Yahoo groups overload .. make it stop!

Short and sweet.  Somewhere along the way it was suggested to join the yahoo group for our agency.  Or more specifically their yahoo group for the waiting child program.  So I did, of course. The more help I can get, the better. After all, nobody we know has adopted so we don't have much in the way of tangible resources to tap into.

I joined the group and signed up to just get a daily digest of the posts.  Good Lord!  Be careful what you wish for is right.  There are more subjects bouncing around on there than I knew possible.  This was my first introduction to "the lingo" .. all these acronyms I've never heard of and am already intimidated by.  Heck, I still type out each and every word of each and every text message I send so good luck on getting me up and running on this one.  Even posts from families while they're in China about how the transition is going with their new wee one.  Seriously. These people are really into this yahoo groups business.  Since I joined so early on in our process, I decided to stop hyperventilating after reading the digest first thing every morning .. and just avoid reading it until I felt a little more confident about our process and had a little more understanding of the subject matter.  I still find it totally intimidating to read about someone's third or fourth adoption, their packing list, and sight seeing plans. But I'm hopeful that as we eek closer to actually traveling that I'll acclimate much like I did earlier on.  I think the expertise of some of the "elders" will always be intimidating.  I still feel like even though I'm getting done what I need to get done, that I may not be doing everything right and am, any day now, going to get one of my documents back with a big red "X" through it and an "F" written on the top.  And I certainly am not good enough at this whole thing to give anybody else any advice or feedback.  Thankfully there are plenty of those people out there, helping the rest of us along.

Just a little glimpse of what I wake up to every morning.  The shortest digests were just a few posts (Christmas time) and the longer ones reach a dozen or so.  Maybe not intimidating to you but if you're me .. looking at how much is left on your timeline .. and you don't even know what some of these things mean because you have yet to reach that milestone in your process .. well, it makes you throw up, just a wee bit, in your mouth.  Just when you think you're making progress, you read one of these.  But in the end, I'll be wrapping my arms around baby sister and this will all be a fleeting memory.  Or a recurring nightmare.

1a.

Re: HELP! I'm panicking... Please answer a silly question QUICK! From: 

1b.

Re: HELP! I'm panicking... Please answer a silly question QUICK! From: 

1c.

Re: HELP! I'm panicking... Please answer a silly question QUICK! From:

1d.

Re: HELP! I'm panicking... Please answer a silly question QUICK! From: 

1e.

Re: HELP! I'm panicking... Please answer a silly question QUICK! From:

1f.

Re: HELP! I'm panicking... Please answer a silly question QUICK! From: 

2a.

Re: We got our PA :) From: 

2b.

Re: We got our PA :) From:

2c.

Re: We got our PA :) From: 

3a.

Re: LOA has made it to BAAS From: 

3b.

Re: LOA has made it to BAAS From: 

3c.

Re: LOA has made it to BAAS From: 

3d.

Re: LOA has made it to BAAS From: 

3e.

Re: LOA has made it to BAAS From: 

4a.

Adoption from Shanghai From: 

4b.

Re: Adoption from Shanghai From: 

4c.

Re: Adoption from Shanghai From: 

4d.

Re: Adoption from Shanghai From: 

4e.

Re: Adoption from Shanghai From: 

5.

Kate/Fiona- aging out girl with Thalassemia needs a family SOON! From: 

6a.

Vaccination Waiver From: 

6b.

Re: Vaccination Waiver From: