Matching Grant

 Dear Family and Friends,                                                                         July 11, 2012

“A father of the fatherless…God sets the solitary in families…” - Psalms 68:5,6

Some of you already know that we are adopting a 5-year-old girl from Latvia! We met her this past Christmas when she was in Maine as part of a hosting program.  Project 143 offers orphans from Latvia and the Ukraine a chance to experience being part of a family.

God used some amazing and extraordinary circumstances to connect us with the host family that cared for our daughter.  It is a testimony to His amazing purpose and plan in all of our lives.  The host family was making plans to share their home with this child long before we ever met them.   A soccer injury brought their Ethiopian born daughter into the emergency department where Bill just “happened” to be the one to treat her.  A conversation started as “your family looks a lot like ours” which led to pictures being shared and ultimately a very close friendship being formed. 

We had begun to consider pursuing another adoption but had our hearts set on a baby boy from Uganda. We had contacted our Ugandan attorney and she told us that she would “get back to us after the New Year”.  Over the Christmas holiday we met Raimonda.  The hope was to find a family that was willing to adopt her but all options seemed to be failing.  We were praying one night about what God had in store for this little girl.   God turned the light bulb on for us and it was as if He was saying, “How much clearer do I have to make this for you?”.   We never heard back from our Ugandan attorney and here was this little angel right in front of our eyes, eating fajitas and nachos in our kitchen!

In January we started the paperwork to bring Raimonda home!  We are now two weeks away from traveling to Latvia as a family to go get her.  The first trip will require us to live in country for approximately three weeks.  We will be able to bring her home with us at that point, but we will have to return to Latvia two more times to finalize the adoption before she can officially become Allison Rae Legere. 

This is our third adoption and the biggest challenge for us is not opening our hearts and home to another child but it is in finding the finances to make this happen. We are still recovering from Hannah and Anita’s adoption, which required a 9-week stay in Uganda in 2010. 

We estimate our total cost for adoption fees, document preparation, home study, airfare, travel, attorney fees, etc. to be $32,000. We know God is faithful and is leading us to trust Him. We have been able to fund our first two adoptions entirely on our own. God is now asking us to swallow our pride and reach out to others who may want the blessing of being part of the adoption process. Honestly, it’s a little difficult to make our needs known to the Body of Christ around us but we also know it’s very Biblical to do so. We appreciate your friendship very much and would like you to pray & consider helping us in our adoption. There are two ways you can help:

1. Prayer – Please pray God would tenderly care for Allison in Latvia until we are able to bring her home, that God would prepare Sarah, Dee, Hannah & Anita for the upcoming changes to our family, and that God will give us wisdom, discernment, and insight as we raise all of our girls to know Jesus Christ.

2. Financial support - Will you please consider making a tax-deductible donation to help us pay the remaining $5,000 in legal expenses and post placement evaluations plus $15,000 in travel fees, to bring Allison home?

Lifesong (www.lifesongfororphans.org) has graciously given a Matching Grant of $5,000 to help us in this endeavor.  If you would like to be a part of God bringing Allison to Himself through our family, you can send your tax-deductible gift between now and September 12^th  to the address below. Lifesong is a trusted organization administering the funds on Allison’s behalf, and will pay adoption expenses out of funds received. 100% of the money raised will go directly towards our adoption. Lifesong keeps no money for administrative costs!

1. Please make checks payable to: “Lifesong for Orphans”. You may preference how the donation might be used by writing “Legere #2891 Adoption” in the memo section of your check.

*Note:  In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to the named non-profit organization. 

This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.

2. Mail checks to:

Lifesong for Orphans

Legere #2891

PO Box 40 / 202 N. Ford St

Gridley, IL  61744

Thank you for investing in the Kingdom through prayer and finances – it will be an investment with an eternal return! (Matt 6:20) We’ll give you an update with a picture of Allison and details as we receive them. Please pray this entire process will glorify God and fulfill His purposes!

In Christ,

Bill, Teresa, Sarah, Deanna, Hannah, Anita & Allison Legere