For anyone interested Pics galore of our first day of school on our Home School Blog :)
http://trainupachild-dca.blogspot.com/2012/08/noahs-2012-2013-school-year-has-begun.html

sneak peak

Changes

So many changes around our house lately.  We no longer have nursing services.  Not sure If I have shared that here or not.  We had it for 10 months and it had some good times, some fun times, and then some other times. But the reason we do not have nursing is because it came to my attention the program we were in was for children who are homebound 24/7 and as we have not chosen that life for Jeremiah and choose to take him to the Park, the pool, the library, on walks, to play places, etc then it was not right for them to chart as if we were home when we were not.  Once I became aware of this and we prayed we put in our two week notice to stop nursing.  I would at some point love to have an aid or a mother's helper to help me with some lifting and to help put him on the slide, hand him to me in the pool or whirlpool when we are at one and can stretch him in there, and do therapy activities with him.  To be another set of hands to help open his hands to do handprints on a craft when we paint etc.  I do not have the funds at this point to pay someone to do any of that and I have not been able to find a place that offer's aids through insurance for chidren.  I will say I soo missed my baby when we had the nurse so much and so it was good to have him all to myself for a few weeks before more changes came into play.  

We made the decision at the end of the year last year that Jeremiah would attend a local therapy program at the public school.  The opportunity for him in this particular program, with this particular teacher and therapists was just too good for us to not give it a try.  This program is only available to us for this year and next.  Then if we stayed in the school system he would move to one of two different schools that have a severe and profound class and everything would be different.  We have met some parents that had children in these older child programs and were totally NOT impressed.  My goal is at that point to have him come home and have the finances to hire someone to assist me with his schooling during our homeschool day.  I would train them in stretching, therapy activities, etc.  and some things he would do along with Noah with modifications.  Again it is hard to predict what things will be like in 2 years but for now as long as he is doing well, progressing and not  staying sick we will continue this program.  Here are some pictures from his first day this past Monday Aug 13th!  I stayed with him the entire first day and trained everyone on what to do, then on Tuesday I started dropping and picking him up. Sigh.  I drop him between 7:35 and 7:45 depending on how the line works and then I pick him up at 12:15.  His stamina is not enough that we can do the full day at this point.  

Hoping you can see all these :)  It was so good for me to be there the first day, train them on what I needed too, meet with everyone that will be working with him including Main Teacher who has 28 years experience and a Master's degree in severe and profound children, 2 sweet para's in the classroom with him.  2 other para's trained in case the other's are not there, APE teacher, Speech Therapist , principal, and on and on it went.  They were all so friendly and excited to have Jeremiah there!  It put my heart and mind at ease :)  And to be there for Jeremiah to meet his 2 little classmates was so amazing!  His class has a ratio of 1 to 1 with 3 adults in it at all times :)  and the 3 little kids.  That was a gift from God because when we observed I think there were 8 children last year.  Jeremiah will also be having visual therapy once a week and OT one on one and also once or twice a week he will go to a sensory lab where everything will be modified for him to participate in all aspects! :)  Also, the teacher and para's are receiving training in Brain Gym to do with him!  he had a little of this last year with the teacher that came to the house once a week to work with him.  Now he will have it every day.  

Sunday our Church had a Back to School Fellowship the night before Jeremiah's first day!  Great timing.  We had a big potluck meal together and every student from preschool to master's degree student's were prayed for :)  Here are some pics from that night.

They gave each child a 7up with a little poem attached to it of 7 ways to have a great first week! ;)  Noah was so excited! :)  I love the shot where he has his hand over Jeremiah because they are gonna pray!  Pastor called them up from preschool thru 5th grade.  Then jr high and senior high, then college.   Then he would have the family come behind them to pray over them while everyone else did too.  I dont have pics of us behind the boys.   After all the students were done he called up all the teacher's and said Homeschool teachers too so Celeste sent me up there :)  It was an awesome night!  :)  I love that our Church puts such an emphasis on family and on education and praying for a good new year of school!  

