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Sarah Reijonen

The closing of a chapter: 2022 gone


We took our first nephew on his world trip—to Costa Rica!


We have had a BIG year FULL of changes, some you might know about and some that might take you by surprise. If you haven’t heard anything about our big news, you might want to sit down…


In January we went to Mexico with a big group of Alaska friends to celebrate Josea and Anthony’s marriage in November 2021. As soon as we returned to California, Spank had an interview with the PUD in Chelan, Washington for a lineman position. We had talked about possibly moving back to Washington to be closer to family. Instead of lingering on the idea, Spank went ahead and submitted his resume. On February 2 he flew up to interview and on February 3 he had the job. It was official: We were moving back to Washington!

Little did we know, on that same day, February 3, a miracle was born. We got the call in early March that a family friend had just gone to Kansas to pick up her grandson who had been born there on February 3. Sadly, her daughter was not in a state to care for the child, so grandma began reaching out to friends to find a potential family for her grandson.


Did I mention that as we were contemplating moving to Washington, we had also been contemplating adoption, but had decided it was better to be there for our family. I put the idea on the backburner but still sent out a what-the-heck, we’ll-see-what-happens prayer/challenge to God: “God, if you want us to adopt, you’re gonna have to put a baby in our laps.”


That he did. Wow. We were speechless. It’s pretty amazing to go into something knowing without a shadow of a doubt that it is God’s will. When Spank’s aunt first called in early March, we knew God was putting a baby in our laps, but were still apprehensive. On her second call a couple weeks later, Spank’s aunt also sent a photo. We went to meet our baby boy that weekend, March 26.


Now here we are, 10 months later, still waiting with eager anticipation for the day when we can officially call him ours. We don’t know how long the process will take, as it is more complicated than we first anticipated, but we believe God is faithful and He set this all in motion. We’ve spent almost every weekend with our baby boy and had him for some longer stints, 2 weeks at a time—some incredible bonding time. As my friend who has adopted said, “He didn’t grow in my belly, but he’s grown in my heart.” He brings us immense joy and is definitely our greatest adventure yet! PLEASE, PLEASE pray for the process to move along so we can have our boy with us permanently ASAP!!

As far as travel goes, we took our annual Alaska trip in June to attend Chickenstock then we hit up the red salmon run in Seward and went on our first overnight halibut charter (yes, 18-straight hours of fishing!) We came home with 120 pounds of halibut! We flew back from Alaska and had one day in Washington before flying to Costa Rica for our nephew Jackson’s trip, which had been put off a year because of COVID. It was an adventure-packed, whirlwind 2 weeks driving coast-to-coast in Costa Rica! We started off in the Cloud Forest; went deep-sea fishing on the Pacific (Jack brought in a 200-pound, once-in-a-lifetime marlin!! We caught countless mahi mahi and saw thousands of dolphins in a giant pod!); rode the Pacuare River on an overnight rafting trip and ended on the Caribbean. We look forward to taking our next nephew on his trip in 2023!

Other random stuff...

  • Spank shot a huge whitetail deer on opening day of hunting! Super exciting and meat in the freezer!

  • I started working for Cairdeas Winery in April and absolutely love it! I love learning about wine, talking about wine, pouring wine, and of course, drinking wine. The folks at Cairdeas talk such great care of their people and I feel so blessed to have specifically ended up in that winery out of any winery in town.

  • I also published my second book in the Tiny Tradesmen series! The second book, "Let the Sparks Fly: When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Welder" was released Dec. 1 and is on sale on my website: www.tinytradesmen.com. Woo-hoo!


May the Peace of Christ rule in your hearts all year long,

Spanky & Sarah

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knorm1
05. Jan. 2023

Always LOVE reading your updates because we LOVE you and Spank! Your updates and lives inspire joy and adventure. Blessings!

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