GLAD TO BE IN AMERICA: 'I FEEL BETTER ABOUT MY FUTURE,' NEW AMERICAN CITIZEN SAYS

Lilly Jordan celebrated the Fourth of July Tuesday in grand style with her family, playing games in the backyard, walking their dogs Oscar and Ringo and watching fireworks. It was her first official holiday as an American citizen.

Lilly was born in Seoul, South Korea, as Da Hye Kim. She came to the United States almost a year later when she was adopted by Dr. Stephen and Carla Jordan. She was naturalized June 28 at the Federal Building in St. Louis, Mo.

Now that the 9-year-old Cape Girardeau girl is an American citizen, she has plenty to say about her nation. "I feel good about living in this country," she said. "I have a relationship with this country. I feel better about my future because I'm an American now."

Her official citizenship certificate should arrive in two weeks. Lilly, her brothers, Beau, 12 and Mick, 10, and their parents are planning a huge party to celebrate.

Even though Lilly lives in the United States and has parents who are citizens, she was not. Lilly was granted status as a resident alien and had a green card.

"My parents waited to get my citizenship because they wanted me to understand," Lilly said.

"We wanted her to be old enough for it to mean something to her," said Carla Jordan. "We made the decision to wait until it would mean something for her."

And it did.

Lilly recounted the story of her naturalization. She told about how the family had to go through security at the building and that they met a judge at her office. "She had an alien pen," Lilly said, laughing about the character atop the ink pen.

Her parents had to take "two or three oaths and I took the last one. We were sworn to tell the truth."

The oath said "I would go into the federal military if I was called and that I had to obey the laws," Lilly said. "I will help do things for my country because a good citizen helps people and tries to follow the laws."

Many adoptive parents apply for immigrant visas and then permanent citizenship shortly after the adoption is complete. If permanent citizenship isn't granted by the child's 18th birthday, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service requires the child to take a written test.

Lilly didn't have to take any test but she knows plenty about her country and her state -- and probably would have passed, her mother says.

During fourth grade, Lilly studied about Missouri history and government. She knew she was Korean, not American. "This began to concern her," so the family took steps to complete her naturalization, Carla Jordan said.

The process was rather simple in comparison to what the Jordans had been through with an international adoption. They only had to show Lilly's birth certificate, adoption papers and three passport photos.

"It worked really fast," Carla said. "Once you go through an adoption you sort of expect everything to be difficult."

The Jordans submitted to fingerprinting, background checks, and plenty of paperwork when seeking to adopt an international baby. They chose international adoption because they thought it posed less of a risk than a domestic one.

"We were comfortable with Asia and had Korean friends and knew others that had adopted so we finally settled on Korea," Stephen Jordan said. Some countries had very stringent policies about international adoptions, too.

The Jordans had already been through fertility treatments when they decided on adoption. "We knew there were plenty of kids who needed a home," Carla Jordan said.

The adoption agency asked them to consider how they would handle a biracial family and how their extended families would react. "A baby is a baby," Stephen said.

Carla adds, "all kids deserve a home and loving parents."

After about a year with Holt International Children's Services, an agency based in Oregon, the Jordans learned about Lilly. By the time she was 3 months old, they knew everything there was to know about their daughter that she had had pneumonia and had been born premature and became her legal guardians.

It took another six months for them to bring her home. The Persian Gulf War hampered their efforts to bring Lilly home. Regulations forced all correspondence to be sent via mail, not cabling services, so paperwork was slow in coming. And then it got lost three times.

"I felt like I could just swim across the ocean to get this baby," Carla Jordan said.

But Lilly eventually came home, and when she did, she immediately recognized Carla and Stephen as her parents. The Jordans had sent a book to Lilly while she was in foster care with photographs of themselves and their families. "Her foster mom must have showed it to her because as soon as she saw us she smiled, and she's been a complete joy ever since."

Lilly is the youngest of the Jordan's three children, but has lived with her parents the longest. Her older brothers Beau, 12, and Mick, 10, were adopted at ages 7 and 5, respectively.

"If you could have lined up all the children in the world, I'm confident I would have chosen these three," Carla says.

"Mick is a rebel and a fighter like me, Beau is a prince of a boy and Lilly is the jewel of our eye," Carla said.

The Jordans have always been honest and open about the adoptions. The children know they were chosen to be part of the family. "That's what makes adoption special, you got picked," Carla said.

Lilly knew as a young child that she wouldn't be as tall as her mother and didn't have red hair like her father, but "she certainly has our mannerisms," Carla said.

Instead of making those differences a negative, "we just made that a celebration," Carla said. "It shows that there are a lot of different ways you can become a family."

BECOMING A CITIZEN

* Parents must petition to claissify the orphan as an immediate relative.

* Then parents can file for an immigration visa.

* They must submit to a home study by the INS, interviews with social workers and be fingerprinted.

* They must also submit copies of birth certificates, divorce and marriage certificates and proof of citizenship.

* Then adoptive parents can apply for citizenship for the child.

Source: Immigration and Naturalization Service