Being grateful!

....and we moved again. Yes, we could have stayed in our first miracle home till January, but decided to move right after Christmas (to another miracle missionary house) so the kids could get adjusted before they had to go back to school. At first  though we were thinking of moving right before Christmas, but some very wise friends (also missionaries who had a period when they had to move a lot) spoke truth into our life's reminding us that Christmas is just not the same for the children in a brand new home. Very grateful for sound advice!
So we enjoyed Christmas in the environment we had gotten used to and moved afterwards with the help of our family. Now that is something new and wonderful...to have family help. Very Grateful to be surrounded by aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents! 
 
In the past month all our energy went into job searches and relocating our family. It is not easy and we need your prayer and support.

Ana: always seems to be going back into the habit of taking her diaper off with poop in it when she is in a unfamiliar new home. That means piles and piles of very dirty laundry almost daily for the first two weeks. We try to be on top of it and use this as a opportunity to continue to potty train her, but with two other kids, cooking, and doing other (move-in) routines, she will have a few unsupervised moments every day. We are waiting for a appointment with a Developmental Pediatrician to get help through a Behavioral Specialist. 
Lydia: is now full time at Ben Lippen. Our new home is much further away from both schools. Since we cannot get transportation for Ana, it is easier to pick up both girls around the same time so we do not have to pay a lot for gas. Lydia is trying so hard to be strong and happy and encouraging to all of us (beyond her years, really!) but her anxiety shows itself in nightmares and tears at school.
Caleb: is active! Very active. Just a fun little 2 year old, interested in everything, eating everything but the food on his plate, much more courageous then his mother and just happy and carefree. If we both find jobs we will have to find care for him.
 
Our time frame for Germany is now to be there some time in summer 2014. We are thankful for many new friends and people who are interested in the path God is leading us.
With this new time frame, we are now getting to the place where we urgently need jobs, since we do not want to live off our savings.
Richard: has two very exciting possibilities - we will know more by the end of January. 
Simone: Is looking to expand her teaching. There are several part-time jobs that have to be considered and decided on.
When times are different then what you expected them to be, when your dreams are put on hold, when God's answer is WAIT and you don't quite understand why, it is easy to start complaining. But over the past years of God revealing himself faithfully to me as a women and mother I know that focusing on the things he IS providing right now will immediately lift my spirits and I start living with a grateful spirit. I know that Emmanuel - GOD IS WITH US - is with us.
 
In the meantime we create a family routine that will become normal where ever in the world we are, serving our faithful God and trusting in his lead.

Grateful that the kids are content, love each other and are healthy.

(This is Lydia, hiding in Ana's sensory sock...)

Grateful for a successful surgery. (Permanent ear tubes and a hearing test which she passed with flying colors. No hearing loss!) 

 

Grateful that this did not happen to the trailer while we were traveling 3000 miles from CA to SC....

Grateful for going ice-skating in flip-flops, finding a snowman on the beach,

 

and taking pictures of our name on Street Road signs....

Grateful to spend time with family!

Grateful for going from no-shave November to this....

(no comment!)

Grateful for part-time work!

Grateful for a brand-new, fenced-in back yard to explore and a helmet that fits Caleb's head (found at the new house....)

 Grateful for free tickets to a very "exciting" basketball game!

Grateful for Chick-fil-a!!!!

And grateful for a personal interior designer.

What's going on right now...Prayer request!

So whats going on right now at the Moore House? 

We just came back from a Joni and friends Camp at Mission Springs.

 It was one more week of gloriously awesome and beautiful fellowship. An example of heaven on earth. A picture of inclusion, caring and servant hood. We were spoiled beyond measure by the STM's (short term missionaries) who watched our children. They loved them and made this week unforgettable for us. Lydia is now old enough to understand how special this time is and was in tears when we drove away missing her friend Jenny. Ana did not understand anymore why she started hearing words like: "stay here..." or "no you can't just role on the floor anywhere you go", when mommy and daddy took over.. Lindsey was the person who cared for Ana. Ana was free to go from  ball pit to swing to water game to jump house.... And Lindsey followed her around and let her have the time of her life.
And our little Caleb was in love with his STM Liana and ended up showering her with kisses and hugs and even fell asleep in her arms or while she was pushing the stroller.
I don't have words! "THANK YOU" is coming from the deepest part of our heart.

