Gabriel's Funeral

I have no words to describe Gabriel's funeral. We are very thankful for everyone that came to support Joan and Tim & family. We would also like to thank everyone that worked, brought food, helped and prayed! Thank you so much.

Mom's Lap

There is nothing like Mom's lap, no matter who you are. This is precious.
This is a newborn offspring of Taskin, Gypsy Stallion owned by Villa Vanners of Oregon.
These pictures were immediately after his birth on April 6.
The mare laid down, and then he trotted around and crawled right up into her lap and took a nap.

To Listen to Gabriel's Service

If you cannot come to the funeral and wish to listen in our church has a system in place. Just follow the instructions below. Gabriel's funeral service starts at 10:00am today.


Peoria Apostolic Christian Church DIAL-IN System

1. 800 Access Number: 1-888-330-9551

2. Participant Pass Code: 428914 followed by the # (pound) sign.

3. You will be asked, at the tone, to record your name followed by the # (pound) sign. You do not have to say your name but you must press the # (pound) sign.

4. If the church system is on, you will be connected to the services. If the church sound system is not turned on when you call, you will go into the “Music On Hold” until the church sound system is turned on.

5. Use of this system costs the church a significant amount for each phone call, and any donations to the Sound and Communications Fund to offset this cost would be appreciated. For additional information, contact Bro. Gary Schmidgall at (309) 266-6866.

Peoria Apostolic Christian Church

3420 N. Sheridan Road

Peoria, IL 61614

Gabriel's Good by

Today is the day we say good by to Gabriel. Joan reminded us all again that this is NOT a final good by, we will see him again. On Earth here we have today only, there is no assurance of tomorrow and yesterday is already past. Today, yes we will be sad but not for Gabriel, we will be sad for Joan and Tim, Sarah, Bethany, Hanna, Faith and Kristin as they will miss him so in their day to day life. The visitation was long with many tears but we were so thankful to each and everyone that cared enough to come.

Tim's Leg

Tim's leg this morning was more swollen and red so the doctor wanted to see him before the visitation. The doctor was concerned about a blood clot and wanted Tim to have a sonagram which was scheduled for noon. The sonagram showed no blood clot which is good news, they are monitoring the swelling and redness. Karin and Rachel are at the fellowship hall setting up the pictures while Joan had Tim at the hospital.

2 Pictures of Gabriel Reinhard

This morning as I was filling my car with gas I started thinking about the small things people do that mean the world to us right now. It started this morning from a phone call from mom wanting to know if I came in early morning with an egg casserole hot and ready to eat. Mom has a lot of company right now and she got up to start cooking and there was already breakfast prepared. I started asking around and found out Rachel brought it over. Yesterday Lisa Waibel called to arrange feeding everyone breakfast at the Old School Center, there are going to be around 60 people staying there and we don't have to worry about how they will be taken care of. Bob and Myrna Hoerr bringing over a big pot of chili with all the fixings needed to feed the army at mom's when we found out about Gabriel on Sunday. Amy Koch calling and offering 3 breakfast casseroles to help with all the company. Katie and Max Hoerr bringing over dinner last night, Karin's work (many involved) sending enough food to feed the army that is here. Aunt Bernie sending a huge pot of chicken and noodles, Eva Jean Schaefer making the song copies for the funeral and when I go to pick them up she has 2 trays of food prepared to send along also, Kathy Huthmann seeing Hannah and Bethany sobbing at the family visitation, leaving the line to sit and hug them. As I was thinking of these people I just started weeping again. It is all so overwhelming.

Visitation Day

This morning it is raining but it seems natural that the heavens would rain down tears. Today we are preparing for the visitation. We don't know how long the line will be but we don't think Tim or Sarah with their injuries can stand for hours. Diane has some stools that are adjustable and will bring them to the fellowship hall.
Yesterday at the family visitation Hannah and Bethany were sitting on the front row just sobbing, please don't forget to pray for Gabriel's siblings.
A slight change in sleeping arrangements, Joan and Tim, their children, along with Tim's parents and all of his siblings and their families will be staying the night at the Old School Center. This way the scattered Reinhard family can be together at least for the evening. Lisa Waibel is organizing the breakfast Friday plus snacks for tonight if anyone wants to call to help, her number is 309-274-5121.

