Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving from The Sisemore's!!  I have so been bad with this blog :(  Even if nobody is reading it, it is a scrapbook of our life and now there are BIG gaps.  What was I thinking :(  There is so much I need to update but for today I will just share Thanksgiving!! If you are reading along PLEASE comment and let me know!! I so miss the old days of blogging in so many ways!  Anyway here you have Thanksgiving 2013 in pics! :)

Watching the parade this morning!

Noah was beside himself with excitement over Santa Claus in the parade!! :)

What a day it was!  My stove has been out for over a year and I have worn out several other type cooking items in that time but we had everything figured out to make all the food today we needed and then BAM  electricity in my kitchen went out. Well not the entire kitchen. We had lights and the stove that is broke had power!  IRONIC huh!  but all the outlets to plug things in are gone and the fridge outlet gone.  No clue why :(  A friends hubby came to try and help and was not able to figure it out but he brought extension cords so we cooked with things plugged in other rooms and run to the roasters and then we had a small roaster on a card table in the living room.  It was one handed down and I burned myself pretty bad on it.  By the hardest we finally got our meal made!!  We had turkey, cornbread dressing, green bean casserole, gravy, rolls, and stuffed eggs.  

Noah pointing at the mini Chocolate  pies he helped make :)  We also had bakery pumpkin pie and bakery pecan pie tarts.  Did not try baking this year with so little things to cook in. 

My handsome boys!!! :)

So thankful for my amazing frogie boy!!!! His smile lights up a room!!! I love how he loves me!!!  and how he loves God!!! I sit and watch his face sometimes at Church!! That boy sees things that we just do not see and I believe he is closer to God than any of us!!!! I am honored the Lord allowed me to be his mom!!! I feel in so many ways that I fail this baby boy and the Lord but I will spend my life trying to give all I can for him and savor every second I have with him!!!

Jeremiah Harold Sisemore (5 years and 8 months old) and Mommy

Thankful for my sweet Panda!!!  This boy so has my heart!!! When I was going through surgery and such a hard time wanting babies with my sweet hubby it was spoken over me that the Lord said she will have the child of her heart! And oh my I so do in this boy!! He challenges me to my core at times and I have had to learn so much in order to be the best mom I can to this boy but oh my he has my heart!! I learned so much about myself and God in our journey to adopting Noah! I never knew before that I could fall in love with a child I had never even met and do anything it took to help that child! I am so thankful God called us to Taiwan and to my Panda Boy. Noah I love you with all my heart!!

Noah WesLee Sisemore ( 6 years 7 months old) and Mommy

Me and my girl!!! I so love this beautiful child!!! She is the one that made me what I always wanted to be, a mommy!!!  I look at her and am so amazed by the woman of God she is! She is so brave, so smart, so beautiful, so loving, and so Jesus with skin on for so many!!  She also has a way of getting me to laugh so hard sometimes!!  She usuallly can get me to laugh even in bad times! :)

Celeste Gayle Sisemore (25) with me

I adore this man!!!! I am so thankful for him!!! He brought such love to my life and he shared my vision and dream of adopting and orphan ministry!! As he prayed today over our meal I looked from face to face of those who are now in my life that would not have been had God not blessed me with Bobby and my children! God is so good!!!

Mr and Mrs. Bobby L. Sisemore

FIRST DAY of Kindergarten

http://trainupachild-dca.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-first-day-of-kindergarten-aug-19.html

Kindergarten is racing our way! Blog redirect

http://trainupachild-dca.blogspot.com/2013/07/kindergarten-is-racing-our-way-2013-2014.html

