The Cox's: 19 Months...

Nina taught Ellie how to eat and peel clementines. They are one of her new favorite snacks. I can't believe that she will actually stand at the trash can and put every piece of peel in the trash! Such a good girl!

This my friends...is our New Year's Pig Cake! Sweet Nina thought it would be fun to bring something creative to the celebration at the Reagan's house...actually she thought it would be fun to dress up like elves. Once I convinced her that maybe we should do something else, she decided we should make a pig cake...then proceded to come up with even bigger ideas! (Sorry Nina, I have to share!!!) Our Nina thought that we should put a device in the cake that oinked when we cut into the cake...I thought that would probably be impossible since we only had a few hours to do this...so I told her to just make the noise when she cut the cake...so she proceeded to "work" on her "oink" in the middle of Walmart! Hilarious!!!

I never dreamed this would acutally turn out, but give Nina and me a challenge and we won't let you down!!!

Happy New Year...this little girl make it all the way to about 11:59!

(I'm going to include several details of the next event...remember this is as much for us to remember as it is to share our lives with you)

A few days before Nina went home, we had a purity ceremony for her. It was one of the most special moments we've ever had in our home. All of the people she was close to in Vernon came to celebrate with and support her. Every guest brought a letter of encouragement for her. Jason spoke about the importance of a lifetime of purity...purity exceeds sexual ramifications...it's something that God asks of us...to live purely in all areas!

Then Nina read the Purity Covenant we wrote with her and drank from the cup. Drinking from cup symbolized her acceptance of purity...

Then she put on her purity ring...it was so sweet to see how excited she was about getting this. She really understood what it meant and was thrilled to get to wear it (a complete turn around from the first time she heard about purity rings! Ha!)

Her purity covenant, letters of encouragement, and a hand written (sealed and dated) letter to her future husband were all placed in this box. Everyone signed the covenant as witnesses to her committment. Only Nina knows what her letter to her husband says...it's going to be so precious for her to give that to him on her wedding day! The seal is incredibly significant to her and I know that he is going to appreciate this gift from her!

We finished the ceremony with a song that Jason led, Nina prayed (for the first time out loud...beautiful!), testimonies to encourage Nina, and then a prayer of blessing over her.

When Nina flew home, one of her suitcases was lost...the one that had this box in it. It was so disheartening to know that this could be lost forever and become just a memory. I'm so thankful that 3 months later, her suitcase was finally returned to her. God is so good! I firmly believe that He knew just when she was going to need it most! She said that re-reading all of her letters of encouragement brought such joy!

I have a great video of this moment but can't load it to blogger b/c it's too long. Elina crawled up in the chair and was 'visiting' with her frogs! It was so sweet to see all of her expressions. Then she noticed the picture and yelled Nina (who had just recently left to go home to Austria)...she misses you Nina!!!