For those of you with special needs kids or parents..you should truly consider going to one of these family camps! There is nothing like it out there!
http://www.joniandfriends.org/family-retreats/

Today we are back home. 

Richard is working the afternoon at a wedding and I have the kids by myself. It is pretty calm but Ana did have a poop accident, fortunately contained to her room but never the less, very smelly. I don't know how to get that carpet clean again. She has gotten into the habit of taking her diaper off after a bowel movement and then.....I don't need to say more.... I just can't be around her every second...and most of the time she does very well....until something like this happens.
It makes me sad, because I know she does it because she can't stand the feeling of a full diaper (don't blame her...) but can't communicate or call me to help her. As easy as she is often these moments are very difficult!

Also, I am trying to sell our furniture on Craigslist. Right now it is our large wardrobe (PAX from IKEA), a large red corner sleeper sofa (EKTORP from IKEA), and a living room table from the 70's. We had our first garage sale and I made the mistake of keeping some stuff here to sell at the next garage sale. And now it is driving me crazy because it is cluttering up the already very cluttery (I know....cluttered is the word I should use by I like "cluttery") living room...

So that is where we are right now....

Lydia is about to help me make dinner...mashed potatoes and hotdogs....All the ways hotdogs are used in our house are quite remarkable and Caleb has figured out how to turn the microwave on and off and on and off....always with a scream of delight ("YEAHY"), thank you very much! And Ana is mad because I locked her out of her room since the carpet is full of .... you know what.
I really don't know how to clean it. I sprayed it with Oxi-clean spray and am washing the linens and the cover and the pillow...yup all had a distinct coloring....And then she got into the jar of peanut butter...but that is a story for another day....





If you would pray for us at this time of transition: 

- Pray for a week without stress
- Pray that our furniture can be sold for a descent prize.
- We are going to Chicago on Sunday the 23rd of June till the 29th of June, for a Missionary training week. Pray for a safe trip and kids that are sleeping ok in a (again) new environment. Oh, and I so hope the beds are not too hard....but that is minor since I realized that if you are exhausted you start to sleep anywhere....
- Please pray for me since I am leading worship during this week.
- I am grateful that Caleb is eating a bigger verity of food. Makes life a bit easier.

The "not quite here" - and the "almost gone" - life

I was able to learn about a blog written by a Missionary to an Asian country. The title of the blog is "Stressed-out Missionary". In her blog she writes about the turmoil and ups and downs of culture shock. What I really appreciated was her honesty about anger. I struggle with anger. Often I am angry at myself for not being able to keep up with housework a little better, or not having time to hang out with friends. I am angry to have to stay at home and I am angry to have to leave home to go to work. Most of all I am sometimes angry that things are not easy. I do not want to stand on the path of patience and endurance. I want things for once to be quick and easy... and I am scared of the reality of fundraising. 

Yes it is hitting home. Support raising is a exhausting emotional roller-coster. I am constantly praying to not loose friends over this but that might have already happened. We are starting our family on such a new path! To do that step fully I have to start saying goodby to those parts of my life that have been a wonderful constant companion...like the places I work, the students I teach, the hours I invested to prepare for worship at Creekside, the hours I sang with my good friend Maranatha, leading worship at women's bible studies, or the most recent women's retreat, the hours I spend on the Freeways I 580, or I 880. The moments spend at the small Safeway Store on Bancroft and Dutton....all is coming to an end.

So we are getting to know a whole new life. The life of a "not quite here anymore" and the "almost gone" life. Even though I am an adventurous person I do like to plan. I like to know that there are friends waiting on the other side, and even though I know there are new friends I am not ready to let go and not ready to invest in a different form of friendship.

