I have wished to be better at sharing our adoption news, progress, emotions, etc. as we have gone through the process so far and have not really found myself to be very on top of that, to say the least... Perhaps I will do better as we begin having more to share...
Although it feels to me like a lot of "adoption stuff" has been happening, until recently there has been no real progress in our process to share. I didn't ever blog about it, but many of you know from reading small individual Facebook posts that we have had many little paperwork setbacks involving silly things like water-main breaks, a loose staple and it feels like much more (perhaps there are other things that I have managed to repress at this point) which have set us back by at least a couple of weeks.
In addition to those obstacles, we made the decision to switch placing agencies. This was a choice that we made on our own and it is for the best but it did serve to delay things even a little more. This meant that when our dossier finally arrived at our agency in Michigan from the New York consulate, it then had to be mailed to our new agency in Colorado. The Colorado agency then needed a form signed by our local home study agency which took a week and then AAC (our new agency) had to get China to add our local agency to its list of approved home study agencies which took a couple of more days.
BUT, I am so very excited to announce one of the things I was beginning to think I was never ever going to be able to share. I expected to be saying this about a month or so ago, but, I can finally say that WE ARE DTC!!!! This picture included in an email from my agency made me smile! :)
What is DTC, you ask? That brings me to the title of my blog post - The Alphabet Soup of Adoption. :)
There are many, many, MANY acronyms in the world of China adoption. I had to laugh at myself a while back when I caught myself writing a note to someone and telling them - "I am hoping that we will be DTA tomorrow we can be DTC by Wednesday and then maybe if we are lucky we might be LID before CNY!" These letters (other than the CNY which was Chinese New Year) are some of the "biggies" in the adoption world. DTA and DTC refer to "Dossier to Agency" and "Dossier to China". DTA and DTC happen a few days apart from each other (typically). Getting DTC is a big deal. Primarily in that it means that there is a break in the paperwork for a little while. It means taking a deep breath and letting it out and hoping and praying that everything was done well and right (which should be the case since the agency reviews everything before it leaves their hands).
Now that we are DTC, though, we still get to search for more letters in our soup. After the dossier gets to China, The China Center of Adoption Affairs must log our dossier into their system. At that point, we will be considered LID which is another biggie. We have made a decision that the type of child we feel most comfortable adopting would be a child younger than Bryn who turned two in October. We have also decided that we feel most comfortable at this time in our lives taking on a child with more minor special needs. Children who fit this type of criteria (young with minor needs) fit into what is know as the "LID Only" group. This means that you must have completed your dossier and had it logged into China's system (i.e. be "LID") in order to be officially matched with an LID only child.
So we were DTC as of Thursday afternoon hope to hear within the next couple of weeks that we have achieved our long-awaited LID status.
Once we are LID, we can be matched with a child. At that point, we will submit LOI (Letter of Intent to adopt that child). We then wait on PA (pending approval) and then a couple to a few months after that for LOA (letter of acceptance - official approval from China to adopt that child). There are a few more steps in between LOA and the real biggie - TA (travel approval). I am trying to only stay a step or two ahead of myself in understanding this process so I will admit that I am not sure whether any of the steps in between LOA and TA have acronyms. Either way, we have come to learn that adoption is full of A LOT of letters!! :)
In news other than adoption... Jeremy is settled in and happy in his new job with Hamilton County Board of Developmental Disabilities. He was able to get a teaching job at Margaret Rost School that is literally a few minutes drive from our house. It has been a huge blessing because he used to drive an hour each way to work. He liked his old job and that was the one drawback. Now he has found a job doing the same work right around the corner from where we live!!
Maryn and Brynnie have moved into the same room with their new beds built by daddy. I enjoy hearing them whispering and giggling at night - as long as it is whispering! There have been a few nights that we have had to split them up but, overall, it has been a good move. I even heard Maryn tell Bryn the other day, "we'll talk about this more when we go up to bed...". So sweet! Only problem, I think she may have been planning to continue the little lecture she had been attempting to give her on the fact that it is not nice to say "poopy butt" - something that Brynlee never would have said in the first place if she hadn't learned it from Big Sis, by the way!! :)
Maryn started preschool 2 days a week in January and loves it, of course. Bryn likes having Mommy time while Maryn is at school. One of her favorite things to do with me is laundry (thank goodness as this allows me to get a little something done!) but a close tie is having reading time together snuggled under a blanket. I think she would be happy to park herself in my lap with a stack of books for the entire two hours we have together. I love it!
The girls are so excited and talk so often about having a little brother! Today Maryn told me that she took a little pillow from her room and put it in the crib in the other room, "so my little brother can have a pillow, Mommy!". Brynlee tells me all the time about how her little brother will be "too little to use the big potty like me. He'll need to use the little potty". I explained that he'll probably need diapers still for at least a little while after he comes home since we hope to bring home a child who around 18 months or younger. :) I've told them that I might need to grow a third leg to grow my lap for snuggle time but they have both reassured me that they will make room on my lap for their brother - "I'll just scoot back here, Mommy, and he can sit up there". They are so sweet in their comments about him! (Minus the times that Maryn asks if we are sure we can't bring home a sister instead!). I know there are many changes and adjustments ahead for all of us and that they will have a lot of new challenges to deal with. We are going to work hard to help get them ready. But, I am excited for them opening their hearts - (and my lap!) to a new family member. They both have seen many, many pictures of "babies from China". I can't wait until we can show them a picture and tell them - "Here he is! This is your brother!"
I'm hoping there will be a shorter time between blog posts this time around and that the wait won't be long until I can come back here for the purpose of announcing a new little member of the Osterfeld bunch!
