Oops

It has been about two years since I have posted anything on this site.  With the wonderful invention of Facebook, my family stays up to date on our happenings so I have neglected our blog.  I will give a brief overview of our fun.

Addie-Mei is now 8 years old and in the third grade.  She is a beautiful, sweet young lady.  She is involved in many things at school, including playing volleyball and the school choir.  She continues to grow in her relationship with Christ.  She was baptized on April 15 of this year.  A very special day for her and most of her family were able to make it down for her special day.  She also continues to be a part of our church's Easter Passion play, Behold the Lamb.  We love to serve the Lord together in this production.

We continue to enjoy our trips to Alabama each year to visit our wonderful friends, the Parkers.  We also enjoy going the other direction to the north to spend time with our family.  Addie-Mei was the flower girl in my sister Deb's wedding in August.  It was a wonderful day of celebration and fun!!


We added a new friend to our family on January 2nd of this year.  Star of Bethlehem, or Beth as we call her, is an 11 month old Black Lab.  She is fun and silly and fits into our family very well.  We are both enjoying her very much and Beth LOVES "her girl" as we refer to Addie-Mei.

So I have been a bit negligent with updating for the past few months. So sorry. We had a wonderful summer and fall. I will try to recap:

We had the wonderful opportunity to have a reunion this summer in PA with other families who adopted children from the same Social Welfare Institute as Addie-Mei. It was so precious to see the girls interacting and enjoying so much fun with each other. It was a double pleasure for us, as one of the precious little girls was also our sweet KK. She and Addie-Mei were cribmates in China. He mother and I had met online even before we had met our girls. We did not figure out their relationship in China until months after being home and looking at pictures the nannies had taken of the girls in the SWI before we traveled. Their connection is deep and it was obvious the moment we reunited them after 4.5 years. Addie-Mei and I have taken a trip to AL to spend a long weekend with them at their home. While in AL, Addie-Mei caught her fist fish, a HUGE striped bass. She even caught it on one of those little Disney reels :o) KK and her mom will be coming this way in November for a visit as well. A relationship that will prayerfully last a lifetime!

Addie-Mei has started first grade. She is doing GREAT! She loves her teacher, and loves her classmates. She is catching on to all the new concepts there are to learn in first grade. It is such a blessing to me to see her grown intellectually and emotionally. She continues to gain ground in playing the piano. She was blessed with a piano as a special birthday gift. (Mama found a great deal on Craigslist :o)) She loves it. This Christmas she plans on going to a nursing home to play the piano for the residents and also paint the ladies finger nails. She has such a sweet heart! Gymnastics also keeps her hopping, literally :o) She loves it and does well at it. I will keep her in the non competitive gym for now. We will see where her passion leads us.

This fall I took the opportunity to bring Addie-Mei to a Broadway Musical, Marry Poppins. It was a wonderful evening and a great show. Something we will both cherish for a long time. Sweet memories!

School for me is going great. I have wonderful kids and wonderful classes. I cannot complain :o)

I will try to post a little more consistently.

Tamie and Addie-Mei

Summer has arrived :o)

Well,

Addie-Mei has finished her first year of school and will be moving onto first grade. She did wonderful in Kindergarden. She loves school and loves reading, doing math, and figuring out how things work. She finished her year out with a sweet concert and a fun field day. I am so thankful my schedule allowed me to take the day off work and enjoy her field day with her.

We went on our annual visit to southern Indiana to meet up with a family we met in China, and a whole lot of other friends we have met through them. Our lives are truely blessed to have these wonderful families in our life! Addie-Mei has some wonderful teenage girls who have walked a similar path she has in front of her on her journey to understand her past. They are great for her :o)

Looking forward to a very busy summer with two very special trips, one to MIichigan and one to Pennsylvania. Will let you know how things go on these trips.