Rachel & Andrew Honegger

Diane announced to the family that Rachel and Andrew are expecting and due in April. We are so thrilled for them and big sister Ella will be such a help!

Gabriel Reinhard

This afternoon at 3:00pm we had a family visitation at Endsley funeral home. We watched a short video of pictures Rachel and Joan put together for the main visitation tomorrow. Each of us had a chance to talk to Joan and Tim but more important listen to them talk about Gabriel. We were to be out of there by 4:00pm but it just didn't get done until around 4:30. Afterward everyone was invited back to mom's for dinner. Karin's colleagues donated so much wonderful food. Jesse, Joan's renter made a big Shepherd's pie for the dinner also and just as we were putting the food out on the table, Katie and Max Hoerr brought over some Italian beef and coleslaw. We had enough food to feed an army and once we were done we could feed another army. A special thank you to these very nice helpful people. We will take the left overs to the fellowship hall and the Old School Center tomorrow.
Joan showed us pictures of after the accident at the hospital, in the planes, at both Haiti airports, then the airport in the states and at the 2 West Palm beach hospitals.
On the way home from mom's I found myself singing All Mighty most Holy God, Glory Hallelujah. Joan reminded us today that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away but blessed be the name of the Lord.

Old School Center

Dan called that ALL the suites at the Old School Center in Farmington, IL are taken for Gabriel's funeral. There is still sleeping accommodations available in some of the cabins. Thanks so much Spark and Dan for making the school available for the overflow.

Ylse's Filly Sold

Ylse's filly will be going to Cobalt, Ontario Canada to be with her new owner at weaning. Congratulations Brigitte! Brigitte is naming her Meike.

Gabriel Reinhard Obituary

Gabriel Reinhard

Gabriel Joel Reinhard, 5, of Peoria died Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009 in Les Cayes, Haiti where his parents and family were involved with missionary work.
Gabriel was born March 12, 2004 in Pekin, IL, the son of Timothy and Joan Meister Reinhard.
Surviving are his parents; and five sisters, Kristin (Rodney)Menold of Peoria and Sarah, Bethany, Hannah, and Faith, all at home. Also surviving are his maternal grandmother; Rhoda Meister of Hanna City; his paternal grandparents, Dan (Delores)Reinhard of Remington, IN.; 17 aunts and uncles; and numerous cousins.
He was preceded in death by one brother; Joshua; and his maternal grandfather; Paul Meister:
Gabriel attended the Sheridan Road Apostolic Christian Church in Peoria. Gabriel loved being in Haiti with his family and enjoyed catching crabs on the beach and frogs and loved to go fishing. Gabriel was such a joy to our family. We thank God that he was a gift to us and that we had the chance to love and raise our son and brother:
Visitation will be held from 2 to 4p.m. and 6 to 9p.m. Thursday at the Apostolic Christian Fellowship Hall at 7329 W. Route 150 in Edwards, IL. Services will be held at 10:00a.m. Burial will be in the church cemetery.
Memorials may be made to Apostolic Christian World Relief Haiti, restricted in Gabriel's name.
To send condolences to the family online, go to www.EndsleyFuneralHome.com.

No Answers

There is nothing we can say to Joan regarding the loss of Gabriel except how deeply sorry we are. We just lost a nephew, Joan and Tim have lost their only remaining son. Words humans say just can't provide the comfort so desperately needed. Only God and the indwelling of His Holy Spirit can comfort Joan and Tim right now. What do people do that have no faith? Only the promise and assurance of knowing He is in control will make this bearable. God does know what the Reinhards are going through right now, He saw His only Son crucified on the cross because He loved us and wanted there to be a way for His most precious creation to join Him in Heaven and Only PERFECT BLOOD of Jesus was pure enough to atone for our sins.
1 Corinthians 13 verse 11: When I was a child, I spake as a child,
I understood as a child, I thought as a child:
but when I became a man, I put away
childish things. For now we see through a
glass, darkly; but then face to face: now
I know in part; but then shall I know even
as also I am known.

