Years ago, a good friend of Kelly's encouraged her to memorize the book of James with our children. She said, "it will change your life." Kelly didn't realize how true that was! As we neared the end of chapter 1, we found James 1:27 which states "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." This verse bothered Kelly because she wanted pure and faultless religion in the Father's sight but knew she was doing nothing to look after orphans in their distress.
John was ready to adopt right away, but Kelly, being home with 3 young children who she was homeschooling, didn't think she could handle that at that time. Instead, we began giving to others' adoptions and organizations that cared for orphans. Eventually, God lead us to adoption ourselves, and we have spent the last 2 1/2 years trying to add to our family in that way. We want to give a child a home and a family who otherwise wouldn’t have one, and, most importantly, teach that child about Jesus Christ who died so that she may have eternal life. We have loved raising our 3 biological children, and now that they are getting older, we have also realized that we don’t want the child rearing part of our life to be over. We want to give love to a child who needs it.
God brought us a little girl from Nigeria named Iretomiwa to adopt. We did not find her by the traditional matching protocol. She was about to go on the waiting list of children needing a home, and the agency offered her to us first. We felt that God specially picked her out for us as she was a little older than our home study asked for, yet He made the way for us to find her. Her name means "a blessing has come to me" in the language of Yoruba spoken in her area of Nigeria which further solidified that this was the child God had sovereignly brought to our family. She has a sweet smile, and we are told she is quite a chatterbox and very cheerful. It made us chuckle to find out that she eats very quickly because she always wants to be the first one at the table to finish her food! She has sickle cell anemia which has made her difficult to place and is most likely the reason she was heading for the waiting child list, but we have one of the nation’s top hematology centers only about an hour and a half away from our home so we can get her the best treatment possible. We are anxious to bring her home to provide her with love and proper medical care.
For a long time, we had ruled adoption out because we just could not afford it being a one income family. Then we learned that there are grants to help with these costs. We have stepped out in faith believing that God wanted us to adopt, and He would provide the funds. We do not have the money to be able to fund this adoption on our own, but God has provided us with a matching Grant up to $5,000 through Lifesong for Orphans and the Tim Tebow Foundation to help us give this sweet, little girl a home. This means any donations given to our fund will be doubled up to that $5,000 amount. Will you please join us in following James 1:27 and help us bring the youngest member of our family home? We already love her.
STRIPE charges an online processing fee (2.2% +.30 USD per transaction). Your donations will be decreased by this amount. You may also send a check payable to “Lifesong for Orphans”. In the memo line please write “Newman 09030”, to ensure it is credited to our account. Please mail to Lifesong for Orphans, PO Box 9, Gridley, IL 61744.
Lifesong has been blessed with partners who underwrite all U.S. administrative and fundraising costs (TMG Foundation and other partners). That means 100% of your donation will go directly to the adoption.
- In following IRS guidelines, your donation is to Lifesong for Orphans. This organization retains full discretion over its use, but intends to honor the donor’s suggested use.
- Lifesong is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization. Individual donations of $50 or more and yearly donations totaling $250 or more will receive a tax-deductible receipt. Receipts for donations under $50 will gladly be sent upon request.