Hi from big sister Hannah!

Hey every one,
Here is a little picture of Miss Hannah! She likes to be seen on the blog every once in awhile, too! She is a fabulous big sister, and is wonderful to Caleb!! She could not be more proud of her baby brother!
Love,
her Mommy

Too many pictures, not enough spots to post them in the last post!

As I said, the last post only gave me 5 spots for pictures, and I could post pictures all day!
Well, here are some more-then I have to go make dinner!
Love,
Sabra

So, we haven't posted in awhile...

Yes, we have been busy, adjusting to life with 2 children. It is busy, and I kind of like to keep busy! We are working hard at developing a schedule, and sleeping through the night! We are actually trying the Ferber method, which seems kind of cruel, but we know if we get a good nights sleep, we will be a happier family!!

Caleb is sprouting his first tooth, and I think the one right next to it is also coming in, as well! (The bottom two teeth in the front!) I will miss his gummy little smile, as he smiles with every ounce of his face! He hasn't started to crawl, yet, but is definatley wanting to get around-so it won't be long!

He is growing by leaps and bounds, and it amazes us that we are putting away clothes, and getting out new sizes! One day something fits, the next, it is to small/short! We go to the doctor on April 24, so it will be interesting to see how much he has grown!

Well, I will try to keep the blog updated more! Thanks Darcy for suggesting I update it!! ;o)
I know everyone appreciates the pictures!
Take care,
Love,
Sabra, Bus, Hannah and Caleb

Caleb is bursting with personality!

Caleb is starting to come to life with personality! He is such a giggley, smiley boy! Don't get me wrong, when he is hungry, sleepy, or has a dirty diaper, he lets you know it!
We are all starting to settle into life as a family of 4, and hope to head back to church this weekend! Hannah is celebrating her 8th birthday this weekend, so we willbe partying! Here is a couple of pictures to show how big Caleb is getting, and to share what life at home is like for us!
Take care,
Sabra, Bus, Hannah and Caleb

We've been home a week!

We have been home for a week now, and life is just not the same! Unfortuneatly, our house has been hit with illness, with Caleb, first, having a double ear infection, and double eye infection(pink eye). Yesterday, we went back to the doctor, only to find out that his antibiotic has not been working, and his ears were still "badly infected." The doctor was quite sure that he had his ear infections while we were in Guatemala, and couldn't believe he flew so well! Actually, she was a little disgusted that we flew with him at all like this-but we didn't know?!

Well, onto the other illnesses...we also have had a touch of Montezuma's revenge-can you believe that I am sharing this with you? And, I have had a bit of a sore throat, and my eyes have been pink and itchy!(I am hoping that it is not pink eye, but since Hannah has this, and Caleb has had it-who knows?) Finally, Bus went to the doctor yesterday, and he is also very sick?! UGH!! He has a horrible cough, and his ears are also infected! I would say that it sounds very much like bronchitis! So, as you can see, we are all adjusting to getting up at all hours of the night, and sickness is all around in our house! Please pray that our house be cleared of illness, and the antibiotics work on everyone who is on them! We are all just wanting to get into normal routine! Unfortuneatly, Caleb has been running a temperature, and this makes him very fussy, as you can imagine! I know it is just a matter of time before all is well!

I also want to take a moment to ask you to pray for my Aunt Belva. She just had a tumor removed from her breast, and they discovered it was cancerous. Tomorrow, she is having surgery to remove some of her lymph nodes, and I was hoping you might take the time to pray for her and her family tomorrow! I know we will be praying for her.

Well, I will go, for now. We plan to keep the blog updated as much as possible for those people who don't live near, and want to catch a glimpse of our wonderful new addition to our family!
Here are a couple of pictures of home life!
Take care,
We love you,
Sabra,Bus,Hannah and Caleb

We are HOME!!!

We got home last night, or should I say, early this morning around 4:45! Bus was very good to drive the whole way, and I fought hard to stay awake-to keep him awake!(I wasn't very successfull!)