Having written all this, I have to say I had to smile while I read the blog "Stressed-out Missionary". I laughed out loud when I read that she threw her bike in the sand and screamed at her kids....Really? Missionaries do that?
Yes, and Missionary candidates do that too. We are not extra holy....maybe we are sometimes extra hole-ie...our brain that is....because we have too much going on and we forget that we are not alone in this. I am so very grateful for the support that has already come in, and is continuously coming in. I am grateful for the encouragement that we see through the friends that are sticking around. I am grateful for the closeness this new adventure has brought to our small family of 5. And I am grateful for the prayer support that is lifting us up when we just threw our bike in the sand and screamed at our children.

"For this reason, since the day YOU heard about us, please don't stop praying for us. Please continually ask God to fill us with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives..." Colossians 1:9
"We want to live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,  being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that we may have great endurance and patience." Colossians 1:11

One of my biggest wishes for myself and my family during this time of support raising is, that we may remain thankful and joyful just like it says in Colossians 1. That we can build on the knowledge that in our weakness HE, our wonderful father, is strong. That we are not walking this path alone but leaning on his everlasting arms. We do not have to do this out of our own strength. This is not coming from a overdeveloped sense of adventure, but out of a calling that there is more to do for us and our family; that this is not the end but the beginning.

CONTACT US

Richard and Simone Moore
Ana (10), Lydia (7), Caleb (4)

rmoore@teachbeyond.org
smueller-moore@teachbeyond.org
www.richardandsimonemoore.blogspot.com

German Address
Ziegelstraße 8
74900 Kandern
Germany

American Address
Richard and Simone Moore
2025 Cedar Springs Road
Blythewood, SC 29016
USA

TeachBeyond
PO Box 6248
Bloomingdale, IL 60108-6248
Tel 630-324-8177 / 1-800-381-0076
Fax 630-324-8198
info@teachbeyond.org
www.teachbeyond.com

The Privilege of Raising a Child With Special Needs...

My brother came to visit. He had gone to Peru to check out a possibility for himself and his family to work at a hospital in a small village in the Andes mountains. Samuel is a anesthesiologist but his heart has always been beating for missions. As we talked through his thoughts on Peru I reflected on our path that led us to finally follow God's calling to go to Germany. Just like Samuel we always had a passion for Missions. We knew that there would be a day we would go. We started going, stepping out in small steps through our English Camps we started at Creekside Community Church. Every time we saw the need in Germany our heart was aching. 
I personally grew up on the mission field. My parents were missionaries to the Chuuk Islands in Micronesia. We stayed on one of the outer island called Polowat. My memories of missions work and living in a foreign country are filled with wonder and amazement. When we returned to Germany I knew God was calling me, but I also had the feeling he was calling me to a "first world country". I kind of felt bad about that for going to a first world country. It looked like I wanted the comfort and security of all the fancy things these kind of societies can offer.
Well,
and then we had Ana.
We know a wonderful family who was prepping to go to Africa. They were expecting their 4th child and were excited to go as bible translators to a remote place. Their 4th child had Down Syndrome. She also had a severe heart problem and with a deep feeling of failure and a huge amount of questions like: "WHY GOD, WHY!" they had to give up their dream of being missionaries in a third world country.
Having said this, are we not in God's will if we plan for something, convinced God is leading, and then stand still and have to do something else....
No,
everything that God does is a perfect way of leading us to the actual goal he has for us. Now we look back and understand why I/we have been called to a first world country. Even though we need all the medical support and educational advances a first world can provide for our special needs child, she also is opening doors we could never have dreamed of.
Children in general open doors we could never have dreamed of. We are excited to live and reach out to the community we are going to be part of just because we are a family with small children...just because God has granted us the privilege to raise a child with special needs.
Germany is a very success driven country. Many things they do they do very well. Imperfection is a sign of failure and an automatic disadvantage.
And again,
what a privilege to live as a family who embraces their child with special needs. To show that we love her because GOD MADE HER! He made our family to fit together and live for his glory. Lydia and Caleb will be little lights in a dark world because they love their sister. Yes, there will be an awareness that will come, but by God's grace we will all grow in our appreciation for his ways. 
Please pray for our children. Pray for my brother who is contemplating going into missions, pray for those families who are struggling to accept their child with special needs...pray for continuous joy.

