to the couple feet we already had) split and up came the Pineapple Express. Honestly? The hour and a half drive into Anchorage last night for the awesome Hattenburg, Dilley and Linnell Christmas Party that overlooked Anchorage and Cook’s Inlet was THE most frightening drive I think I’ve been on in the last 10 years! We counted 20 dtiched cars and one car even accordianed a State Trooper’s rig. The winds were clocked at over 120 miles/hour on the Hillside, and the rain, sleet and combo snow, depending on what minute it was, made the roads unbelievable.
While we were enjoying the fellowship and fun, (Bill ended up with an Elf’s Christmas Hat that when you press it, lights on it blink off and on and it sings Christmas Carols – MUCH better than the toilet seat or Big Foot Slippers!) the roads cleared…….once home though, the winds howled and blew part of the chimney cap off. The winds then whipped down the chimney, blowing the smoke back through the intake and into the house…….AUGH!!  Definitely one of the days I am sooooo blessed to have a husband who knows how to ‘fix’ EVERYTHING……he stayed up most of the night, but can’t get up on the roof until the winds die down. As long as we keep the wood stove going hot, we’re fine – and with SPRING temperatures, we were lucky to be able to open the windows all up to air the house out….
Life in Alaska – NEVER a dull moment!! But you Lower 48’ers? You can keep your hot air – just send us back our COLD air masses!!  (The weather folks say teens and twenties by tomorrow…..and you believe in the tooth fairy, too?!)