Traben Family Adventures

Hi all!
I am entering my 29th week of pregnancy...woohoo! I am feeling great, and have really no complaints at this point. I am very thankful that I have been able to stay healthy (no colds, no flus, no significant pains...besides the usual contractions every now and then). Baby is healthy and moving around a lot. Baby T is probably about 3 lbs now.

We still have our foster dog, Polly, with us and she is a gem! She is so wonderful. It will be VERY difficult for me to let her go. Some fosters are easier than others. She will be hard. The only downfall for her with us is that she seems obsessed with our cats. Not good. I am recommending she goes to a home with NO cats. Although, she has been making progress with them here. She no longer takes off after them barking and will often walk beside them. Of course, I have to be standing there, next to her, telling her to be good, and she will be. If I wasn't there, I wonder if she'd take off and try to kill the cat. Otherwise, she is super gentle with everyone, esp the kids. She has wormed her way into our bedroom at night, and sleeps beside my side of the bed, on the floor, on a big blue blanket. She has also wormed her way into my heart. I took her to the vet today and she seems very healthy, except for the need to get her teeth cleaned in the next 6 months, they say. We have her posted up on our Rose's Rescue website for adoption. It will have to be the most PERFECT home for me to let her go though. We'll see how that goes.

Although, Ken and I are preparing for baby #6 here, we kind of feel that our family may not be complete yet. Yes, I know we are insane. We've already talked about adopting again in the future. It was a great experience and just like the dogs I take in and love sooo much, there are soooo many kids out there in need of good homes as well. Of course, we'd wait until Baby T is a little older...maybe in a couple years or so. And, of course, we'd have to see if we change our minds by then also and maybe by then feel we have enough kids to handle :)

We'd love to adopt from China again, but lately with China becoming so strict on family size (they limit families with 5 or more kids...and look down upon big families, often rejecting their applications), we do not know if we'd even be allowed to go back to adopt in China. We have already looked into other programs, with Ethiopia being our first choice we think. There is no limit on family size, in fact, they seem to love big families and the travel time is minimum (only 1 week). There are also a ton of orphans in Ethiopia, due to war, famine and AIDS. Most of the orphans are pretty healthy and strong though. Many of them are sibling sets...ready and waiting for homes.

In fact, if any of you are considering adoption, check out the Ethiopia program. Our adoption agency, WACAP, just opened up this program. The travel time is only one week (versus 2 weeks in China, 3-4 weeks in Vietnam and a LOT of travel time for the Russia and Guatamala programs). The cost overall is much more inexpensive than any other country, the matching process is quick and most importantly, many, many kids need good homes! If you are looking for sets of siblings, then this is also a great place to adopt from and build your family. And, of course, if you are able to adopt domestically from your local county or state, then that is awesome too!
Here is the link to the WACAP Ethiopia adoption program, for those interested:

http://www.wacap.org/International-ethiopia-faq.asp

Well, that is what's on my mind today and my continued plug for international and local adoptions!