No Regrets

     As you probably know, my 95 year old Opa, Willem Roest, passed away almost two weeks ago. My parents kindly paid for airfare for me to come home. It was really wonderful being back home with my family for a few days, although now looking back, it kind of feels like it was a dream.
     It was so surreal stepping off that plane at the Toronto Pearson Airport. I was trying to figure out how in the world I had ended up there. Most of the trip there was kind of a blur.
     One thing I do remember, though. I was sitting on the plane, gazing out the window into the darkness below, and just talking to God as I thought about life and death. And that's when I realised that if I were to die right now, I would have no regrets. Then I thought that there must be something that I would regret, so I concentrated on trying to think of it. I thought and I thought. And I literally couldn't think of a single thing that I would regret if I were to die right now.
     I have followed God where He has called me. I have done things that I never would have thought I would be comfortable doing -and I wasn't comfortable, but I did them because God asked me to. At this point in my life, I don't regret anything that I have done, and there is nothing that I haven't done that I wish I had.
     I mean, are there things that I still want to do in my life? Absolutely! But they aren't things that I need to be happy. I'd love to see more of the world, and to do many other things. However, at this point in my life, I wouldn't regret not doing them. Maybe if I'd had the opportunity and said no, I would regret it right now, but I haven't had the opportunity to do these things yet, and so I can't regret not doing them.
     So I hope that I continue to live my life this way. I hope that each day, I intentionally make decisions that leave me with no regrets at the end of the day. I hope that when God asks me to do something, I will continue to say 'yes' in spite of fears and questions and insecurities.
     In order to live this way, I have to choose it, though. I have to CHOOSE to say yes to God. And while that may seem like the obvious thing to do -I mean, He is God!- it can still be hard to say yes to Him sometimes. I'm rarely comfortable doing the things He asks me to do. I usually don't believe that I can do it. I'm usually full of fear. So these are the things that I need to (continue to) fight every single day for the rest of my life.
     I am living for God now. And I pray that I continue to do that -to follow His calling in my life- for the rest of my days.
     Blessings,
          Katie

My Opa loved animals -especially dogs and cows- so it was fitting that a couple of the bouquets at the funeral had plastic cows!

Wisconsin has BEAUTIFUL sunsets!

Our house dogsat this dog for a week, which was such fun! I'm not usually a little dog person, but Estrella is the cutest!

On Sunday, it was my friend Rachel's -we did DTS together- birthday, so we got together for coffee :)

These boys absolutely LOVE dinosaurs. Like, love is probably an understatement...

While I was home, I got to hang out with my siblings. So that was fun!