We arrived at the Atlanta airport around 6:15 p.m., and had to wait in Customs for 3 hours to have Caleb's visa stamped. It was ridiculous, and there were several other families waiting from the same flight as ours! The babies were pretty good, but it was time for many of their bedtimes-so you can imagine how happy they were!

So, after a 3 hour flight, going through the whole security check a total of four times-taking shoes off, (practically stripping down naked, after my zipper set off the alarm), waiting for customs, and having to recheck our suitcases just to exit the international part of the airport...We are home and Happy!!!

Anyhoo...all is good-and today we will rest! We were so excited to come home and find a welcome home banner, put up by a wild group of gals!! You stinkers-you know who you are;o)!!!
So, I will post a picture of our little Caleb under his banner! & a picture of Caleb this morning after his morning bottle-he conked out!
Thanks again, for all the wonderful support!! We will post some more, after we have a little time to catch up!
Take care,
Sabra, Bus, Hannah and Caleb

Monday morning greetings from Guatemala...

Hello everyone,
Sorry that the posts have been somewhat sparce. Getting on the Internet has been somewhat challenging. As I write, we are sitting at the breakfast table. Odd, I can't get on the Internet anywhere but at the breakfast table. Yesterday was another great tour. We went to the market in Chichicastanago. For a little spanish lesson, tanage means "the place of" and chichicas means poison ivy. Fortunately we did not experience the poison ivy. However, it is an absolutely beautiful flowering plant with big beautiful purple berries. As for the market, it was an interesting experience, but probably one I would only desire to do once. As you will see from the picture below the "three foot" rule was definately violated. It was interesting, but exhausting.

After the market, we went to Lake Atitlan. It was also very pretty, however a bit of a hazy day. You can see that the lake is in the middle of three large volcanoes.

Today is a pickup day - we get to pick up Caleb's visa at the embassy. We are going to go to the tourist market. That is much tamer and more our style.

Here are a couple of pictures for you to "visit" with us...







The market. Sabra is quite the bargainer...












This is a picture of our tour driver. He was wonderful. He actually did most of the bargaining for us to make sure we got a good deal.






Momma and her baby boy. Such a long journey, but finally in her arms forever!!













I wish I could say this volcanoe is from some great tour we took, but actually it taken from the balcony of our hotel room. Not too bad a view huh?
















These are some picuters of the family at Lake Atitlan. Some say it is "heaven on earth." I say if heaven is as nice or nicer than this, we have a LOT to look forward too.

More pictures from Guatemala

Our first stop in Antigua was to one of the 5 star hotels in Central America. This picture was from a courtyard where they have weddings and other celebrations. The courtyard was full of these parrots.










Hannah reading to her new little brother














Me and Caleb after his bath.








This is our little one who wasn't going to be jealous of having a new brother.











This has been a really nice trip. Sabra probably posted this earlier, but we were able to get out and do some sightseeing today. On our last trip, we couldn't leave the hotel. Guatemala is a very beautiful country and I am glad we get to see it. It will give us nice memories to share with Caleb later in his life.

Tomorrow we will go to another place that has been been described as "heaven on earth".

Internet has been a little bit spotty, so if we don't post as often, that is why.

We are enjoying our trip, but we can't wait to get home and settle down as a family. God has truly blessed with Caleb, he is totally the right guy for our family. I guess when we trust Him, we end up with His best!! His best is even better than we could dream of ourselves.

Take care,
Bus (and Sabra, Hannah and Caleb)

Hola from Antigua!

I just wanted to post a couple of pictures of the family! We will write more later!
-Sabra

Our internet service has been down!

Hey to all our wonderful readers! Our internet has been down, and so we have had a hard time posting!! We are back up and running, and boy do we have a lot of pictures to share with you! We went to our embassy appointment on Friday, and it went fabulously! We were approved, so Caleb is our son!! Now we must wait till Monday to get his visa to travel back to the USA!