 As most of you know, We had to cancel our trip to Chicago for the Taiwan R.O.C.ks family reunion and I was so devastated!  A dear friend Lisa was so sweet and sent us a little gifty in the mail to help us feel connected in some way to this year's event!  The boys LOVE their Taiwan R.O.C.ks tshirts :)  and they got some stickers and a blow up ball :)  Soo sweet! ;)

Aren't they cute?? :)  

Everything has changed with private therapy as well now that Jeremiah is in his class, and I will be starting school with Noah on Monday for our first year with 5 mornings a week full curriculum, and we will be starting a homeschool co-op in September and we have field trips and such to fit in as well.  So we finally got everything coordinated for both the private therapy for both boys and the home based school therapy that comes to work with Noah and this week started all that up :)  Here are a few pics of those :)

Jeremiah has regressed since this last surgery this summer so I am prayerful between private therapy and all the therapy at the school program that he will soar!

Noah so loves his Mrs. Kathy that has been his speech therapist last year and now this year!  He gets so excited when she comes.  His special instructor is different this year, BUT she is near and dear to our hearts! Maria is the FIRST person who ever worked with Noah when I very first brought him home from Taiwan :)  It is so cool having her back working with us and there sweet love for each other is even stronger now :)  I am blessed that I count both of the ladies friends of  mine as well so that makes for a great year for us all :)  Noah also started his private OT and PT again for this year and he feels so comfortable up there and is really progressing well!  Next week he will start APE back with a school therapist at our house who was Jeremiah's APE guy last year.  And a couple times each semester our favorite OT from the school Mrs. Amy will come out and see him too and will give Maria and I some tips on things to work with him on each week! I think this is going to be an amazing year for Noah and Jeremiah!!  

LOVE this and with my new love of butterflies to symbolize the new life the Lord is giving me in my journey to a better me I love this particular one of it even more! 

I also wanted to share that Noah had his speech re eval for the current year that placed him with expressive and receptive language at 3 years old!!!!  Yes, he is 5 years and 4 months old, BUT from where he started this is HUGE for him!!!  I am so excited and I can't wait to see all the progress he will make this coming year!  I am nervous and excited about our upcoming year that we begin Monday.  I am not really sure yet what to call our grade because I am doing some K5 stuff but some he is not ready for so it will be more preschool / K4.  Anyway, praying it all goes well! :)  

I also wanted to share that Bobby is now 8 weeks in to his railroad training!  It has had some tense and nervous moments to it but he is loving the railroad.  They pay so well, even for training!  It is helping us try and catch things up for us because everything is so far behind after the past year.  If we can stay afloat till October then everything should be ok.  Please be praying because he has at least 10 more weeks of training left.  He has tests in the training and he has to pass those with an 85 or above.  If not then they can retake the test the next day but then need a 90 or above to pass at that point.  If they do not pass one then their services are no longer needed by the railroad.  Kinda scary that you can loose your job but until training is totally complete there is no guarantee of a permanent job.  We are really having to learn to press into the Lord and trust that HE has this all under control.  More and more the Lord is showing me in so many areas that God is able!  I know it, I say it all the time, and I have seen it in healings, in bringing home my boys, but it is so true in EVERY area of life, and God cares about the big things and the little things too!!!  

I thank the Lord for the gift of my kids! All 3 of them!!!  I look at these boys and I think wow it really did happen!  God bridged the ocean and brought them home.  Taiwan really handed them to me and trusted me to be there mom! Wow! :)  God really sent me a husband!  An amazing husband, a Godly husband.  One who really does love and not hurt, abuse, and destroy his family.  A man that works so hard and will do whatever it takes to try and care for his family!  I saw this picture above and it is sooo true!  EVERY good gift does come from Father God!!!  I am learning more and more to see my heavenly Father as a Father!  He is shaping and molding me into the woman He has for me to be.  I feel like I have failed Him daily but I pray each day it is a little less than the day before!

I have so felt that things were crashing in on me in alot of ways lately!  THIS I am clinging too!  I hope this helps someone else who reads this blog and sees this too!  No matter what things look like ALWAYS remember...

