After Toyota’s Super Bowl ad captured the touching life story of Paralympic swimmer Jessica Long, the media raced to report on the athlete. But many of them bypassed crucial details about the 28 year old – including her Christian faith and pro-life position.
Toyota, a partner of Team USA, highlighted the 13-time Paralympic gold medalist on Sunday. Her story is one worth telling: She was adopted from a Russian orphanage as a baby and lost both of her legs as a toddler only to become the second-most decorated U.S. Paralympian in history. But there’s more to the story. She centers her life on God, she says, and advocates for adoption in place of abortion. That’s because, for her, “I would rather know that the baby would have a better life than I could give him or her instead of just terminating the baby.”
The minute-long ad doesn’t show all of that – but it struck a pro-life tone. The camera follows the champion athlete as she “swims” through her life story, beginning with her adoptive mother receiving a phone call informing her that little Jessica is available for adoption.
“We found a baby girl for your adoption,” a woman’s voice tells her mother, “but there’s some things you need to know.”
“She’s in Siberia, and she was born with a rare condition,” she continues. “Her legs will need to be amputated. I know this is difficult to hear. Her life, it won’t be easy.”
That didn’t deter Mrs. Long. “It might not be easy, but it’ll be amazing,” she responds. “I can’t wait to meet her.”
Steve and Beth Long – a Christian, homeschooling family in Baltimore, Maryland – adopted Jessica when she was just 13 months old. Her legs were amputated when she was 18 months old due to a condition called fibular hemimelia, which meant that she did not have fibulas, ankles, heels, and most of the other bones in her feet. In total, she has endured more than a dozen surgeries.
But that didn’t stop her from living life. God had a plan.
Instead of a phone call, her adoptive parents actually “went to a church meeting and they saw a picture of me,” she told I Am Second last year. “They were told that this little Russian girl has leg deformities and really needed to be adopted. And my mom just said, ‘We knew that you were the child that God wanted us to adopt.”
Jessica loves both of her mothers.
“I’ve definitely dealt with a lot of emotions and questions regarding my adoption, but I am so grateful she chose to give me life,” she wrote of her birth mom in an Instagram post in 2019. And “My mom who raised me is the most bubbly, fearless, incredible woman and I’m honored to be her daughter.”
In 2013, she traveled with one of her five siblings to meet her birth parents.
“I want them to know that I’m not angry with them,” Long said in an NBC film, shortly before a tear-filled reunion. “I think that was really brave, and I don’t know what I would have done if I was in her situation, at 16 and having this disabled baby that they knew that they couldn’t take care of. I want to tell her that when I see her that, if anything, I have so much love for her, my mom, because she gave me life.”
Jessica is pro-adoption and pro-life, according to a Celebrate Life Magazine (CLM) story published in 2014.
“If you truly can’t care for the child and can’t give the child the life he or she deserves, I would give the child up for adoption, because there is going to be a family out there who will love that baby—no matter what the diagnosis is,” Jessica said. “I know it can seem really discouraging, but in the end, I think that if you would abort the baby, you would definitely regret it. I think, for me, that I would rather know that the baby would have a better life than I could give him or her instead of just terminating the baby.”
Jessica also believes in the power of prayer and faith, telling CLM that “It gives me all of my strength.”
But her faith journey is just that: a journey.
“I can’t think of a single childhood memory that we weren’t always at church or with our church community,” she told I Am Second. “And what I heard a lot of is that, ‘God made me this way.’”
“I knew I didn’t want anything to do with this God that made me this way,” she added. Among other things, she struggled with anger and feelings of being unwanted.
Years later at a Bible study, that changed.
“I just think, I just couldn’t do it alone anymore,” she said, before walking over to a woman who prayed with her.
“I just said, ‘I want to give God my whole heart for once,’” she remembered. “And as soon as I prayed, it was the first time in my entire life that I felt enough.”
She stressed that it’s a process.