Do everything whole heartedly!!! Tut alles mit Leib und Seele....!

Colossians 3:23-24 23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. Was ihr auch tut, tut es mit Leib und Seele, so als wäre es für den Herrn und nicht für Menschen, im Wissen, dass ihr dafür vom Herrn das Erbe empfangen werdet. Dient Christus, dem Herrn! Kolosser 3,23-24 .

An Upward Journey

So, here we are. At the beginning of a new journey. I was told and encouraged by a good friend Kathy Greer to start blogging about what is going on in our lives and that is my plan from now on. I always wondered why people blog. Often I thought that bloggers really only think they are important and want to focus everyone's attention towards themselves. That is probably true for at least 80% of the bloggers out there. But then I started following blogs that where different. And this is how I understood them to be different. Everything they wrote was reflecting something beyond themselves. Some where blogging to shine light on a cause. In fact most of the blogs I am following are families talking about their special needs child and in so they are including and informing a community of like minded families. The blogs I personally find most uplifting are just that....uplifting....they lift our attention upwards. Upward means to me they include a loving overall power, maker, creator and savior who lives "up" in heaven, but mostly is their everyday lives. He is consistently a part of their sorrows and their joys. And that is where I can connect. That is what I want to reflect. Yes, it will be our family we are going to talk about in this blog but our family would not be our family without God and his son Jesus...so yes, we cannot but include him.
We believe God has made our family. He has given us 3 beautiful children. Funny, rambunctious 1 year old Caleb William (lovingly called Beebab by Ana),  beautiful, curly headed 4 year old Didi Hadassa (also called Lydia), and 6 year old Ana Katharina who God, in his wisdom, decided to give an extra chromosome.
Then there is Richard, head of our household and head of the Youth ministry department at Creekside Community Church and myself, Simone.
All of us are being called to go to Germany as Missionaries. Yes, all of us. We are one unit. Every one of us will form and guide our decisions we are going to make while preparing to leave California.
We are looking back on the path we have come and stand in awe and amazement how God has built and formed us and we are looking ahead in awe and amazement to welcome the new path and adventure he has planned for us....
Stay tuned!

ABOUT US

Richard and Simone Moore have been Missionaries in Germany for two years. They have been working with The Theology & Innovation department of TeachBeyond for that time. They Minister to youth, churches, church plants, & ministry through music with the Theology & Innovation dept. of TeachBeyond in GERMANY.

The Moore's are responsible to raise 100% of their financial support and income. Please pray about coming onto their support team you can begin your journey in partnering with them in the gospel at their secure giving link HERE. Please pray about partnering with them in training Churches in Germany and throughout the world to be missional in their own context and in their own communities by being the hands and feet of Jesus.

Richard and Simone were long time youth pastor at Creekside Community Church in San Leandro, CA. They continue to implement what they learned at Creekside during those years. Creekside employs similar missional concepts in the San Francisco Bay Area. They continue to seek to spread God’s love and the message of his liberation and salvation among new friends in Germany.

The Moore's reach into the German community with music, family outreach, disability ministries, evangelism and discipleship. While Richard studies the language, Simone has started a music studio which she uses to reach out to families of similar interest and is making friends with many neighbors. 

The Moore's will not survive in this venture without your concerted and specific prayer for their work. Would you also please consider supporting us financially? There are three ways you could support the Moore's...

1) You could pledge to give to their MONTHLY SUPPORT. 

2) You could pledge to give to their YEARLY SUPPORT

3) You could become a monthly PRAYER PARTNER

If you feel God is calling you to partner with us financially, for the Gospel in Germany, then you can follow our personalized secure giving link HERE 

Thank you for visiting our site and learning about our ministry in Germany