We Be Iwegians Now

It's official. New id's, new plates and and lighter checkbook. We thought with the income tax, other taxes would be lower here. It's also easier to keep the TV off with all the presidential ads. And you thought the congress races in SD were bad...

We made the trip back to SF again, this time for Abby's baptism. Unfortunately we forgot our camera so you will have to wait for pictures. She's still growing and now is saying the "B" sounds. Sometimes she looks like a old guy with his teeth out. She also says "blah blah blah".

Were exited to have Stuart's parents, brother and aunt come down for Thanksgiving. It will be nice to have the time off without the drive with one catch. We are driving up and back Wednesday as we are one of a few people giving a testimony at the Thanksgiving eve service Abiding savior. It's at 6:30 and you are all welcome.

It's amazing. It's seems like we have been married for much longer than 2 1/2 years as we have so much to be thankful for. We are also looking forward to the day that Abby confesses her faith in Christ Jesus.

Prasing God for everything,

Stu, Tashia, Abby and the bun in the oven

Miracle Grow

Time flies and it seems like we have been busy since our last post. We've made it back to SF a few times and Stuart was in Detroit for a week training for work.

As you can see Abby is growing and enjoys standing when possible. She just started telling us stories in baby language. She weighs 17lbs and is sleeping through about half the nights right now. She is on the verge of teething and we are begining to feed her small bit of bread and such.

The pregnancy has been going well and Tashia has passed the sickness stage and is getting energy back. It's been a big adjustment for her staying at home with a toddler, while pregnant in a new town.

Reina has had the toughest time adapting to the new home as her range on her tie-out has shortened substantially. Not to mention the lack of attention due to Abby.

till next time,

Stu, Tashia and Abby

PS: Abby has learned to type and wants to say Hi:

xccccjkponhjj k t., 8kjjx

PSS: As you can, see we can't figure out how to space between paragraphs.

It's Official!!!!

When we were told to bring our camera to the hearing this moring we didn't want to get our hopes up. However it is all done and Abby is officially a Uken! We were blessed that we didn't have to wait any additional time with her in our possesion or have to update our home study. Not to mention that it's finalized in '07 for our tax credit.

While we won't treat Abby any different than we already have been, this is a bigger relief and closure than we both realized. The adoption process is quite overwhelming and even through we have been through a rough one, we can say it is well worth it when it does come through.

It was actually a very hard decision to take back Abby and open us up to more possible pain and expenses. We had important Godly counsel, but also were moved by a scene in the movie "Facing the Giants". In that scene a parable was told about two farmers that were praying for rain. One was only waiting while the other was preparing his field for rain. This encouraged us to proceed and prepare in case it was God's plan for us to have Abby.

Our 2 month ultrasound went well and we got to see the heartbeat.

We are continually overwhelmed with how faithful God is and how he is blessing us. Please help us praise Him!

More updates and pictures to follow as we are getting settled in our new home.

Amazed by His grace,

Stu, Tashia and Abigail

MOVING

Monday the moving truck will be loaded in SF and will arrive in IG Tuesday. We will be saying farewell to Super 8 Friday morning and stay in SF until Tuesday. Needless to say we are exited to get established in our long term home and should have pictures of the house soon. In the meantime, I hope you don't mind another of Abby!

We will have closed on two houses in 3 weeks total as everything continues to fall into place. Last weekend we stayed in IG for the first time and Grandpa and Grandma Uken visited us on Saturday, but their main focus was Abby of course. Also, we were able to attend a local church service and were warmly welcomed. Tashia was invited and attended a new women's bible study already Monday and we had dinner with the Pastor and family on Tuesday. They have 5 kids with 3 triplet girls, and we thought two would be a lot of work!

Tashia had blood work done last week and we are exited that the HCG level are showing a healthy pregnancy at this point. Our two miscarraiges happened early so we are exited for our 2 month ultrasound on the 28th.

Abby will be attending the first home SDSU football game this weekend. They will be playing Northern Iowa who beat Iowa St. last weekend. Don't worry about where our loyalty lies!

Relying on His timing and Plan,

Stu, Tashia, Abigail and ?????? (we have a boy name, but haven't decided on a girl yet)

PS: Please see our new cell # and address to the right.

Super 8: Week 3

More big news.

First, we have a house!! Closing should be in about 3 weeks and we hope to move in a week before. It's a two story from 1916 loaded with oak woodwork and floors. It's in decent shape, has a new 2 1/2 garage (1978) and three bedrooms.

Turns out we will need all the 1,800+ sq. ft as we found out this weekend we are pregnant. This wasn't unexpected but we missed all the cues this time as we had plenty to distract us. We decided many months ago to try again and trust God with the outcome. We were pregnant in April, but lost the baby before the second month and gave the name Alex. This was again tough, but we had it on our heart to continue to try naturally for a family.

Who knew that we would have five children in less than 3 years! (Jamie, Tony, Abby, Alex and ?????).

Work is going well for Stuart and Abby is keeping Tashia busy during the day. Thanks for visting this site for our latest updates.

Stu, Tashia and Abby.

Many Changes, Many Blessings

I'm sure it's obvious to everyone that we only update our websites when it concerns our children. We have a lot of news, but lets start with Abby. Her mother has had a change of heart and we picked her up again on Saturday to continue the adoption process.

