Little boy sells lemonade to help fund his adoption
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.-- A third-grader in Missouri has been selling lemonade to help pay for his adoption.
Nine-year-old Tristan Jacobson sold $1 lemonades Friday in front of the home in Springfield he shares with Donnie and Jimmy Davis, who have been Tristan's kinship guardians since he was 5.
Donnie Davis told The Springfield News-Leader that the lemonade stand and a weekend yard sale raised $7,100 to assist with the adoption legal fees. A further $6,900 has been donated via "Tristan's Adoption Fund" on YouCaring.com.
She says "there's not enough words to say 'thank you' to everyone."
Davis tells CBS affiliate KOLR that the young boy endured physical and emotional abuse from the age of four to five.
"We're trying to do what we can do," she said.
Davis says she and her husband already consider Tristan their son.
"Tristan is already our son, in our hearts," she said. "But we want to make it official. He wants to have our last name."
She says the adoption is "more for reassurance for him, knowing that he has his forever family and he has our name."
Davis said she's been approved to adopt Tristan, but it could take up to six months to finalize the adoption. Davis feels confident that she will legally be Tristan's mom, KOLR reported.
"He's been with us so long and we've been his family unit for so long. I know that there won't be any problem with it," she said.