While I'm Waiting

Hello!  Nice to see you this fine October Sunday.  I've been enjoying everyone else's Blogs and slowly getting the garden cleaned up from Summer and ready for Winter.  Winter being a relative term as it was 101F last Sunday, September 30th, and today is a fantastic 80F in the sun.  Our winter is a mild Fall to much of the world but we can pretend.  My cherry tomatoes are still going crazy but have planted some lettuce and spinach again for the cooler weather to come.

"Waiting" has been on my mind lately.  I'm waiting for something.  We are waiting for Fall. We wait for the Holidays.  We wait for answers to questions.  I know others waiting for diagnosis.  Test results.  College acceptances.  Loved ones to pass.  Legal judgements. Christmas.  Birthdays.  Jobs.  Trains.  Good waiting.  Difficult waiting.

There is a lot of waiting in our lives and sometimes; sometimes it can leave us frozen.  It can leave me very frozen.  In this current season of waiting, I really feel like the Lord's been asking me to "defrost" during the wait.  Jump in and do something.  To be effective and of service rather than frozen and ineffective.

I really like this song by John Waller (While I'm Waiting):

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait
I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
 
While I'm waiting I will serve You
While I'm waiting I will worship
While I'm waiting I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting 
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait

I am confident this season of waiting will have some good results.  Some active results.  They will be revealed over time - as I wait.

I hope as I defrost, I'll get this Blog moving again.  I have very important items to share, you know.  I'm not talking about the Alaska pic's which I still need to complete but.......Eiger's love for playing with pinecones:

He picks them up and throws them.  Chases them - look at his form:

Attacks them!

Should he be allowed to take them home, he proceeds to pick them apart all over the backyard.  Nature's toy?  I'd worry if he ate them but he is content to dismember and not ingest them.

Here he is at Pinecrest Lake and his first foray into open water.  What did we learn that day?

He looks like a water dog.  His predominant breed is that of a water dog.  He has the webbed feet, rudder-like tail and water repellant, slick coat of a water dog.

He jumped in, went completely under and Rachel rescued him.  NOT a natural water dog.

Our Max (predecessor to Eiger) was a natural water dog.  He knew instinctively what to do and we had more trouble keeping him out of the water than getting him in.  No instruction required.

Eiger needs doggy swim lessons.  We took him back to the beach and I put a 15ft lead on him and lessons began.  Much to the amusement of the other beachgoers with dogs.  Turns out many have had the same experience with multiple Lab mixes - some get the natural swimming genes and some need a bit of help.  So Eiger did get in twice more over his head so he could flail around like a drowning rat - but he did it.  Again, much to the amusement of everyone watching.  I'm sure they were laughing at him and not me.  Bart, of course, stayed with the chairs up the beach - the dog is "mine" after all....

He's laying at my feet now - yeah, he's pretty much mine.  :)