(Oregon Right to Life) — A young Idaho woman says she feels like she’s “living a movie” after successfully reuniting with her birth mother, who bravely chose life and made an adoption plan as a teen.
Naomi Rose Randall, 24, grew up knowing she was adopted.
“Ever since I was little, my parents were very open about the fact that I was adopted and that my biological mother loved me very, very much,” Randall told EastIdahoNews.com.
It wasn’t until she was 18 that Randall decided to find out who her birth mom really was – but the search was more difficult than she expected. Six years passed before she discovered a Facebook group designed to help people reconnect with lost friends or family members and decided to post a photo, the outlet reported. The picture was the only one that she had of her birth mother, Nikki Lindsay. In the photo, taken June 4, 2001, Lindsay is tearfully cradling her one-day-old baby as she sits beside Randall’s soon-to-be adoptive mother, Teri.
“She was saying goodbye to me and handing me to my (adoptive) mom,” Randall told the outlet. “My (adoptive) mom was comforting her, knowing that this young girl had made the ultimate sacrifice to allow her to become a mother.”
But after years of not knowing her biological mother, the reconnection would come surprisingly fast, according to the report.
Within fifteen minutes of posting the photo, Randall said she received a message from a woman claiming to be her biological mom’s sister, EastIdahoNews.com reported. Though initially wary, Randall messaged the woman and realized that she knew the names of her adoptive parents – information she hadn’t included in the Facebook post.
The two continued talking, and Randall told the outlet she learned more and more about her biological family. She discovered that her mother and father were still together, and that they had additional children: her biological siblings. She also had nieces and other extended family members she’d never met. For Randall, now a mother herself, it was incredible to realize that she and her own children had such a large network of relatives. Excited, Randall sent a Facebook message to her biological mom and discovered that her mother had attempted to contact her a year prior. They quickly followed up with a video call.
“I was trying to be all cute and do the whole, ‘Hi, mom, I’m your daughter!’ like you see in the movies and stuff, but I was only able to get out, ‘Hi!’ and I lost it,” she told EastIdahoNews.com. “I broke down crying.”
The two soon made plans to meet in person, the outlet reported. That night, they met at a fast food restaurant. When Randall arrived, feeling “extremely nervous” about meeting her long-lost parents, she was greeted with their affectionate embraces.
“I get out of my car, and she comes running up and gives me the biggest hug in the world. I held on, and I hugged her back, and I felt at peace,” Randall told EastIdahoNews.com. “I turned around and there was my dad just standing there, and I gave him a hug. He did not want to let me go at all.”
The reunited family would sit and talk for hours that night, catching up on each other’s lives after more than two decades apart. Randall discovered that her biological parents had always remembered her birthday – collecting 24 birthday cards for her – and that they honored and respected their daughter’s adoptive mother, according to the report.
Randall said she felt the reunion with her family had lifted a weight from her. “Today, the world seems brighter. And I feel physically lighter,” she told EastIdahoNews.com. “I don’t know how to really describe it or explain it, but I just feel … I feel found.”
For many women experiencing unsupported pregnancies, adoption is often perceived to be a very difficult choice. Vulnerable women and girls may lean toward abortion because it can seem preferable to “giving up” their own child to another family. However, countless children who have been raised by adoptive families have expressed deep gratitude for the bravery of mothers who, though unable to raise their child themselves, refused the violence of abortion and instead made the life-affirming decision to entrust their babies to families committed to caring for and loving them.
The value of adoption, which has touched many lives, has even been recognized in legislation.
Earlier this year, Oregon’s legislature unanimously approved a bill introduced by Rep. Lucetta Elmer to establish August 25 as Oregon Adoption Day.
READ: Oregon Lawmakers Unanimously Approve Bill to Establish ‘Oregon Adoption Day’
“Adoption is an act of courage,” Rep. Elmer said. “It requires sacrifice, selflessness, and a whole lot of faith from all sides. It weaves together lives in ways that reflect the best of our humanity, and it is worthy of recognition.”
Elmer noted that August 25 “is not just a date on a calendar: It’s my day. The day I was adopted.” She said the date the legislation recognizes “forever changed my story, gave me a future, and placed me in the arms of a mother who chose me as her own, and ultimately led me here today, talking to you.”
During work sessions on the bill, numerous members of the legislature came forward to share how adoption had impacted their own lives – including those who had been adopted themselves as children and others who currently have adopted children or grandchildren.
For Rep. Elmer, the establishment of “Oregon Adoption Day” shines “a light on the beauty of adoption” and sends “a message to every adopted child in Oregon: You are seen. You are loved. And you matter.”