GOD IS ABLE!!!!!!

Sisemore Family Update Summer 2012

I can't believe how long it has been since I have updated this blog!  I remember when I couldn't wait to come and share on the blog!  Facebook is nice but there are times I really miss blogging and especially reading those I love blogs!  Anyway , I thought I would share a bit about where we are with life at this point and of course for those faithful friends some pictures!! :)

Well after the rough year from Bobby loosing his job at the Police troop we have had many ups and downs. Much more downs but who is counting.  God has totally blessed us in this year and kept us afloat and blessed our hearts by using some good people!  Anyway this past June 25th Bobby began his new career with the railroad!!!  He is excited and blessed to be offered this position and is a few weeks in the training at this point.  The training last about 4 or 5 months and involves classwork as well at on the job training.  Alot he has to pass so we need major prayer during this time that he does well and they like him and all and he will continue in his job!  After he has been there 6 months they will reimburse him 80 percent to go to college and get his degree that then opens up promotion and such with the company! :)  That is so the plan!

Celeste and the babies are doing quite well!  Growing and changing before my very eyes!  I cant express how all 3 of my kids bless my heart on a daily basis!  All I EVER wanted was to be a wife and mother!  I thank the Lord daily for allowing my dreams to come true!  YES we still feel we are not done yet with building our family, and NO we are not announcing another adoption YET!  It will happen, but now is not the time.  So much on my heart for years to come so you will just have to stay tuned to us for several years to see what will come next on the horizon with that! :)

Celeste is working still as a Phlebotomist at a Medical Office building at the hospital and loving her newest assignment and schedule!  She is still dating her sweet boyfriend Dallas and active as ever in the Church and ministering wherever the Lord can use her.  I am so blessed to look upon her life as a young adult and see her living for the Lord!  I am BLESSED and LUCKY and I know it.  She is a tremendous big sister to these babies and will fight to the death for them I do believe if the need arose!  In addition to all of the above she is also in full time online college working diligently towards her Bachelors Degree for Youth Ministry!  I am ever amazed by this young woman of God that is my baby girl! :)

Noah is loving life and summer!  He is so into the $1 movie's we have been blessed to attend this summer and I see such growth in him from last summer in this area!  He is a sensitive little guy and there are alot of things that other 5 year olds might be able to go and see that just really upset Noah.  I am getting to a point where I can watch the trailer and know if it is going to work for me to take him.  He also loves the water this year!  He and his puddle jumper do great! Sadly we have not been able to go near as often as we would like but I am hoping to go quite a bit the rest of the summer at a local state park that has a pool and the entry is very affordable.  Noah is also very into "fwends"!  He adores play dates and running into friends at the movie or park or wherever we end up!  He loves everyone it seems!  Today I saw him stop and hug a random mom!  sigh!  Luckily she was an ok person and I was right there but I must say that scares me quite a bit that he at times seems to be so lovey and think everyone is a friend.  Then on the other hand if we go into a place and he doesn't know someone and they want to talk to him he clams up and gets shy!  It is like HOW is this the same kid.  One extreme to the other it seems!  Noah is so my helper around the house!  We have added some small chores and he takes them very much to heart and takes pride in them which is adorable to me! He even will help with things way above and beyond what is his job to do which is nice most of the time :)  He is growing like a weed.  We have him measured at 40 and half inches and he is 40 lbs at last weigh in.  BUT I am told that is probably not an accurate weight because of our bowel issues.  They have increased greatly.  We will be seeing 2 specialists in August to get some more information about some possible things going on with my sweet Noah so please be in prayer for us as we explore all this and hopefully find the answers we need.  We will be starting K4/K5 with him in the fall in our homeschool.  He is still developmentally delayed in multiple areas and also still dealing with some hearing loss and all so I am not totally sure how the year will go.  At this point my plan is for Math I have a K5 curriculum and for everything else we are doing more preschool/ K4 level things and going from there!  I am excited for the coming year and can't wait for all the things I am working on planning to happen! ;)