“I am constantly reminded every day that I need to give it to God,” she urged. “Every day when I put on these two prosthetic legs that are heavy and they still hurt me. My legs still cause me pain. And I think it’s honestly this really cool, beautiful reminder that I can’t do it on my own.”
At the end of races, she pictures God swimming along with her.
“When practices get tough or races have been hard, I just call unto Him,” she concluded. “God, this is hard.”
And she hears Him respond: “Just keep trying, Jess. I’m here with you.”
Ryan Jon in an Australian Radio Host & Podcaster has a story to tell. On Mother’s day each year he puts out a message to find his biological mother. Watch this heartfelt story of love for adoption and the person who gave him life.
See more at Facebook.com/RyanJonOnline
This fall the StandUpGirl.com Foundation welcomed a new member to our board of directors. We want to take this opportunity to introduce our newest team member, Alan O’Kain, and his wonderful and unique family. This family is a living example of the beauty of adoption.
Alan and his wife, Victoria, have been supporters of StandUpGirl.com for about 6 years and are frequent guests at our Portland area events. Originally from California, Alan and Victoria both have a background in law. This background proved useful when, about 10 years ago, they decided to pursue adoption. They each individually had a heart for adoption, and now married, with 6 biological children between them, they had the resources to pursue that calling.
During these past 10 years they have welcomed 5 children home from China. Paul, now 15, was the first, followed by Jude, Lulu, Luke, and Harmony. The children were all a bit older, and knew no English, when they joined the family, making adjusting to a new country and culture difficult. Many arrived with only the clothes on their back, and with a variety of health challenges. Some had nearly aged out of orphanage care in China. With a loving and stable home, where they are promised “we will never leave you”, they have blossomed. And where it is has been possible in meeting the kids academic challenges, the O’Kain’s have enrolled their children in Christian schools, to help in pouring God’s love into their lives. “It’s been quite an adventure”, say Alan and Victoria, but they feel “blessed to have the opportunity to do this.”
The O’Kain’s would also like to offer some encouragement and advice for those interested in pursuing adoption. Alan says “God will give you the energy and resources to help you do it,” and Victoria advises getting a mentor who has previously adopted to help navigate a process that can be long and difficult.
Will more children be joining the O’Kain family? Victoria says it’s always a possibility.
We are so excited to have the O’Kain’s as part of the StandUpGirl.com Team. We hope you have the privilege of meeting them someday, possibly at one of our future Portland area events.
On October 24, 2015 in the middle of the night, I was wide awake and literally compelled to go into our empty nursery and pray. That night, I sat in our third bedroom and prayed over our adoption. I prayed for our child and the birth family, and the story that God was writing. I stayed in that room for over 3 hours and filled 11 pages in my journal. This never happened again, and I didn’t think much of it until nine months later.
Nine months later, a brave woman gave birth to our baby girl. And as we pieced together our stories, I learned that Ellery was conceived on October 24th, 2015. The night I was called up to pray, was the night that all of our lives were greatly changed by one sweet baby, even if none of us knew it yet. The final chapter of our adoption journey, really started to unfold last spring.
In March, we were matched with a birth mom who was having a little boy. On April 4th, we received a phone call saying that the adoption had fallen through. And just like that, we were back at square one.
The next morning, on April 5th, our adoption agency met with a birth mom named Emilie. At this meeting, she was shown our profile book. And the very next day, she chose to meet us. Had our adoption fallen through even one day later, Emilie would not have been shown our book. Seventeen days later, we walked into our adoption agency to meet Emilie.
My heart was pounding as we walked into the little conference room. I remember seeing Emilie, and her mom and her sister for the first time. Emilie was was standing, and we hugged right away. Within minutes, I loved her and her family.
Throughout the meeting we cried, Emilie cried, and her family cried. Tears of heartache, mixed with tears of joy and relief. We talked about Emilie’s story, her dreams, her love for this baby. We talked about our life; our dreams, and our love for adoption. The hour and a half flew by.