Today, we went to Antigua! It was incredible! So much history, that I am still sorting through all the things our wonderful guide, Hacobo, told us! We will share with you some pictures we took while we were there!

There is so much we will share, but I will post a couple of quick pictures with you now, since we haven't been able to post any!

We love you all!
Sabra

Our Beautiful son!

Well, after such a long adoption journey, we finally have our wonderful son! He is so amazing! We are all still getting use to one another, but he has bonded nicely with each of us! He knows Bus is the fun one, I am the provider of food and diaper changes, and Hannah, well, Hannah is the big sister!!

Hannah has met her moment of jealousy, and also wants to be like the baby. She wanted a bottle, but I was able to talk her out of it-after she smelled it! She has had a jar of pear baby food, and is begging to finish Caleb's off! Bus and I have both held her in the cradle position-can't leave her out of anything!! Ha ha!

Today we had a wonderful time by the pool! I took a few pictures, and of course will share them-that is why you look at the blog, right?! Hannah swam in the pool, and played with a little 4 year old boy that she met that is being adopted by a lady from Florida! He speaks no English, but they have a wonderful time, anyway, and they just hug and giggle! Isn't it wonderful to be a child, and relate to everyone so well?!

We have our embassy appointment tomorrow at 7:45 am! They tell us it will take about 2 hours! Keep us in your prayers! We will post more later!
Love,
Sabra, Bus, Hannah and Caleb!
P.S. The one picture is of Caleb giving you all a "sleepy kiss" back home!!

Introducing the new and improved Maslin family...

Drum roll please....




Not the most impressive picture, but believe it or not, we were a little bit overwhelmed.

There is no way to describe the emotion, so I won't try.

Bus, Sabra, Hannah and CALEB Maslin

Today's the big day!!

Well... After very long wait and journies that took us to parts of the world we never dreamed we would visit, the day has finally arrived!!! This morning at 10:00am (hopefully!!) they will bring Caleb over here to the Marriott.

While this is a very joyous time for us, we also know how hard it must be for Caleb's foster mother. Caleb is the first child that she has taken care of. We can't imagine how hard that must be to take care of a baby from the time he is 2 days old and then one day just hand him to someone else. We are forever endeared to her for taking such loving care of our little Caleb during the time that we couldn't. Please pray for her that God will help her through this time.

On a different note, we have have met so many people throughout this process. It is so interesting that many of the people we met on our fist visit trip are here now to pick up their children. We saw a guy at the Atlanta airport who we met on the first trip. His wife has been in Antigua fostering their little girl for a couple of months. We also saw another couple here at the Hotel that was here in November and three other couples are supposed to be here this week.

On a most interesting note, Sabra was sitting in the Adoption lounge and in walked a lady that we know from Lexington. She is down here picking up her second little girl. Small world, huh?

I will close with this... On the day that our family changes forever, there are a lot of wonderful memories that we have had with just the three Amigos (Sabra, Hannah and Bus). Hannah is such a wonderful daughter. She has truly "rolled with the punches" throughout her life. She has had a pretty busy life since her mom and dad move all the time, hop in the car and go all the time. Throughout it all, she just goes along for the ride. What a truly great kid she is!!

Well - audiose for the last time as the family you have known... The next blog will be from our new family (and may even include a picture).

Love,
Bus, Sabra, and Hannah

We're Here!!!

Just a quick post to let everyone know that we arrived safely. The Atlanta airport it treachorous, but the flight was nice. We lucked out and got into the Marriott tonight (we were unable to confirm our reservation for tonight, but when we got here, they had a room for us.)

We will write more later, but just want to let everyone know we got here safely!!

Bus

We Got our PINK SLIP-EMBASSY APPOINTMENT!!

We got a phone call around 6:45 pm tonight that we finally got our embassy appointment to pick up Caleb! We fly to Guatemala City on Tuesday of next week, and will be home the following Tuesday with our beautiful baby boy!! Our embassy appointment is on Friday, Feb. 24!! We are so thrilled, and excited!! We have decided to take Hannah with us, and she is thrilled to finally be getting her new baby brother!! Please keep us in your prayers as we finally go to get our son.
We will post pictures as soon as we can-sometime next week!
With love,
Sabra, Bus and Hannah

There is a baby boy in Guatemala with the last name of Maslin!!