Jeremiah, my sweet frogie boy, amazes me!  He had surgery this summer on his hips and for the first time EVER we did NOT end up in PICU and were only the hospital over night! :)  He has grown so much and so some of the improvements he was making seem to have slowed or been lost as he adjusts to this new bigger and longer body!  I think it will all come back and then some as time goes on.  Feeding wise he does still have a gtube button.  But he is now eating 3 meals a day!  He has to have it pureed and then thickened!  Just  recently I started trying "Thick It" rather than baby rice cereal to thicken and I am loving it and he seems to do even better and it does not affect his bowel movements as much.  I am also entering a stage of trying to do my own blended foods for him when I do have to supplement down the gtube rather than the Compleat Pediatric he is currently been taking.  We have not had any of the packaged formula in about 5 days and he is doing so good with it all.  I have so much to learn but I am feeling like real foods will be so much better for him.  We have had a nurse for Jeremiah through a program for the past 10 months.  I was nervous to start nursing and had many reasons brought to my attention why it would be a goo thing.  Some of those things happened and some did not but overall it was a good experience.  It came to my attention recently that this program that we were a part of was for children who are totally homebound.  Like go nowhere but drs and such.  Well, that is not the life we have chosen for Jeremiah.  We do not feel it is in his best interest to stay at the house constantly while we go on with life.  We go to Church, We go to the park, the science museum, the pool, and anywhere we feel like it.  Well, it turns out all this time when things have been charted about Jeremiah and his day the nurse was not allowed to put that such and such happend at the park, she could put what happened but not where it happened.  She was to make the notes appear as if he was not leaving the house.  Well, when  found this out it really bothered me and we began praying about things.  So 2 weeks ago we were at Church during service and I felt in my heart a LOUD message from the Lord that YES this is wrong and YES I should not be a part of something that was being done that broke the rules of the program.  Of course I knew this and I am ashamed to say that I did not cancel the service the second I found out.  Anyway that day I felt the Lord tell me to give my 2 week notice that day.  So on a Sunday I texted the case manager and put in the notice.  Today was the nurse's final day.  I can't tell you the peace I have about our decision.  Am I worried about not having any physical help with lifting the chair and all.  YES.  But I know that this the right thing for our family and God will take care of us! :) I would appreciate prayers for us as we make the best choices and try to give Jeremiah all we can :)  I feel like in so many ways after 2 years home that I am still learning what to do for him, how to reach him, how to help him, etc.  I feel alot with both the babies that I fail them and I need to get better at this quickly!  Another change that is going to happen for Jeremiah is that August 13th he will start going to the local school each morning for a therapy program.  This decision was made several months ago after alot of prayer with Bobby and I and some observing and meetings with the school.  This is a trial.  I am praying it works out for Jeremiah.  It finally came down to it in my mind.  If our private therapy place called me up and said they wanted to give Jeremiah therapy every day Monday through friday from 8 to 12, work with him with communicaton devices and all his current objectives and more and it was all free, all I had to do was bring him would I turn it down? Well, how I can turn down therapy for a child that so needs it, that so needs as much brain stimulation to increase the length of his life as possible. The teacher in his little class has 28 years experience and a degree in severe and profound children!  She probably is WAY better at knowing what Jeremiah needs than me in so many ways.  Anyway, I am scared and sad to not have my baby with me all the time, but at the same time I feel like I have to give it a try because I feel like I would be wrong to take the opportunity away from him.  Now, if we start having alot of illness or if he does not seem to handle it well then we will have to rethink things.  I would appreciate y'alls prayers for him during this time please.  Jeremiah is getting bigger and stronger every day :)  He is 36 inches tall and 29 lbs now! :)  Not bad for a 4 year old who was soo tiny just 2 years ago.

Well, there you are the update!  I know its long but there is probably alot I forgot to put in that I should have! :)  Now, let me find yall some pics from the past month or 2.

