ABCs of Adoption

Before I update you on everything, I wanted to share the ABCs of adoption. Specifically, China adoption because it is completely different than any of the other processes we've gone through before. In adoption, everybody speaks in acronyms. If you saw a conversation, it would be difficult figure out if it's a group of PAPs (Potential Adoptive Parents) or TTs (texting teenagers. I made that one up. You can totally do that.)
There are letters and abbreviations for everything.

And we all speak to each other this way. If you don't know what it means, you figure it out quickly and then you use it all the time. Although I try not to do it too much, I catch myself doing it here sometimes and leaving you clueless. Here's a little cheat sheet I borrowed from a C (China) friend to help:

HS- Home Study
Basically, everything about you that says your state qualifies you to adopt. CHECK.

LOI- Letter of Intent
Sent to the Chinese Gov't requesting to adopt a specific child. CHECK.

PA- Pre-Approval
The Chinese Gov't says, so far it looks like you would be a good parent to that particular child. And you're matched. CHECK.

I-800A- Application to US Immigration (USCIS) to adopt a child from a foreign country. CHECK.

DTC: Dossier to China
A dossier is all the paperwork you complete about yourself, your home, your family, your health, finances, etc.

LID: Logged in Date.
The Chinese consulate has received your dossier.

OOT: Out of Translation

LOA: Letter of Acceptance
That's a big one! The Chinese Gov't has reviewed all your dossier paperwork and approved it.

ART/ARTICLE 5: Final approval from the United States for the adoption to take place.
I have skipped a few small steps, that I probably won't ever mention on here.

TA: Travel Approval

CA: US Consulate Appointment in China.

I will explain more on each as we get to them. Right now, we are so so close (Ugh. I feel like I have been saying that forever) to getting our dossier to our agency. We are waiting on one more piece of paper to come back from out of state, and we need to get all of it authenticated by our state. Then off it goes!