Luci is 6 months old!

Our baby girl is 6 months old today...wish she were with us so we could celebrate...



Many of you are curious so I thought I would use the rest of the post to describe to the best of my knowledge how exactly we bring Luci home. What's next and why can't we just go get her NOW? I ask myself that everyday! Please pray for each step of the process! I apologize now for the length of this post...

Here's what has to happen prior to Luci coming home...

1.Legals. These are all the legal documents for Luci....the documents from Korea saying that she is available for adoption and her birth certificate. We got these this week, much quicker than we or our case worker anticipated! Praise the Lord! Our agency says that this can take 4-12 weeks after assignment. For us, it was exactly ONE week.

2. I-600. We sent this form yesterday and are hoping for approval in a couple of weeks. The approval will be sent to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS). This begins the visa process. This approval is called the I-171. (Please pray for the "US Citizenship and Immigration" officer that will be handling our approval. Please pray that his/her heart will be softened and that they will work very hard to get our approval...we included Luci's picture with our paperwork just to get the "softening" started)

3. The approval will be sent by CIS to the National Visa Center (NVC). (Please pray for those in the National Visa Center that will be working to help issue the visa. Pray for a quick response from them.)

4. The NVC then sends the approval to the US Embassy in Seoul (the time it takes for the approval date on our I-171 to the time it arrives at the Embassy can be 2-4 weeks). This approval has to be at the Embassy BEFORE the visa can be issued. Luci also has to have a passport before the visa can be issued. Once the passport is issued she will have Passport Permission (PP). (Please pray for the officers in the US Embassy in Seoul. Pray that Luci's visa will be issued quickly by that officer. Also pray for Luci's passport to be touched by hands that will move quickly to get her home.)

5. Travel Clearance (what we are ultimately waiting for): Once our agency knows that Luci's passport is issued and the visa cable is at the Embassy in Seoul, Luci should get "TC" within 2-4 weeks. Once the visa is issued, we receive the TRAVEL CALL and book our tickets for Korea!!!! (Please pray for God's timing in the travel clearance. I know that I have a plan for this but pray that I would be reminded of God's perfect timing. Pray for Jason and I to have patience in this and to prepare our hearts to be the parents that Luci needs.)

Each day we get closer and closer to Luci! We can't wait to meet her face to face and kiss those adorable little cheeks! We know you can't wait either!