I hate that I haven't written on my blog in awhile. It just seems like I am always too busy to think about it and then I don't really have anything that I want to say...hopefully I can get better at writing on here! We are really liking Nashville..I am loving my job! It can be exhausting, but it is rewarding. We love the branch that we are in and the people there. I got a calling to be a relief society instructor and I taught for the first time a couple weeks ago and it went really well. Spe got his calling to be the Branch Mission Leader! He's glad that he got that and he's enjoying it...I am glad that we moved out here and we have this chance to grow closer together being away from the town we both grew up in. I LOVE being married..it is everything I could ever want and more. It is amazing! Spencer is the perfect husband and I know that we were put on this earth to be sealed together and have an eternal family. I feel his love everyday and I feel my Heavenly Father's love for me everyday..even days that are hard. The days that are "hard" that i'm talking about are days like today and last week when Spe left to go out of town and I am here in this little apartment alone...I am glad that Christina is close so i have some family here, but i'm used to having all of these people around where there is always something going on. The worst part about being alone is at night when I have to turn off the lights and go to sleep with no one next to me to kiss me goodnight. It also doesn't help that i worry constantly about ANYTHING...haha. Anyways..I had a friend just say to me that when it is easier for him to be gone and for me to be alone then that means that the part of me that he fills isn't there anymore and I never want that to happen. So, I can deal with the sadness for a short period of time because I would rather be sad about missing him because I love him so much than being sad because our love has died. I hate when people say "...when you have been married for (however many) years then you will be so glad to be alone when your husband is away...." I hope I never feel "glad" ...it is nice to have time to yourself, i agree, but I want to always miss him. Another thing that I was thinking of was how incredible the women are whose husbands are in the military. The friend that gave that advice is one of those women. I just can't even imagine the pain that they feel when their husbands go off to war. When I feel the way that I do when he leaves (for a week) I think of those that have to say "goodbye" or "cya later" for years at a time, some with children and some without. And the fear and hope that they will even come home when it is that time is something I just could not handle. I am so amazed by the families that do go through that and are so strong. This and the reason Spe is not here is because he is working and providing the necessities of life..this just shows the love that he has for me and shows the love that the soldiers have for their family and their country. Sometimes we have to sacrifice, but sacrifice brings blessings and I believe one of those blessings is a stronger love for one another. When I think about the Savior's Atonement I don't feel so lonely anymore. I know that in whatever circumstance I am in (big or small) he has felt the same as I am feeling along with EVERYONE else's afflictions. I imagine Him on the cross and when he felt alone when he said these words...   

"And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying,^aEloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou ^bforsaken me?"

I am so grateful for the Savior's Atonement and the peace it gives me and the peace and comfort The Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ gives me in my afflictions whether they be big or small...I know the Lord has a plan for me and He knows it way better than I could even imagine..He knows what I need and I know he always listens to my prayers and that he answers them. I can't wait for my hubby to be home at the end of the week, but until then I will try to keep myself busy and maybe it will go by quickly....I hope!! =]

*Court*

Some updates..

I'll try to keep this pretty short, but just wanna share a few little things that have happened. Well, we got internet and cable yesterday! We are really excited about that..and also a new imac! I'm still getting used to it..i've always had a PC....but i married into a family of mac lovers so i have to be one now haha. It's really nice..we got it so Spe can start editing videos and his own wedding videos when he shoots them. He's getting pretty excited about this job! He's great at it and i think he will really enjoy it. The shed job is going OK, but it is very tiring especially in this HOTTT heat. With the heat index of being 100 degrees or more..having an outdoor job is not very fun. I got the job at the daycare and i just finished up my first full week. I am the teacher for the school age class. I like that class..it wasn't exactly what i was wanting but it's ok. They are completely different that younger kids...It was tiring, but i like it, except I almost got fired on thursday.......yeah. long story. Pretty much....I accidently left a child outside for like 20 seconds and even though she was with other kids and another teacher I got in trouble for it. A teacher went and told on me and they had to call corporate. It was a huge mess.. Let's just say I haven't cried that hard in years. Just the thought of losing this great job that took so long to get after one week over a simple mistake. I was a weird situation what happened but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that it happened. Anyways.....luckily they had some sympathy because its my first week and I'm still learning a lot...so I didn't get fired I just got written up and it's on my record for a year. If anything else happens for me to get written up then i'll get fired...so i'm really paranoid. I'm glad that day is over b/c it wasn't fun and I really felt worthless and just crappy. So now I just have to re-train the things i learned a week ago...oh well....better than losing a job and having to find another one. I do like it though. It's a great facility and i love the kids and they seem to love me. Well, I gave a talk at church last week about "keeping the sabbath day holy" and it went really well. It was my first talk i've prepared and given...i have born my testimony a million times but this was on a specific subject..a little bit different. Lots of people came up to me afterwards and told me it was good and they got a lot out of it..so that made me feel better about it. We were expecting to get callings today since every week since we've been there we've had to give a talk or teach a class, but surprisingly we haven't gotten callings yet. I'm interested to see what we get called to. I'm more excited about it that Spe..haha. Well, that is really all I can think of..i'm feeling more at home here now that we are really getting settled in to our apt and jobs and stuff. I do miss my family in Knoxville though but i'm glad we are just 3 hrs away...it would be nice if gas prices would stop going up UP UP! I'll write more when anything interesting happens or I just have some thoughts I wanna write down...... <3