overwhelming gratitude...Jeremiah's 3rd Gotcha Day

Tears... they stream down my face as I try to compose myself enough to write this post.  I have been a bad blogger and keep saying I will get to it. It is our story, my kids story, their testimony to what God has done for them and for us as a family.. Yesterday I was too upset and overwhelmed to write his post.  Yesterday was 3 years since Jeremiah was placed in our arms 3 years ago across the ocean in Taiwan.  I am always forever thankful to the Lord for my children and I am forever thankful that even though Jeremiah was so so sick when he came home that I sit here 3 years later with my little frogie boy!  But this year it is meaning more and more to me.  You see in the past 24 hours I have heard of 2 different families who made their journey around the world to bring home their little ones who waited and were so in need of medical care but their children did not live once home :(  It overwhelms me for them.  I know the fear they felt in PICU rooms, looking into the face of that child you longed for so long as you waited for the formalities to be over so you could bring them home.  I can't even fathom what these families are going through at this point.  I feel a bond, a connection with them and it does remind me of Jeremiah's 'prognosis for survival' but I know that I can not comprehend what they are feeling.  At the time Jeremiah fought for his life in a PICU here there was another family I knew that had a daughter fighting and she lost her fight.  I was devastated!  That is NOT how these stories are supposed to end :(  Yesterday when I was in tears when I realized I forgot that it was the 7th and that had let Jeremiah's Gotcha Day come and had made no plans and no celebration or anything.  That is a huge deal in our home and for me to just not even think about it till it is late in the day the day of it was so upsetting to me.  Then I heard about the first family and their loss of their son the morning after they came home!  It changed from anger at myself for not remembering to massive gratitude yet again that Jeremiah is still here with me! and that despite all the dr's opinions and all the tests opinions he is thriving and growing.  I am so incredibly blessed that I get to be a part of his life.  I remember sitting in PICU and crying out to God when he was dying and they are rushing around fighting for him and said I do not understand God!  Please please please let him live ... at least let him make it home so he can know what family is,, what home is, what love feels like from a family.  and then I would say not my will but YOURS but PLEASE PLEASE let YOUR will be what mine is!  It was a minute by minute battle of tears and prayers.  And I sit her 3 years later totally amazed that not only did Jeremiah make it out of PICU and home to experience even for a short while he is still here.  I do not know why Jeremiah got to live or why I got to be the mama that had the baby that is now famous at our hospital, but may I ALWAYS remember and be thankful for every second I have with my sweet Frogie Boy!  Some days I get emotional because I so want to know what he thinks and feels in words, I so wish he could pick up a toy and play, he could crawl and chase after his brother and friends, I could still feed him by mouth and the list goes on, but then I remember that he has more joy than most people who do all that and more!  He is happy, he coos and lets us know in so many ways that he knows us and he loves us.  He thanks us when we do things for him I can just see it and feel it in him.  I am not sure this post is making much since at all but I could not just come on and make a happy Gotcha Day post with so much going on in my heart and mind and  knowing these families are hurting so badly.  Please keep them in your prayers! Now I will post a few pictures for yall.  I thank each and every one who still reads my blog when I post and everyone who prayed and supported us in our journey to get our boy and through all the hospital times!  Overall Jeremiah is doing above and beyond expectation.  We made it through the winter with NO pneumonia or PICU stays!  He has an ear infection right now but other than that is doing great.  He broked 30 lbs!!  all the way to 31 lbs 10 oz! :)  He is 38 inches long and wearing 3T and 4T clothes.  He is totally on tube feeding now because of silent aspiration witnessed on a swallow study that make it unsafe to feed him by mouth anymore.  His tone seems to be worsening with age but I am prayerful that we can find a way to help that.  We have lost our specialists and so are waiting for appts with a cerebral palsy and spasticity clinic in Houston in August.  As always Jeremiah's favorite person is Noah :)  He continues to recognize our voices and respond and is doing better with tracking red objects at times :)  now on to  some pictures.

In our arms in Taiwan :)  June 7, 2010

Newspaper article in Taiwan paper after the press conference when we picked up Jeremiah!  The orphanage wanted to show the Taiwanese people our "Great Love" that we would travel so far and go through so much to adopt a sweet boy with such severe needs.  Little did they know that we were the ones who were so grateful to them for allowing us to be his family! :)

Some of our time in PICU.  The top left picture is not the worst.  For a long while I would not post pictures of him at his worse even though I was asked many times... now those pictures I took for his testimony are stuck on a broken computer so we do not even have them now.  The next picture is SOME of the tubes that were going to Jermeiah, bottom left is his Big brother and sister holding his hand after one of the really scary times when we had been allowed back in,, and the bottom right is close to day 31 when we are almost ready to go home!

off the vent and back in mama's arms

Family picture.  this was one of those days where nothing went right, noah was scared of the photographer and the photographer had no patience but we have a family picture!

smiley boy

Many faces of Jeremiah

brothers :)

hayride

farm field trip

library song time

Cheering brother on at tball

Gymboree Birthday Party

singin

Collage I made for his birthday :)

more at the farm

library shaking Maracca

turning and grinning because he heard Daddy come in and speak!

Sleeping on mama one day

Ready for Easter Sunday Service

finally resting after a day of screaming episodes :(

This morning all ready for a celebration of 3 years as a Sisemore :)

T-Ball has entered our life!

NOAH has started TBALL!!!  I am LOVING IT!!  We have sorta practiced a few times with friends to get him ready but yesterday evening was his FIRST EVER TBALL PRACTICE!!! :)  He is with the team The Blanchard Blaze! :)  and his number is going to be number 6!! So below are some pics I made at practice!! My Panda Boy is growing up!!!!!  I am a TBALL MOM!!!  Wish I had a tshirt! :) heehee

sharing

So thought I would post and share where things are with us.  We are in need of prayer.. seems I say that alot lately and seems that some are offended by that.  If you are reading this blog and are offended I am sorry.  My hope is by sharing here on the blog the folks that come here to read want to know what is going on and are not going to be going to all the trouble to read our blog and then think bad things about us.  Anyway...

