Another blog?

Yes! As if there isn't more than enough blogs out there - ones that nobody reads or cares about and I'm sure this could be just another one of them. I've read enough blogs (especially mommy ones) in the last year to know that the concept is pretty overdone. So what is this? I'm creating this space for mostly myself, my family and anyone who wants to keep up with our family. 

We are the Cottons. I (Tina) had a childhood very much like my husband's (Matthew). Both of us were born in the GTA and come from non-christian families. My parents split up around the time I was 2 1/2 and Matt's did just before his preteen years. We had the average childhood experience going to public school, celebrating the usual holidays (without knowing or honouring the meanings behind them) and being told that we should strive to do what was in our hearts and make ourselves happy.

We met in 2005 through Myspace - that story is a little more complicated and not as important as the rest of our stories. Becoming fast friends through MSN chat (which already sounds old), we quickly began dating within a few months. As lovely as some of our dating memories are, there are many regrets and moments that make me cringe. If I had the chance to go back I would probably slap teenage Tina silly for the things she expected, thought and wanted in those years.

Praise God that He was working in Matt's heart from early in our relationship. Through pushback and stubbornness on both our parts, God made a change in our lives to claim us as His own. Saved by His grace from the sinful lives we were living, Jesus Christ made a change in ours lives from that point on. As first generation christians, there are so many things God has to teach us through His people. From our difficult dating years, to our quick and short engagement and now in our marriage - there are many things that the Lord has brought us through and we continue to overcome by His grace for His glory.

Fast forward to today:
Matt has completed his primary care paramedic program and is eagerly applying for a position in a local(ish) region;
I have completed my concurrent teaching degree and am now stay-at-home mom to our very adorable son Nathaniel Harvey.

It sometimes feels like not much has changed but God is bringing me to new understanding of His plans for our lives all the time.

For now on we are going to ask God to make His will for our lives clear to us and have us obey. This is extremely frustrating and stupid for those that don't worship the God of the bible to understand.
I've given a lot of thought to what it means to be a christian and will comment on the details of what God has revealed to me through His word over future posts.

For us:
it means I accepted the role of motherhood when God saw fit to give us a child, Matt accepted the role of breadwinner for our family as convicted through his study of scripture and we are committed to doing life differently as the Lord pleases.
Much of how we live our daily life and the things we consider of value are different from how we were raised, the culture we live in and it should show. God calls us to be "light of the world" in Matthew 5:14. For us this means that how we live our life differently should shine on others not to expose our uniqueness or creativity but His glory.
God and His word changes people. What is the point of calling yourself a christian if you don't let the God of the bible change your life?

This rant could go on but instead of writing about the past - this blog is going to be about the present. I want to record moments in our lives that we can look back on and praise God for. 

Matt knows better than anyone else on the earth - I suck at keeping a diary or any type of journal so we can't be sure how successful this will be. Best to pray about it and leave it to God.