Caleb's birthday bash!

We had Caleb's birthday party this past Saturday! Not everyone was able to make it, but we had a good time anyway! Caleb did very well for his first birthday party! No big tear were shed, only a few minor ones! Ha ha! Hannah was a big help, as she helped Caleb unwrap his gifts! She loved this, and of course, Caleb loved getting the toys after she unwrapped them! Here are a few pictures, and hopefully some video, of the party! I still can't believe our baby is one!
Sabra, Bus, Hannah & Caleb

Here is a video of Caleb's first birthday

6 months home, yesterday, & 1 year old today!

It is hard to believe that 2 years after we started our adoption process, and one horrible trip to Russia with a horrible agency, we would be so blessed with a handsome Guatemalan prince! We always knew we wanted to adopt, but had no idea what God had in store for us, or the path that would lead us to Caleb! We started our adoption process in August of 2004, and planned to go to Russia to adopt two. Well, a year later we were on our way, and once in Russia, it completely fell apart! We stayed for two weeks in Russia looking for what was to be our children, and returned home empty and broken hearted. We returned from Russia on August 23, 2005, and collapsed into our bed. When we awoke on August 24, 2005, we knew we would never return to Russia, but also knew that we still wanted to adopt. We decided that day that we would go to Guatemala. Little did we know that our precious little prince was to be born this very day, August 24, 2005, in Jutiapa, Guatemala! Praise God! Now, today on August 23, 2006, it has been six months since he entered our lives forever, and tomorrow my big guy will be one! I know that he was meant to be our son, and am so blessed by his presence in my life! I know sometimes it doesn’t seem fair that we have to wait, while in this crazy adoption process, but WOW-it is so worth it in the end! I can’t imagine what our lives would be like without Caleb, and am thankful to God that he knew all along who was truly meant to be our son!

Sabra, Bus, Hannah and Caleb!

Well, it has been awhile since we popped in to let you know how things are going. We are good, and Hannah and Caleb are growing like weeds! Hannah went for a checkup at the doctor, and she has grown about 4 inches since her last checkup! She is getting more and more beautiful everyday! School will start for her in about a week and a half, and she is looking forward to going into third grade! Oh, my goodness, where does the time go? Best of all, last weekend, she was baptised! We are so very proud of her!
The picture is of our two pastors, and Hannah right after she rose from her baptism!







Caleb will be turning one on the 24th of this month, and he is getting closer and closer to walking, and he babbles all the time! My, you wouldn't believe what a big smile that little guy has!!(still no teeth) He loves, and I mean LOVES his big sister Hannah, and follows her around like a little puppy! He is really beginning to enjoy his new abilities of mobility, and I can barely keep up with him! By the time I get him back into the living room, he is on my heals to the kitchen! Ha Ha! Oh, how will we keep up with him when he walks?! YIKES?!







We received updated photos of Maya in an email, yesterday. I thought I would post a few. We are just about finished with our paperwork, and plan to send it to Washington D.C., tomorrow. Many people have asked me how long do we think it will take this time. Well, if everything goes well, we think it should be about 6-8 months. We still need your prayers, as international/any adoption can take odd turns. We are just hoping that it will be as smooth as Caleb's adoption, and Maya can come home soon! We will keep you updated! Love,Bus,Sabra,Hannah,Caleb, & Maya

The secret is OUT!!

***You may have to read this post twice, as many will not believe what they read.***

A few days ago, Bus was away on business, and I came across the most beautiful little girl on our adoption agency website! Inside, I knew there was no way we could afford to go through another adoption right now, but I called Bus to tell him about the sweet little face that I had seen. He asked me to email the pictures, and by then, I had already requested more pictures of her from our agency. Bus called me back and said "When do we leave for Guatemala?"

So, yes, we are embarking, completely on faith, another adoption, of a beautiful 22 month old girl from Guatemala. Although we have no idea where the funds are going to come from, we knew in our hearts that this was our little girl. We are praying that all goes well, and that we bring our little girl home to join her big sister, Hannah, and little brother, Caleb in the next 6-8 months! Please keep us in your prayers as we embark on this incredible journey of building our family through adoption. I will keep you udated to our progress, and of course there will be pictures!

Love, Bus, Sabra, Hannah, Caleb
and introducing.... Maya Mishelle Maslin

Caleb is crawling!

O.k., so he has been crawling for a couple of weeks. He started out with what we call the crab crawl-one knee on the ground, on foot on the ground! Ha ha! We thought he would crawl that way until he walked, but now, he uses two knees. I did get it on video, and in pictures(which I will share with you).








He is babbling continuously, and keeps us hopping after him! Just a couple of days ago, in just a few short hours, I retrieved a button, penny, light brite peg, candy wrapper and dead bug from his mouth! ARGHHHH!!!! I completely forgot how much they put in their mouths!! After the bug, I broke out the sweeper and cleaned the sofa out, under the sofa, all around the edges of the rooms! I just couldn't bear my little guy eating another bug!!(Oh, the joy of boys!)






Now, he is starting to clap his hands together, and wave! So funny! The discovery of his hands has been great joy! He is learning to pinch food in his fingers and bring it to his mouth, which is no easy task! I gave him some cherio like toddler puffs, and am quite amuzed at watching him chase them around the high chair tray-having to use his two pointer fingers to get the food to his mouth! It's fun to watch, unless he is eating carrots or green beans, which he loves to smash with sippy cup! YUCK! As you can see from the picture above, no teeth-YET! Maybe soon! He does have a new little slit in the bottom, where I think he will be developing his "new tooth". We shall see!

Hope everyone is doing great! We love you all!
Bus, Sabra, Hannah, and Caleb

Home from vacation!

We have been home for almost a week from vacation! Wow, does time fly! We had a wonderful time, but are all very happy to be home! I just wish we lived closer to the beach!! Oh, well!

When we got home, we finally received Caleb's Certificate of Citizenship (COC). This is a beautiful certificate that states that Caleb is now a United States Citizen! It was beautiful to receive this, as we were impatiently awaiting its arrival. Now, he really does live in the United States of America! :o)

He is getting closer and closer to becoming mobile! He is getting on his hands and knees, but just a little too nervous to take off crawling! I am not in a huge hurry for this, because I know that all will change when I have to chase a little one around! hee hee Although, it sure is adorable watching him learn!

While in Florida, he found a new love for the water! I would have loved to know what he was thinking!(Gee, what a big bath tub!) He thought the ocean was cool, and as long as we held him tight, he loved to be in it! I am guessing the pool was probably his favorite, as it didn't move around with lots of waves and yucky seaweed!











Here are a few more pictures to enjoy from our trip! Hope everybody is doing wonderful!
Love,
Sabra,Bus, Hannah, and Caleb!

Oh, just a little picture of the most beautiful sunset we saw while there! It was unbelievable!! Isn't God the most incredible artist?!!!

Growing, growing, growing...

Caleb continues to grow and giggle his way into our hearts! He has gotten so big since coming home, and I couldn't let another day pass without sharing a few pictures of him!

We just got back from a little trip to Atlanta, where he had to ride in the car for 6 hours straight! He did pretty good, I mean, it is hard to have to sit in the car for six hours as an adult! The picture with the hat is for our upcoming trip to Florida(oh, no, another long trip in the car!). I thought that picture was hilarious!!!(I am not sure what he was thinking?! Ha ha! Well, I just wanted to stop by and post a couple of pics!

Take care,

Sabra

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.