Bobby is still searching for a job.  He has an interview tomorrow morning at 10:45.  We are praying hard this job works out!  It seems to be a good thing and so we are praying the Lord will show us if this is what He has for Bobby.  He is applying for things continually but not being called much for interviews.  It seems like alot of competition even for minimum wage jobs. We do covet your prayers for this area of our life!  We do have our thirty-One business that we started!  We need prayer for it to do well also.  I have several parties going right now.  One will end in time for our 30 day mark but if I do not get more sales on it then I wont be able to close it as a party and I wont earn my first start swell kit.  PLEASE pray that it will pick up and quickly as it closes February 10th!  Go HERE TO TARYN'S PARTY to see some of our items and please share her party link with others!! We have 35 items that are under $20 so if we had quite a few folks come and spend even small bits it will add up! :)

I also am in need of prayer for a big decision.  Bobby and I are prayerfully moving forward.  My insurance company is doing a study where they will pay for 200 weight loss surgeries. My name was put in a lottery quite a while back and I found out today that my name was drawn as one of the ones out of all the entries that has been chosen!  So Feb 14th I need to be in Baton Rouge for my first screening.  If I pass that then I will come home for a few weeks and a few days after I get home I will start a liquid diet for 2 weeks.  Then I will go back to Baton Rouge  in about 2 or 3 weeks from the first visit and have the 2nd screening. They will decide which other appts I needs (cardio, sleep study, etc) and then when all evals and screenings are done my information goes before a surgical review board.  They will decide if I am safe for surgery and which surgery is the best and safest one for me.  There are 3 options.  the lapband, the sleeve and the bypass.  I will not have a choice, they decide what is best for me.  Then we will meet with the surgeon and begin the process.  PLEASE be praying that we will know if this is what the Lord has for me or not and that the right surgery will be chosen and all will go well if I do have the surgery.  It has been pointed out that at this weight (339 lbs) that my heat could give out at any time. sigh  and so yes surgery is dangerous but so is living with 200 plus extra pounds!  Imagine doing everything in our day with a 200 lb person on top of you.  Anyway please please pray for this entire process for us.

Not sure if I updated yall since the boys appointments in lafayette.  Jeremiah is doing pretty good.  They think the decline may be from too much seizure meds so he is being weaned off depakine and going to be just on one med for now and see how it goes.  He is more alert and responsive so we are blessed by that!  We found out he is aspirating when he swallows so all by mouth feeds are d/c!  I can't tell you the tears I have cried over this :(  I miss feeding him and it hurts me for him to not get to experience that part of life.  So many events in life involve food. sigh.  but I want him safe so we are bollusing through the mic-key button 3 times a day.  We have added a bit of baby oatmeal to his compleat pediatric to make sure he is not refluxing because the GI is concerned. We are so battling his little bowels and not wanting to use miralax daily because of the concern about it.  I have a call into the dr on that.

Noah still has some bowel issues and we have regressed in his bowel training again and having more and more accidents.  I am trying to not freak and be patient. I am thinking a trip to GI is coming soon for both boys.  Noah was diagnosed high functioning autism by the Neuro on our trip.  I am not positive I agree with the diagnosis but we are looking into what it means and what therapies are available.  Good news came on one therapy today so we are waiting on word about that.

Please keep praying for all of our family and thank you to any who are reading and praying.  Feel free to email me anytime :)  and I am on FB tamijoysisemore@aol.com for anyone interested in just day to day visiting.

God bless,
Tami

Needing some help and some prayers!!!

Hi all :)  THANK YOU SO MUCH to the friends that still follow along, email me and ask how we are, send words for prayer and encouragement, etc!  We soooo appreciate you all!  We are still in massive need of prayer.  This not having a job for so long is not going well.  Bobby is subbing as a custodian at the schools BUT the first pay does not come till FEB 15th for everything worked in January.  In addition to that the pay is VERY VERY LOW.  We are prayerful it will turn to an actual position with higher pay but we have no way of knowing. He did not sub thursday to go to an interview for another part time saturday job to proctor ACT testing but the interviewer got sick and was not there.  He took advantage of the day off to go and gather some applications and talk to more places.  PLEASE PLEASE be praying for us!  Bobby and I together have started a Thirty- One Gifts business!  We are praying this goes really well and will help along!  If you have heard of thirty - one and are saying I dont use tote bags it is WAY more than just tote bags though they have those too and the best quality!  Its tote bags, purses, wallets checkbook covers, and tons of organizational stuff etc.  The personalization stuff is awesome!  They have little expressions now which is like the things where you build your family to put on your product.  Anyway PLEASE check out or website and see if there might be something you would love, or contact me about doing an online or catalog party!  and please share our site with others!! We REALLY NEED Customers and parties booked!  If you book a party you can earn free products!  How great is that! :)  

This is what I made for January to seek hostesses for my parties! :)  I do not know what the hostess rewards will be for February parties but I know it will be great! 

and this is a button I made for our FB page for our business :)  you like??

