Gerald & Tori Lee

We have BIG news!!

We're ADOPTING!

It has been over 18 years since Gerald and I were called to adoption. As we organically grew our family biologically, we remained open to every opportunity to expand our family like God expanded His. Whether that be sibling groups, special needs, or just children within the neighborhood needing a place to call home, ours was available. As a couple bound by the love of Christ, we believe that healing happens when one is called into a family. This stems from our calling into the family of God, that changed the direction of our lives forever.

Throughout the years we have never said no when an opportunity presented itself to walk into the realm of adoption. We started our process through the foster care system with both feet in. We’d like to say that every door opened and led us straight to a match for our family, but that wasn’t the case. We’ve gone over hills and through valley’s as we walk in faith, leading to open doors that would eventually close. Even though these situations weighed hard on our hearts, we pushed harder into God, knowing that we were on the right path.

Gerald and I were recently presented with the opportunity of growing our family through adoption again. It started with sharing the story of this unique young boy who we will refer to as “Leo”, who is needing to be matched with a family through adoption. Given the uniqueness of Leo’s life and the challenges he has faced and will face having autism and currently non-verbal, we knew it would take a unique family to provide the love and support he needs to progress in life. The more I shared his story with others, I couldn’t help but feel in my heart that we were the unique family that could give this boy the loving home he needs.

Stepping out once again in faith, we remind ourselves that God doesn’t call the equipped, he equips the willing. After much prayer and petition, Gerald and I chose to pursue being a possible option for Leo. Without overthinking the situation we started filling out paperwork and sharing our story. Needless to say, in a very short time we have become unofficially, officially matched with “Leo”. We have met with his biological father and have begun working closely with the adoption agency working Leo’s case.

As we navigate through tons of paperwork, continued meetings, background checks, finger printing, and the home study there is one aspect of the process that we are reaching out to the community for prayer and assistance. “Leo’s” adoption is considered a private adoption which adds a layer of expense that we weren’t anticipating, as we have always walked the road of adoption through foster care.

The preliminary breakdown of costs including placement costs, attorney fees, the home study, finger printing, background checks, travel costs, and the length of time we will need to remain in “Leo’s” home state before we can bring him home is estimated at $17,000. This number gave us a slight sticker shock as it was more than we had saved, but we know that God is bigger than this obstacle. Although we are doing everything in our power to chip away at the overall expense, the money we have saved will only cover the immediate expenses.

Gerald and I humbly come before our community asking if God has placed it on your heart to donate in hopes of raising the funds to bring “Leo” home, we would greatly appreciate it. If you can’t we would be eternally grateful for prayers over our family as we navigate these waters and hitting the share button so our story can be shared with others.

We want to thank you in advance for your prayers and support. God is gracious, He is loving, and He is kind. We keep thanking God for this opportunity, for Leo’s life, and for the opportunity to give Leo an incredible home. 💙