Missionary Flights International

The post below was taken off the Missionary Flights International Website: http://www.missionaryflights.org
This is such a worth while organization to support.

At Missionary Flights International most flights are very routine and that is the way we like it. However, sometimes the flights are not routine. On Sunday morning, October 18, we received an urgent call from a missionary in Haiti. The Timothy Reinhard family had been in a serious motorcycle accident. Would MFI fly to Port-au-Prince, Haiti to pick them up? Tim and two of the children were in serious condition. Our pilots were at church, but we always have our cell phones on vibrate because we are the emergency air link for the mission community and we must be available at all times. Before we took off from Fort Pierce, we received a call that little 5-year-old Gabriel Reinhard had departed this life and went home to be with the Lord. Now there were two seriously injured family members. We landed in Port-au-Prince at 7 p.m. and the family of 7 including little Gabriel were waiting for our arrival. We quickly loaded the family and a missionary doctor for the flight back to West Palm Beach and the stateside hospital. We landed in West Palm Beach at 11:40 p.m. Sunday evening. Customs quickly cleared the family and they were soon on their way to the emergency room. Gabriel was met by the funeral home. The family spent the night in the hospital in West Palm Beach. The next morning they were able to board an airline and fly home to Morton, IL. There will be surgeries later on father and daughter’s knees, but they will recover. Please join MFI in praying for the Reinhard family. Your gifts and your prayers make it possible for MFI to be available to the mission community for any emergencies.

Gabriel Reinhard's Funeral Arrangements

The funeral for Gabriel Reinhard will be Friday, October 23, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. at the Peoria Apostolic Christian Church.

The visitation is planned for Thursday, Oct 22nd, from 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. and 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. at the Peoria Apostolic Christian Church Fellowship Hall.

There is also a visitation planned before the funeral from 9:00 - 9:45 a.m. at the Peoria Apostolic Christian Church.

Burial is planned for the Peoria Apostolic Christian Church Cemetery immediately following the funeral service.

Housing Accommodations for Gabriels Funeral

Spark and Dan Meister have offered The Old School Center in Farmington, IL for anyone coming in to the funeral that needs accommodations. They have 7 suites available and 12 cabins. The suites can accommodate a family of 7 or 8 people. The cabins can accommodate a few more. There is no charge for this but please contact Dan Meister at 309-208-4957 to make arrangements. The Old School Center is rented out Friday at 7:00pm so check out would be by noon to prepare it for the next group coming in. It is about a 25 minute drive from The Old School Center to the Peoria Apostolic Church.

Reinhard Update

Fede picked up the Reinhard's from the Bloomington airport last night. Dr. Carroll flew all the way home with them, then rode to Peoria in the motorhome. It was good to have a doctor monitoring Tim he is in tremendous pain. They made it to mom's house in Hanna City around 1:30 in the morning today. Ruth said Tim was in so much pain it took them 15 minutes to get him down the 3 steps hearing him groaning while trying to get off the motorhome was so hard on everyone. Sarah's knee looks awful. Both have road rash all over and hurt to be touched. Karin drove Joan, Tim and Sarah down to Methodist hospital this morning, Dr. Knepp checked both of them out and does not think there is infection and recommended not opening them back up but thought they needed to see an orthopedic surgeon and that is were they are right now.
It looks like Gabriel's visitation will be at the Peoria fellowship hall on Thursday with the funeral at the Peoria church on Friday morning. His burial will be at the Peoria cemetery, and I believe the church has an extra grave site next to where Joan and Tim's son Joshua is buried. We haven't had a lot of time to talk to Joan, she has been very busy with Tim and Sarah.