Now on to what most of you really want to see :)  PICS :)  I am doing a thing on FB where I am doing a picture collage each day and writing a bit about our day!  My hope is at the end of the year I have a kinda scarpbook to print of our 2013!  Health wish I have not been feeling well so somedays are better than others with this.  Here are some from the past week or so :)  Would love to hear comments on what you think :) If you have seen on fb sorry but I was told there are folks who come to the blog that do not check the FB every day and some are not even on fb at all.  soo here you go guys!

These were some cute ones of Jeremiah snuggling with Celeste and of Noah eating my shirt while we waited for Jeremiah's EEG down south!  He is such a funny dude!  And that is an in and out bag that I earned from Thirty-one!  They really encourage and reward us!!!!

 

LOVE this one!  the one on the left is Noah tellin me I wuv you with all my heart! Then the top right is at our community group praying over Noah about medical trip coming up and the bottom right is Jeremiah being happy at that same event :)

Top left GUMBO at my fav place in Lafayette! Prejeans!  then a few shots of Noah and Jeremiah at the restaurant.  This was after all our dr visits, tests, news, etc.  and then the picture of my feet after I finally got home.  It was hard to tell in pic but feet ankles and even up to my knees were and still are swollen bad! This trip was a mixture of news.  Some still not completely over yet so I will save that till we know for sure what is going on with that.  The Neuro did decide Noah does NOT have spina bifica occulta according to the spine MRI even though he does have a sacral dimple and other symptoms.  He also diagnosed Noah with high functioning Autism.  I am not totally sure I agree with that diagnosis but that is what they said.  He is not classic at all and we were educated at length about what Autism daignostic standard is and what specific things made this diagnosis and so we have alot to digest.  Jeremiah had some medication changes and we found he was aspirating severly so even though we both enjoy his by mouth feeds so much we have had to stop ALL by mouth feeds.  It is possible in the future with alot of really good therapy and a good feeding program if I can find one that he may be safe to try again later after a passed swallow study but for now we are to bollus 3 times a day formula and a little baby cereal to help that stay down and not risk aspiration by reflux.  Also some changes were made to his meds to hopefully help the decline going on with him.  We have to go back early march for genetics for both boys and orthopedics for Jeremiah that is desperate because of his hip and back.  Not sure at this moment HOW that trip is happening but we are trusting God.  Please keep both boys in prayer and soon I will have some more to share about some other things revealed during MRI.

just a fun day at home! :)  Noah loves Emergency on tv :)  and dancing :) Jeremiah on his space blanket and smiling 

on the left is Noah singing in school one day and doing movements, top right is therapy at home with special instructor and bottom left is Noah with therapy dogs at Grace Respite Night we are blessed to have once a month Jan thru Oct.

This was yesterday.  Noah dancing again on the left and Noah and Jeremiah rocking on the left bottom and the top left is our business cards that came yesterday!! :)

School days with the babies!

This was a LONG day.  Fittings for AFO, wrist splints and elbow immobilizers for Jeremiah and then a dr appt for Noah who started feeling really bad.  His o2 sats were down and he had really bad bronchitis.  The foot was an injury when I feel down the ramp that morning!  You name it , it went wrong that day!

For those who have been around a LONG time.  Who remembers me babysitting the newborn twins before Noah came home?? :)  We saw them a little when Noah was first home and they came to a party and all but have not really seen then alot but recently their mom and I met back up on FB. :)  And this past Monday evening we babysat them and their 2 older sisters!  Noah had a blast and I LOVED having them again! :)  So did my heart good :)

These were taken day one of our trip to Lafayette for dr appts.  2 of them are taken through an aquarium at the hospital :)  the other is Jeremiah gettin hooked up for EEG

This was last Saturday.  Our Thirty-One start up kit arrived , I spent the day laminating stuff for lapbooks I am making for school and the bottom right was a picture I made at my mary kay party! :)

My adorable boys

Here are some of the bags we have!  There are tons more items too but just thought I would share a few pics of some stuff!

 Thanks for listening guys!  PLEASE keep us in prayer for health, finances, job, the business, and me personally for multiple things!  I really appreciate you all! :)