And here we are...

... waiting on this sibling set. There's nothing profound I have to offer. We're waiting to see where God takes this road. I know He will be faithful to His name. And until further notice their names are Freeman and Joyce.

So how did we get from there to here???

Abby was 1 year old when we experienced some major financial happenings. The computer store that Mark had managed for 16 years was sold. There was sufficient hand-writing on the wall to indicate change and 3 months later, that is exactly what happened. Mark came home one day at lunch and that began an incredible journey. Initially he and our son started their own computer business and we decided to begin recording conferences "part-time". Rhino Technologies was born and eventually took over our lives!! Eight years later we travel 35 weekends a year and over 50,000 miles to record speakers at conferences and duplicate them for the attendees. If you've attended a state homeschool conference almost anywhere east of the Mississippi, there's a chance we've crossed paths.

Last November Hannah and Caleb traveled to Liberia with Children Concerned. They spent 2 weeks in some orphanages there. They were perhaps in the most despicable conditions known to man. They brought back desperate stories of needy hurting children. Here's just a couple pictures from then.


These are the faces of Liberia (along with the underscore again). These are the faces that our Hannah carries in her heart. Faces and stories. Stories of orphans without hope, without a future. Faces and stories that pierced our hearts without even being there. We took the step towards yet another journey.

Reinhardt children part 4

And this is Abby (though I don't know why I can't get rid of this underscore). She's 8 and will be 9 in November. Abby is a Child of Faith. She is totally girl and loves to dance, not just ballet but in worship. I'm a relaxed homeschooler, so Abby just "formally" started school this fall. She is amazing. She loves reading and has some of the wisest outlooks on life.

Reinhardt Children part 3

Hannah is our 21 year old. She is a Child of Hope and has had a missionary spirit since she was a young child. The Lord has given her a heart for the needy and language has never been a barrier. She visited orphanages in Liberia in November of 06 and thus began our journey towards adoption. She has a great desire to return but the doors have not opened yet. She loves to sing and play the fiddle, so our home does not lack for music (especially when the others pick up their instruments and join in).







And here is Emilie, our 17 yr old, in a tree in Australia where she spent the summer clearing an airstrip for a missionary with Teen Missions International. Give Emilie a paintball gun, a horse, a mandolin or a chance to spar in karate and she is one happy girl. In fact, the reason this picture is so great is because she is where she loves to be, in a tree. She also volunteers with a horse therapy clinic. Her personality as crazy-tom-boyish as she is, is calm and steady and perfect with horses and handicapped children. She is our child of Joy.

Reinhardt children part 2

Introducing Corrie and husband Nick (or Joey--depending on how you first came to know him!). Corrie is total effervescence (can you tell by the photo?). She has a passion for worldview apologetics and served for 3 years with Worldview Academy. She is in the process of building her own photography business and teaches a bit of piano on the side to a couple of kids in church. She loves theatre and would be greatly involved except for the fact that she is now married (to a great guy I might point out) and is expecting our first grandbaby on leap year of all things!! Corrie is our Gift and if you ever met her you would understand why.

The Reinhardt story continued with children!

Mark was living in Madison, Wisconsin when we got married in '79. In February of '80 we moved to Murray, KY where he took a job as news director at the local college. I started work on a MBA (remember I was pretty sold on feminist lifestyle) and Mark eventually finished two masters in communication, but not before Caleb was born in December of 1981 and Corrie in September 1983 and leaving the university to manage a new computer store. God began His intervention in our life as He revealed the various deceptions that we had bought along the way. Along came Hannah in July of 1986 a miscarriage in '87 and then Emilie was born in October of '89. We thought we were done then reasoning we had a 'large' family by comparison.

When Caleb was three, my sister sent me some books she had read about homeschooling. That caused another re-evaluation of what we were doing, so we began the homeschooling journey. For those of you with children under the age of 20, these were interesting times. Whereas homeschooling was 'legal', you still didn't take your children outside during school hours and eventually I found other ladies an hour away that also homeschooled and we would get together monthly just to encourage one another. We didn't know what we were doing, but we were committed to it. Eventually these ladies formed an official 'support group' and Mark and I became involved to the point of regional leaders and conference organizers as well as leading our local group which we were thrilled to have 10 families be members. It was an interesting time, laced with political and social battles. Homeschooling became very dear to our heart as it became a way of life and we just happened to learn along the way. I still love homeschooling today, though my views and attitudes have changed along the way. Perhaps another day, I'll share those with you.