Izadora's New Colt

Work still takes place even though we feel the world should stop until we can realize the enormity of Gabriel's death. Izadora delivered a big black colt this morning in the mud. We were too upset about the accident to even think of Izadora's pending delivery. Steven checked on her about 8:30pm drew a bit of milk from her udder and it was a little more opaque but not enough to call me to test it. Steven put her back out with Lily and Jenis as that paddock has plenty of hay and Izadora thinks they are her best friends. Of course she has to deliver in the mud. Mike called to tell me that the baby was here but it couldn't get up. I drove out as fast as possible, picked him up and tried to carry him but he was just too heavy for me. I got the wheelbarrow, loaded him up and got him to the barn. Drove over to mom's for hot water and rags and tried to clean him off. He is filthy and now so am I. Steven drove to my house to get more rags and the bottle just in case it was necessary. It was! We ended up giving him about 5 ounces of colostrum milked from Izadora by bottle before he figured out how to nurse. He was still having trouble getting up on his own so we moved him into the breeding shed paddock where the ground slopes enough to drain. We cleaned up his umbilical cord as much as possible and soaked it in iodine. Hopefully that will stop infection. After watching him get up twice on his own I left for home to clean up.
Diane, Tim, Joan, Sarah, Bethany, Hanna and Faith are flying in to Bloomington Airport tonight around 11:30pm. Fede will drive his motorhome to pick them up. We are having a prayer meeting at Rachel's house tonight at 6:30pm, Rachel suggested that anyone that can come should to help pray for the Reinhards. We don't know how hard it will be to bury a second son but with God's help will they be able to get through this.

Reinhard Accident in Haiti

This is what we have been told about the accident: Tim was driving the motorcycle to church and Joan was on the 4 Wheeler. Tim had Sarah and Gabriel and offered to take Faith also as Joan had stepped on a nail the day before and her foot was sore. Joan told him that she was able to take Faith. Tim on the motorcycle drove the long way to church. It is the rainy season and the road was too muddy for the short cut. Joan on her 4 Wheeler had Bethany, Hanna, and Faith and was able to cut through the mud with out getting too dirty.
Tim was on the road when another motorcycle pulled out in front of him. Tim swerved out of the way to miss it, Sarah flew off, Tim hit a canal and both Tim and Gabriel were launched over the motorcycle into the canal. One report said Gabriel was dead on impact but we really don't know this for sure. Tim has a bad concussion and cannot remember the accident. We also don't know how Joan found out as she had gone a different way to church.
We are all having a tough time dealing with this and our entire family REALLY needs prayers. Please pray for Joan and Tim that they could know God's goodness and feel His presence. They know without doubt that Gabriel is in heaven but the day to day loss of his earthly presence will be terribly hard to bear. Pray for their marriage, the loss of one child is so awful to comprehend, the loss of 2 of their dear children may truly be unbearable.
Pray for the rest of the family that we could be a comfort to them not a detriment to their faith. Most of all pray that the good that WILL come because of this is shown to Joan and Tim.
Romans 8-28: And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
Gabriel Reinhard catching frogs last summer.
Rachel Sauder took this picture of him during their leave home to America this summer.

Reinhard's Loss

We found out at 9:45am that Gabriel died, Sarah has a messed up knee and Tim has a badly hurt right arm and a concussion. Joan and Tim need a lot of prayers. Their son Joshua was killed 11 years ago on October 13th to lose their remaining son Gabriel is almost unbearable. World Relief is working on getting them home. Diane has flown down to Palm Beach to help with the transport. Joan is remembering God is in control. God knew this was going to happen, He was not up in heaven wringing His hands wondering what are they going to do now. God is good and we know Gabriel is with is brother Joshua and their grandpa, Paul Meister. Life is like a vapor and we are not to lay up treasures on Earth. Joan and Tim now have 2 of their precious treasures in Heaven!