We got a phone call last night that our new birth certificate was issued with Caleb's last name as Maslin!! We were so thrilled to get this news! We are thrilled that things seem to actually be happening this time! We are hopefull that we could be travelling as early as next week-we want to arrive a little early to take a tour of surrounding cities! We will let you know what we find out! Please continue to keep us in your prayers!
Thanks,
Sabra , Bus, Hannah & Caleb

We are, finally, out of PGN!!!!!!

Yipee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We got the call tonight that our case is finally out of the Guatemalan court system, and finally our adoption fiasco is about to come to a happy ending! Our caseworker said we would be traveling on or around Valentine's Day! Bus, Hannah and I are in complete shock! We never thought the that our journey of adoption would take us all around the world, and onto Guatemala. With all that we have been through, we trully didn't know if there would ever be a child at the end of this very emotional roller coaster ride! Well, it appears as though there is going to be a baby placed in our arms, at last!





We can't tell you how much we have appreciated all the love and support you have given us-through good times, and bad! We could not have survived this whole process without it!
As soon as we find out exact dates and times, I will post to let everyone know! Praise God for all that he has done for us, and continues to do!
Please keep us in your prayers,
Thank you,
Sabra, Bus, Hannah and Caleb

Update

We are still waiting for our little guy to come home. It is very frustrating, as we have been in this process, or at least the international adoption process, for 15 months. Our Guatemalan agency continues to tell us that it will be any time. We are in the last stage of our adoption-PGN. We have been there since November 15. We had hoped that we would bringing Caleb home for Christmas, but now are hopeful that it will be before Valentine's Day! We appreciate all the continued prayers, and support. I know that it will be soon, and we will let everyone know as soon as we hear any news. I wanted to post a few more pictures from our trip in November. Please remember us this week, as we really think this could be the week that we are called to prepare for bringing him home!
Thanks,
Bus, Sabra and Hannah

Merry Christmas!

One small step in the process... One giant step for us!!

Along the road of Guatemalan adoption, there are several milestones. For those who are not familiar, the major ones are:

1. Paperwork complete
2. Referral
3. Family Court
4. DNA
5. Preapproval
6. PGN
7. New Birth Certificate
8. Pink Slip issued by US Embassy in Guatemala
9. Bring your baby home forever

While all of these steps are crucial, some seem more important than others because other processes can't move forward until that step is complete. Obviously getting your referral is huge!! Then Family Court and DNA processing can go forward simultaneously. However, once the DNA results are complete, the US Embassy in Guatemala evaluates the entire case and issues Preapproval to finalize the adoption once the Guatemalan process is complete. The reason this step is so critical is that essentially the adoption stops until this step is complete.

Well after a lot of waiting and, let's be honest, frustration and anxiety, we finally received word that we had been issued Preapproval!! The good news was made even better in that we actually received the preapproval over a week ago (November 29). However, the Embassy had the wrong email address for us AND our agency. So we didn't get the notification. The only email address that was correct was the only one that really counted - our attorney in Guatemala. So, fortunately, he had been working on our case with Preapproval since that day.

We are litterally only a couple of steps away. Each step makes this whole process seem more real. It is really beginning to look like our dream is about to come to a happy conclusion.

While we are getting really close, the remaining steps could go either very quickly or linger for long periods of time. We know people who are getting through PGN in 8 days and some that have been in PGN for over a year. Then when it comes to getting the new birth certificate, what seems like such a simple process can litterally take days or months.

Well, for now we will celebrate. Our case is moving remarkably fast. We pray that the pace continues. There is a small chance that everything could complete in December and our son could be home this year. Most likely, we will be able to go in early January. Although we dread this possibility, it could be even February or later.

For the record, Hannah