Amazing Spring

So this spring has been a wonderful time here in the Gipe household. Addie-Mei and I were a part of a wonderful play about the life of Jesus that our choir director had written, Behold the Lamb. It was the 20th anniversary of this play. Amazing experience, great friendships built and the Word of the Lord was proclaimed!
We had my two sisters and one of my nephews come to visit as well this spring. We had a great time together, even though I got a bad case of food poisoning. We went to visit the Creation Museum in Cincinnati. It was a great trip and we all had a wonderful time.
We also had some dear friends come down to build a quilt in less than 36 hours. We worked hard, the kids played hard, and it is now done. Brenda is my friend who went with me to China to adopt Addie-Mei.
Now we are coasting to the end of another year. Addie-Mei will finish Kindergarten and officially be a 1st grader. I can't believe she is going to be in school all day, every day. She is getting so big. She continues to melt my heart with her sweet spirit and her sweet smile. I thank God everyday that He gave me the privilege of raising this precious child. She is such a blessing.

4 years together

Addie-Mei and I have celebrated our 4th anniversary of being a family! She has blossomed into the sweet precious child I had prayed she would be. She loves the Lord, she is tenderhearted, she loves gymnastics and piano, and is just a joy to be around.

Addie-Mei is doing great in school. She is learning to read, enjoys math, and loves her teacher. It is hard to believe that her first year of school is almost over. Only 2 more months. She participated in her first science fair. She did a good job. She wanted to know which stain remover worked the best, so we had some fun destroying one of my tee-shirts.

We are looking forward to this summer, as we will finally be able to meet a few more of her Suixi sisters, other children from the same social welfare institute. We will be having a reunion in July, over her birthday, in Lancaster, PA. We will stay in Philly for another 5 days for a family vacation.

Addie-Mei and I are both involved in a passion play for Easter. It has been a long road and a lot of work, but it is so worth it. We are both very excited to serve our Lord in this way.

I will try to get the pictures we had taken this weekend uploaded. They turned out well.

So I missed a month...

OK, OK I know I missed September and almost all of October. SO I thought I would update for you die hards out there, mostly my family.

The week after Addie-Mei learned to ride her bike, she blessed me with the most wonderful announcement. As we were driving down the rode, she declared, "Mama, I want to ask Jesus into my heart." I was totally taken off guard, but was so excited to ask her all about her decision and make sure she knew what she was asking. When we got to where we were going, I sat her in my lap and helped her to ask Jesus to forgive her sins and ask Him to be her Savior. What a blessing to be witness to the most important decision she will ever make i her entire life. Praise God!!

The next week, she started kindergarten. She was so excited to go to her big girl school and ride the bus. We had met her teacher a couple of times before and she already decided she liked her a lot. It was a great day! I was able to stay home that day, put her on the bus, and be the one to pick her up. We went to the State Fair right from school and spent the whole afternoon and evening there.

School has been going very well for her. She is learning her words and is able to read at least 20 sight words. It is so neat to watch her grow. Gymnastics is also going very well. Last week, she FINALLY mastered the hand stand against the wall. She has been working so hard on this since January. When she kicked up, her face lit up like a Christmas tree. Her teacher and I both saw her HUGE grin on her face, upside down. Instead of ringing the bell for doing something well, she came running to me with arms open wide and that grin on her face. What a teachable moment. She is starting to see how hard work and perseverance pays off.

Addie-Mei gets to sing in the church choir this year! She is very excited about this as she has been coming to the adult practices for some time now. I am so thankful she is excited about things at church!! She loves her Awana program and memorizes at least a verse a week if not two! Keep it up sweetie!!!

We had a bought of illness last week and are still recovering. Addie-Mei is visibly weakened by being sick, but she is bouncing back.

I think that brings you all up to speed on our happenings down here!! I will get some pics up tomorrow.

Blessings,
Tamie

Proud Mama moment!!!

This pictures say it all!!! Note what is missing on the rear wheel of her little pink bike!!!!!! (no more training wheels for those slower than others :o) She concentrated so hard while she was riding, then when she stopped she had the cutest little giggle and the largest smile!! I am so proud of her. She blew her training wheels a kiss as we rode past the house. It was so cute!