After having Emilie we spent the next decade rearing our children, coaching their soccer teams, being 'swim/scout/piano' parents. There was a nagging feeling about the decision we had made to have my tubes tied years earlier. It wasn't that we wanted more children, but felt a conviction that we needed to surrender that area of our life to God's control. In 1996 at age 40 I underwent reversal surgery. Two years later, God blessed us with Abigail. Two more miscarriages followed and that pretty much brings us to the present.

I could write forever about our children. They are incredible kids and they stretch me in ways I never imagined. Our life is full and loud and anything but boring. They are my greatest joy and hardest path to walk. They are my best friends and can be my fiercest opponents. We are blessed to be able to share several meals a week as a family. And when they are gone, our home as Abby says it best, "...is very lonesome."

Caleb has played soccer in college and traveled to Portugal and Germany with Ambassadors in Sports. This last fall he traveled to Liberia with his sister Hannah and visited the orphanage in Dixville called ACFI.
He trains in karate and will pull together a team for paintball when given the chance. He's currently the computer technician for our local public schools and is seriously involved in a relationship with a delightful young lady by the name of Christi. God spoke to me when he was in the womb that Caleb was a Child of Promise.

We are the Reinhardts...

...or as many people refer to us, The Rhinos. Our business (an audio recording/production company) is Rhino Technologies and we travel...alot and it is just easier for people to recognize us as The Rhinos.

Mark and I met at the School of the Ozarks in Branson, MO. He was employed by the school and I was a graduating senior. He left SofO two weeks after we met (moved to Madison, WI) and we continued a long (might I re-iterate looooonnnngggg) distance relationship and were married the following year. I was a pretty determined feminist running from God. He was a compliant new believer. It made for an interesting combination. Just a few months after we were married and decidedly hating living in the north, we made the move to Murray, KY. This is where we and our children call home. We love the south and southern cooking, the slower way of life (when you are surrounded by cows and tobacco it doesn't get much slower), our family and church home (though not in that order).

God decidedly intervened in our lives and began redeeming who we were and our lives have never been the same. We went from never wanting children to having 5 (one of which is a reversal baby). From pre-registering our 1 year old for 3 year old preschool to homeschooling for almost 2 and 1/2 decades now. It has been a journey of God rewriting our history and our future. We praise Him everyday for redeeming our lives, not just in the cross of Jesus Christ, but redeeming every aspect of our lives, walking out our salvation, living His grace and mercy in every arena that we live and breathe, watching Him work in our lives and in the lives of our children. We indeed serve a glorious God.

I'll close this post with a couple pics of our kids as Abby is wanting to watch a movie with me.

(L-R) We have Corrie (she took the picture in Fall of 05). She's currently 23, married and pregnant with our FIRST grandbaby!! Abby is 8 and is our reversal baby. She is a combination of all of the kids' personalities. Caleb, currently is 25 and is seeing/dating/courting a lovely young women in our church. He was hired this year as the computer technician for our local public schools (the very school to which we sent our homeschool letter of intent for years). Hannah is our 21 year old. She is a lovely violin/fiddle-ist and is responsible for introducing us to the children of Liberia when she visited an orphanage fall of 06. She longs for Liberia and the children she met as she has a missionary heart and spirit (rather strong willed and independent too). And then there is Emilie. Em just returned from 2 months in Australia working on an airstrip for a missionary there. She plays a wicked mandolin, loves karate and horses and is definitely a source of much joy in our family.


Another attempt at a family photo happened this last Christmas (06), so there's a couple of faces added to the pic. L-R on the back we have Hannah, Emilie, Caleb, Nick (Corrie's husband--what a great son-in-law). Front row is Abby, Olivia (Nick's daughter--she's 6) and Corrie. You have no idea how many of these poses were taken before we got one that was acceptable. We have alot of clowns in our family and trying to get them to all sit still, smile and not second guess the shutter is tantamount to herding marbles uphill.

Getting Started

Let me introduce you to Freeman and Joyce Dahn. We are still in the discussion stages of what their American names will be, but it will include their given African names. Joyce is 6 and Freeman is 4. This is our story...