Our journey so far...

I thought that I'd give a brief synopsis of our progress thus far:

• July 2004 we decided to think about trying for baby #2.
  
• August 2004 at a check-up a benign tumor (the size of a small grapefruit) was discovered on my left ovary. (and I wondered why I looked 3 months pregnant all of the time!?)
• September 2004 I had my Oophorectomy. (a funny name, you'd think it'd be ovarectomy or something)
  
• February 2005 we started trying for baby #2.
• October 2005 we began talking about adoption as a possibility.
• January 2006 went to a fertility specialist.
  
• April 2006 we started adoption.
• We finished our Homestudy the 3rd week of September.
• We received our Final Homestudy in the mail Thursday 11/2!
• Monday 11/6 we dropped off our I-6ooA!
• Thursday 11/16 we got our federal fingerprints done, which completes the I-600A!!

That's the very condensed version of our process.

Now on to some things to help you understand what all of the abbreviations I will probably be using mean:

PAP = prospective adoptive parent
family members:
DH = dear husband
DW = dear wife
DS = dear son
DD = dear daughter
DM = dear mother
(and so on in that format, I think you can figure it out)

Adoption related:
DTV = dossier to Vietnam
USCIS = US citizenship and immigration services (formerly known as INS)
HS = homestudy
SW = social worker
BF = birth father
BM = birth mother
TA = travel approval
NOID = notice of intent to deny (a letter from CIS which outlines the reasons they plan to deny your case and gives you an opportunity to rebut or correct the deficiencies in the case.)

Forms:
I-600A = Preapproval form from the USCIS that once approved states that the parents are acceptable from the US gov't standpoint to adopt (approval usually comes in the form of an I-171H)

I-600 = Approval form from the USCIS that the child can be adopted by the
parents (if you haven't filed an I-600A the I-600 also approves you as an
adoptive parent). Approval comes in the form of an I-171 (in most cases)

I-864 and I-864A = Form from the USCIS that is filed at the embassy
with your child's visa application that basically states you have the money
to "sponsor" your child (ie that they won't be on welfare once they come to
this country)

There's your crash course in adoption lingo.