Jeremiah LOVES to go! :)  He almost always (unless he is having a totally unresponsive day :( which are fewer lately) smiles when we take him outside or when we put him in the car seat! :) 

Noah in OT one day.  He is getting better with the special earphones and cd's that play while he is working.  This is our family in potato heads! :)  heehee

More OT

Smiling Frogie :)

Bobby and I had the Nursery one night :)  Jeremiah loved being outside during the playtime and hearing the kids play and feeling the little breeze there was on his face :)

Some of the kids will come up and talk to him :) This is my friend's daughter Noah!  She is such a compassionate little thing :)

Noah looked so cute to me this day :)  Wish this shot came out better.

$1 movie fun!  Breakfast Picnic during the movie :)

Noah packed to go to the hospital for an unexpected surgery.  He is so happy here, little did he know what the following few days would hold for him :(

He is so big!! :)  He wanted to take his own suitcase :) 

Waiting for me to get Jeremiah out of the van and in his wheelchair :)  Such a big boy :)

his good friend Josh came to see him before surgery :)

so blessed to have friends come by and bring stickers and things for him to do :)

hugging his elmo before surgery.  he is not asleep but groggy and sad.  :(

Showing Sissy his boo boo from the iv.  I ADORE this picture!!!  So sweet!

more $1 summer movie fun  with friends :) 

Love his hand on his friend :)

look at his head!!!! :)  holding up so strong!

sweet siblings :)

Noah is sooo into dublo blocks now!  I can't wait to get him some more :)  He is showing off what he made! :)

my beautiful frogie boy! :)

Big smile! :)

Father's Day 2012 :)  Daddy and his boys! :)

Fathers day 2012 

Father's day 2012

This picture cracks me up!  The school loaned us an ipad for a bit.  Noah has become SOOOO attached to it.  He calls it "my pad pad" LOL  Well he is gonna freak when I have to give it back.  I will say an ipad is so on my list for both boys!!! I can't tell you how much Noah is learning from all the apps and Jeremiah too! :)  so wonderful :)  Jeremiah is actually entered in a contest to prayerfully win one! praying for that!

My amazing friend Tina and her sweet princess! :)  I was blessed by Macaroni Kid Shreveport and the sponsors thereof  with some wonderful blessings and this was taken the day they came and brought it all :)  Tina helped them pull off the surprise :) 

Mini family reunion! :)  Noah hanging out with cousins :)

Love to watch my kids together :)

Look how long my boys are! :)  

Noah at VBS with Aunt Michelle! 

This day was soo funny! First day of VBS and I said let me get your picture!  He began posing like he was American's Next Top Male Model!  LOL

is that post not hilarious?? :)

another similar :)  cracks me up :)

another shot with Aunt Michelle :) Love his beautiful smile :)

I LOVE THIS!!  He is telling another little boy to SHUSH cuz the leader was talking! :)  heehee

Jeremiah is getting so strong that when his tone was really high and he would lean forward we would have to put the chest strap on his chair.  Well when we did that he was pushing against it and almost hurting himself bad so they had to change it to a different kind!  Jeremiah decided to sleep through the guy fitting it :)  heehee

to cute seeing Noah with the kids :) I loved coming each day for the closing time and seeing all he learned during VBS each day :)

Jeremiah loving the music too :)

He really liked this song! :)

Noah got a happy package from friends!! :)  He loves to get mail! :)

this was tooooo sweet! :)

look at that smile :)  LOVE :)

He LOVES stickers and sticker books! :)

Daddy with some stuff from the railroad!! :)  

Our family the night we were blessed with a catered and served to us supper!  I can't tell you what a sweet blessing this was!!!  It was given to us by Catering by Yvette as one of the sponsors of Macaroni Kid Shreveport who blessed us with so many things recently! I can't wait till we are finanically back on our feet!  I will be using this catering service for sure again for us and I will also pay it forward and gift someone else with a night like we had! :)  

Well, I have tons more pics of the last couple months but I am sure yall are tired of this post by now so I reckon I will close.  Please leave me a comment and let me know you are reading! :)  God bless!

Until I post again, the babies I sent kisses in the wind so many years send you all, our friends, kisses in the wind!