This time the termination papers are signed, so this begins the legal process that will give us protection that we didn't have before. We still have to continue the 6 month period and will also have to get an updated home study now that we are living in Iowa.

Yes, for those that we haven't contacted recently, Stuart has accepted a position at Midwest Industries in Ida Grove, IA. Ida Grove is an hour east of Sioux City and has about 2,500 residents. Midwest Industries produces ShoreLand'r boat trailers and ShoreStation dock and boat lift products.

We are in the process of finding a home and we hope to close in a few weeks. Right now the three of us are residing at the local Super 8. Our house has already been sold as right before listing, a nearby neighbor was insterested and offerred cash and we closed in 1 week! And he meant cash, because he showed up with a portion of the sale in a bread bag, 60,000 cash!!! He was sent back to the bank to get a check....

It has been hard leaving our family, friends and church support, but we have been called to this new home and are exited for our future.

Please keep in touch and we will update our contact info as it changes. Right now, you can continue to use our cell numbers, but use this hotmail account (stu_uken@hotmail.com) while we transfer our internet service.

Stu, Tashia and Abby

"Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again" Psalm 71:20

We Will Always Love You Miss Abby

Last evening we all said goodbye to a wonderful baby girl that has given us so much joy. It's hard to have a quiet house again with no reason to get up in the middle of the night. We think we are going to be well prepared for empty nest syndrome and can understand a bit of what they must go through.

With no other children, we are relieved of a very heavy responsibility yet again. This time, we already know not to feel guilty for looking ahead or thinking about ourselves at this time. It is our nature to feel like we have to feel really bad and focus only on that, but that is not true.

Never the less we are still going through a grieving process that will sap our energy for some time. We hope with our experience that we can progress faster, but we just don't know.

It is very hard to give up a child you have called your own knowing that she will likely not be cared for as well. If we had any chance or hope to keep her safe we would do that, but there is nothing we could have done but delay the result by a day or two.

We miss you Abby and pray that you are taken care of.

Please pray for the mother and Abby.

Stu and Tashia

Tomorrow

We don't know why this is happening, but we do know for some reason unknown that we will be losing another child tomorrow (Wed).

Even though we have been through a similar trial, this one is more difficult as it involves people we know and our child will not be going to a better place this time. While we do know what lies ahead for us, we don't know if it will be easier or quicker to overcome. How do you say goodbye to a second infant in only 6 months? How do you see Grandparents lose their only Grandbaby again?

While we are sure that doubts will enter our mind, we are confident that we will again have a baby to take care of. It will likely not be of both our own genes or even through an adoption, but we just can't believe that God would not want us to take care of those that he calls the most important in his kingdom. Time will tell when we are ready for that.

Until then we must trudge on and if so led, will make a strong charge to change the laws that do not protect those that cannot protect themselves. How can we let a mother in an instant snuff out a human life in her womb, but yet give her weeks even months to change her mind and rip an infant from a better life and a loving family that has no say or no rights?

Don't misunderstand us, we are not in a hateful mood or even extremely angry. But we are confused and in shock and things do need to change. And if we still feel driven to do so in the near future we will do just that.

In the meantime we are placing our trust in Christ and will let you know when everything is final. And we will, as before, need your prayers and help to get through this time. Keep Abby, mother and our family in your prayers as well.

Stu, Tashia and for now Abby

No Change for now

Thanks to those that have been visiting our site. If there is a way to add a vistor tracker, we haven't found it yet, but assume many are getting the latest here.

We still have Abby, but nothing is final yet. We are keeping her while the mother takes more time to make her final decision. She still may decide to take Abby back, but we are hopeful that her mind may change. This last 5 days have been very tough as we had a time set up on Saturday to give her up and only Saturday morning did we take this new course.

Please pray for strength for both of us and pray for the mother as well, that she would make a confident decision.

Abby is still feeding about every 3hrs, eating just shy of 4 oz. every time. We think she is around 7 to 7 1/2lbs now. She is holding her head up more, is more awake and made her first vocal sound.

Thanks for your prayers,

Stu, Tashia and Abby

So far we have had Abby five weeks now. She has been home from the hospital for 3 weeks. She is healthy and doing great. We think she is about 7lbs.

This week we have been dealt a heavy blow, the mother is likely going to take Abby back, maybe in just a few days. This is so hard even without what we have gone through. We hope to keep you updated and give you more details when possible.

Right now we request your prayers and support during this time. Pray for the mother as she is going through a difficult time as well. She needs a heart change, but more than just her decision, she needs to find God. Also pray for all the friends and family involved, for comfort, strength and patience. Last, pray that Abby would be safe.

Sorry for the sad news, but this is the easiest way to tell many people.

Stu, Tashia and Abby

PS - this whole blog experience is a bit overwhelming so be patient while we learn how to spruce it up, add pictures etc.

Welcome

Do to the recent sucess of the Caring Bridge site for Anthony, we have decided to create a blog so we can easily share pictures and news, mostly of Abigail.

We hope to update this regularly as possible so continue to visit when you have time and feel to share with anyone that you wish or we have missed.

Be patient as we are new to the "blog" and hopefully it will be as user friendly as Caring Bride is.