Knoxville Bound

We are in Knoxville for the weekend! It has been a pretty busy time. We are pretty much working all weekend. Spe is shooting a couple weddings and editing videos! He seems to really be enjoying it!! Not too excited about the expenses that go with it, but "ya gotta spend money to make money"....i think he has a few weddings booked up in a couple of months. We will be workin shaved ice with his parents on the 4th! I like doin it it's really fun. Then on wednesday I start my new job!!! YAY I finally have a day to start! I'm nervous, but i'll write more about it once I get started. It'll be really nice to be busy!

Just some info

I got the job at KinderCare that I wanted out here in Nashville. It seems like it will be a really great job..after 90 days I will get health benefits and all that stuff. And I can get the training that i've been wanting while getting paid for it, and they also offer a 6 month online class to get my Childe Development Associate certificate (CDA) and they will pay for the class!! So i'm excited to get started with it...i'm sure it will take a couple months to feel comfortable..that's how it usually goes, but I plan on being here for a long time unless we move or something after our lease is up. I kinda hope we don't because I hate this process of getting a new job. Right now i'm still waiting on them to call me back...I have gotten all my references and everything else taken care of, but they are waiting for my fingerprints to come in. Hopefully i'll be hearing from them this week....we are coming in to Knoxville this weekend and i'm really excited about that! I miss my family a LOT...it's hard =[...but if I start working then I probably won't be able to stay for the 4th of July..BUMMER =[...but I would like to start working so either way is fine I guess as long as I get to come for a couple days!..Yesterday at church Spe gave a talk about "How scripture study brings the spirit to your home" He did a great job! It was really good! And we got asked to teach the sunday school (all the youth 12+)..so that was pretty new to me. I'm used to teaching little munchkins. It went well..kind of hard to keep all of their attention, but that's just how it goes lol..hopefully we will get callings pretty soon. Spencer thinks i'm crazy when I say "hopefully" ...I like having a calling! Well, that's pretty much all that has happened..we are about to pay our rent and bills for the first time (well, we paid it when we moved in but it's the first time after living here)...ok that's all....when I hear from the daycare i'll post it.