As we sat across from Emilie, Kenny and I would look over at each other; and I could tell we were both thinking the same thing. This is the reason. This is the reason for all the confusing paths and closed doors and hard choices that we had to make: Emilie and her baby were going to be a part of our lives forever.
On Saturday morning, we got the official phone call. Emilie had chosen us to be her baby’s adoptive family. We were so grateful, and really happy.
We spent the next three months getting to know Emilie. We hung out several times and we texted quite a bit. We met her whole family. They all met Parker. We shared meals together; and it seemed like we had known each other so much longer.
Over the months, Emilie has become more than our child’s birth mom. She is our friend and an extension of our family. And because this is her story too; we wanted you to hear her own words.
Before you hear those words, please know this: Adoption is laden with layers of joy, and grief and beauty. And sometimes all at once.
When Emilie hand wrote us a card, to share that her baby was a girl, we were so excited. But there was also an ache in my heart. Em was going to sacrifice this sweet bond that a mom and her baby girl share; and she was gifting that to me.
As I held onto Emilie in the hospital while she labored and as we all saw Ellery for the first time, there was joy and awe for this beautiful little life, but there was also heaviness because we knew what was coming.
As Emilie held Ellery inthe hospital, kissed her head, and handed her to me one last time, I could hardly breathe. This moment was sacred and we all knew it. As I looked around the room, tears flowed down the cheeks of Kenny, Emilie, her parents, her sister, and her brother. Ellery is deeply loved. And that is what I will always know, Emilie loves Ellery, so much. Her chosen loss, her entrusting Ellery to Kenny and me, is drenched in brave, genuine love.
Every day when I look at Ellery, this sweet, amazing gift, I am reminded of Emilie. Ellery’s life is beautiful. She is a picture of God’s faithfulness and perfect work. I still can’t believe that we were chosen to be her parents.
U.S. Olympic gymnast Simone Biles is stunning the world with the complexity of her routines and her signature sky-high moves. Some experts predict that the young Texas athlete could bring home as many as five gold medals from the Olympic games in Rio, Brazil.
But just as inspiring as her hard work and amazing talent is her life story.
The Independent Journal reports Biles was born in Ohio to drug-addicted parents, and her father quickly abandoned the family. The first few years of her life were a yo-yo between her mother’s house and foster homes, according to Texas Monthly. When Biles was six, her grandparents adopted her and her younger sister, and they moved to Texas, the report states.
Now, the 19-year-old gymnast calls her grandparents, Ron and Nellie, mom and dad. A perfectionist, Biles trains continuously and often is hard on herself when she makes a mistake, according to the report. On Sunday, the only day she doesn’t practice, she goes to church with her family, according to the report.
“She’s always been headstrong,” Nellie, a retired nurse, told the news outlet. “When she makes up her mind, it’s, like, oh my gosh—the whole world could be upset and she’d still do it. My other kids would listen. Her, no. She makes her mind up and that’s it.
When Biles expressed an eager interest in gymnastics, her parents enrolled her in classes. According to the report:
A year after enrolling, Biles was in the middle of a class when Aimee Boorman, a former competitive gymnast and one of the coaches at Bannon’s, walked by and took notice. Impressed by the tiny girl’s explosive power and “air sense”—a gymnast’s catlike ability to stay oriented while flying through the air—Boorman soon became Biles’s personal coach, a position she has held to this day.
Biles also struggles with stress and a drive for perfection. She has a counselor who helps her work through the issues, according to the report. Her parents said it took her days after she won the World Artistic Gymnastics Championship to realize that she won the title of best gymnast in the world. Those around her say her confidence has grown since then, and she has become more at ease in her performances.
The young athlete has attracted the public spotlight because of her amazing abilities, but her adoption and her struggles are even more inspiring because they demonstrate how every person can overcome adversity to achieve greatness.
We spent the next three months getting to know Emilie. We hung out several times and we texted quite a bit. We met her whole family. They all met Parker. We shared meals together; and it seemed like we had known each other so much longer.