<3 Court

Overview of life to the present

Well, I've never made a blog before, so hopefully I can get the hang of it pretty quickly! =] To start off with..me and my amazing husband, Spencer, were just sealed for eternity in the Atlanta, GA temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on May 18, 2011. There's a lot that goes into that story that I will talk more about later on. We are both proud members of the Lord's church and are so thankful that we have the restored gospel in our lives. We love the Savior and our Father in Heaven. In fact, we wouldn't be happily married if our lives weren't in the Lord's hands! Here's how it all began......When I was in 8th grade I went with one of my friends to "Powell Idol" (just like american idol..just a school thing) to watch her sister in it..I was sitting right in the middle of the audience when this boy walks out on stage with his guitar. First thought was, "WOW! ummm who is this guy????" But of course I figured he was a senior or something and I would never see him again (just a crush like how you think of movie stars was how it felt) and even if I did it's not like he would have any interest in me i'm too young...anyways..my second thought was "I've got to know his name!" so I looked in the flier and it said Spencer Hinckley...I went home that night and told my mom "OH MY GOSH there was this boy...blah blah blah..." haha...she still remembers that. A year later I was a freshman in high school and when I was picking my classes I chose girl's chorus (I thought it would be an easy class not doin much...) I actually discovered my voice in girl's chorus realizing that maybe I did have a talent for singing..I had an awesome teacher, Mr. Kennedy, who helped me (and Spencer) so much! In girl's chorus this boy name Spencer kept showing up...every girl thought he was just so cute. We both noticed each other and always 'made eyes' at each other...then instead of almost taking french I took spanish (glad I did that!) and I took concert choir....Spencer was a senior and he was in there! After awhile he would casually meet up with me in the hallway and we would walk up the hall together...back then was myspace and he would leave me comments on there. We were pretty cool. Well, enough about that.....then finally he got my number..and within a couple weeks he had asked me to be his "girlfriend" with a poem which I will post on here later because I don't have it with me right now. After awhile he started to talk about his church and that it is true...which made no sense to me. I felt like every church was...I didn't understand what was so different about his. I didn't agree with him at the time and avoided the conversation. As his mission got closer he knew what he needed to do...it wasn't easy for either of us, but we didn't see us having a future because it seemed that neither of us were changing our minds in what we believed. So on October 22, 2008 Spencer left for Argentina to go on his mission to serve the Lord for 2 years of his life. I always questioned why he would sacrifice 2 looooonnnnggg years of his life to go to another country..we wrote letters every month or every couple of months and, after awhile, wrote emails every monday. This was great to keep in touch and we had no idea what would happen when he would get back. My thoughts were that I was gonna be in college and he would go off to BYU and find a wife. (Isn't that what ever RM does??? haha) Well...things changed while he was gone. Things I never expected or planned for my life. That's why I am so glad the Lord knows what is best for me because I sure didn't. One night I was working at Aubrey's Restaurant and I knew Spencer's sister, Lindsay, and her family had moved to town from Utah (i'd never met her)...them and his parents had come in to eat so I talked with them for awhile and Lindsay asked me if I wanted to go to church with them soon. I was like "uh sure!" After a couple weeks I was hanging out with them a lot and I would have lessons with the sister missionaries! At first, I thought it was kind of ridiculous and I was really stubborn that "I knew what I believed and nothing was gonna change that." A couple weeks went by and I could feel my heart getting softer..the spirit was testifying to me of the truth and I was realizing that! slowly but surely...I found myself wanting to read the scriptures and understand what the Lord wanted me to know...the gospel seemed so intriguing and it was like i'd heard if before (which I learned that I had) and it just made sense and felt RIGHT. It was the thing I had always been longing for and I may not have realized it, but it seems like everyone has that spiritual longing for a complete truth. I found that and I knew what I had to do! Even though I was TERRIFIED what my family and friends would think I followed the promptings of the spirit and didn't listen to anyone about what I should do. I knew for myself. I got baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on May 7, 2010. Since that day my life has been FULL of blessings. Not to say it hasn't been challenging though. Mine and Spencer's relationship really kicked off after that (as much as it could through letters/email) and we knew that the barrier keeping us from being together was gone. What did we do..? We....started talking about marriage...haha. More in a joking way at first and as his return got closer it got more serious. (he stayed focused still and knew the reason he was there and he loved it) Of course, we were nervous because we hadn't seen each other in 2 years so we didn't know what would happen, but we had to have faith. We will post the video that Todd and Nathan did for his coming home on October 21, 2010! Honestly...it was WAYY weird at first. haha...after we spent our first day and night together we had the relationship we always wanted! We knew where it was headed and in Nov. we went on a cruise with his family and he proposed!! (we have a video of that too =] ) sooo to make an even longer story short...we were engaged for 6 months (I don't recommend long engagements!) and it was a challenge but I know our Father in Heaven was testing us. We had faith that it was better in the long run to do what we know is right and our Heavenly Father will bless us. That's what we did and he has definitely blessed us and the biggest blessing is to be sealed eternally together and to our families and that our kids will have that same blessing. We have been married for a month and a day...we went to Bryson City, NC for our honeymoon and the first day went to the ER from a 4-wheeler accident. BUMMER. I got and still have a sprained ankle. It was still nice to have that time with each other, but I could have done without all that stuff.....oh well. Just glad it wasn't anything worse! We are now living in Nashville! We like it out here a lot! It's hard not being with all of our family, but his brother,Derek & Christina and the boys are out here so it's good! She's teaching me how to coupon =] and I just got a job at KinderCare! Seems like a great job and I can't wait to start and meet all the kiddos! We are in the Hermitage Branch and it was our second sunday today! We like it but sure do miss Grove Park!!! Spencer & Derek are workin doin sheds through Home Depot and Spe is gettin into the videography, and actually just shot a wedding yesterday for the first time~YAY! Ok I know that was long, I just have a lot of things that have happened that I had to talk about! I'll be posting more about our life as newlyweds out here in nashville pretty soon and as much as I can! <3

*Courtney Hinckley*