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What Is Maundy Thursday?—How to Celebrate During Holy Week

As we celebrate Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter, you may start to wonder, what is Maundy Thursday? Three days before Easter, we come to Maundy Thursday. "Maundy" comes from the Latin word "mandatum," meaning command, order, or commission.

Abby & Brittany: Conjoined Twin Abby Hensel is Married!

They’re the most famous conjoined twins in the world, and now Abby Hensel, of the duo Abby and Brittany, is now married! 

Babysitter Knows Mom Is “Paranoid” After Her Baby’s Death—So She Texts Her This Picture

The 15-year-old needed to make a sandwich, but she didn't want to let the baby out of her sight. She was in quite the predicament.

Meet the Moms of the U.S. Olympic Team— Delayed Tokyo 2020 Games Have Finally Arrived!

Though it’s been delayed a full year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo has finally arrived! Team USA consists of over 600 athletes at this year’s Summer Games, but 12 of them are pulling double-duty as moms.

Whether they’re a mom of teenagers or just six months postpartum, the moms representing Team USA in Tokyo are making history, and making their kiddos proud.

Tough as a Mother

International guests and spectators are not allowed to attend the Tokyo Games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes family members and friends of the athletes competing.

The unprecedented nature of this year’s Olympic Games means these moms will be competing in Tokyo alone, without their kids or support systems there to cheer them on.

Despite the challenges of competing in the Olympics during a global pandemic, these moms are proving they have what it takes to be both a mother and an athlete.

Meet the Moms Representing Team USA in Tokyo

Allyson Felix — Track & Field

The most decorated American woman in Olympic track & field history, Allyson Felix is heading into her fifth Olympic Games, but her first as a mom.

 

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After collecting her record NINTH medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, Allyson Felix set her sights on becoming a mom. In 2018 after a severe case of preeclampsia and an emergency c-section, Felix welcomed her daughter Cammy, who spent her first month in the ICU.

Felix has since raised awareness about racial disparities in maternal mortality, and even testified in Congress about her own experience.

At the Tokyo Games, the 35-year-old has the opportunity to tie or break the record for most medals won by an American track & field athlete. The current record is held by Carl Lewis (10).

Gwendolyn Berry — Track & Field

Tokyo 2020 will be the third Olympic Games for hammer thrower, Gwendolyn Berry, whose story of becoming a mom just three weeks after her 15th birthday is one of trial and triumph.

 

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After giving birth to her son Derrick during her freshman year of high school, Berry said having someone looking up to her made her want to “thrive a little harder.”

Seventeen years and two Olympic appearances later, Berry is already making waves as she heads into the Tokyo games—not for her elite hammer-throwing skills, but for using her voice as an activist athlete.

 

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During the U.S. Olympic track-and-field trials in June, Berry, who placed third in the hammer throw, turned her back to the American flag as the national anthem was being played. The demonstration, which followed two days of Berry holding up an “Activist Athlete” t-shirt, has garnered a slew of both backlash and support. The demonstration was not Berry’s first in speaking up against racial injustice, and most certainly will not be her last.

At the 2019 Pan American Games, Berry raised a fist on the podium – a demonstration that resulted in her being publicly reprimanded and put on probation by the USOPC. Berry’s demonstration, which was largely fueled by the pressure she feels raising a  black teenage son in America, has since sparked radical change.

 

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In March of 2020, the USOPC issued an apology to Berry and announced it would allow racial and social justice demonstrations at U.S. Olympic trials.

Despite the policy change, the Tokyo Olympics will prohibit all “demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda … in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.”

“I’ll figure out something to do,” Berry said of her plans for making a statement in Tokyo.

Brittney Reese — Track & Field

Making her fourth Olympic appearance in Tokyo, Brittney Reese is a force to be reckoned with.

 

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Consistently one of the most accomplished athletes around the globe, Reese has earned two Olympic medals and eight medals across the World Championships in long jump.

The 34-year-old is a mother to her godson Alex, who she adopted in 2016 after a longtime friend was no longer able to raise him. Alex, who is now 13, is following in his mother’s footsteps as a championship-winning long jumper.

“He says he’s gonna have more medals than me,” Reese joked in a 2019 interview.

Quanera Hayes — Track & Field

After giving birth to her son Demetrius in October 2018, Quanera Hayes says returning to the track to prepare for her Olympic debut was challenging.

 

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“Coming back, it was tough. It was like I had to learn how to run all over again. I couldn’t come out of [the blocks], my stride was different.”

But after overcoming the hurdles of returning to her athletic career as a new mom, Hayes’ motherhood was put to the real test last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic separated her from her son for several months.

 

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Hayes’ husband, Demetrius Sr., is from the Bahamas and was visiting family in his home country with baby Demetrius when the island shut down due to the pandemic.

“He was stuck in the Bahamas for four months,” Hayes said. “I couldn’t get to him, they couldn’t get to me… It was the worst experience of my life. He was growing up and he was learning new stuff without me.”

Luckily, their separation while she competes in Tokyo will be much shorter. Still, nothing beats their emotional reunion last summer.

Sally Kipyego — Track & Field

Sally Kipyego is joining Team USA for her second Olympic Games, but her first as a member of Team USA.  After taking home silver in the 10,000 meter (marathon) while representing Kenya at the 2012 Olympics, Sally officially became a U.S. citizen in 2017. That same year she gave birth to her daughter, Emma.

But the comeback from childbirth was not as easy as the 35-year-old athlete had hoped.

 

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Bri Lamm
Bri Lamm
Bri is an outgoing introvert with a heart that beats for adventure. She lives to serve the Lord, experience the world, and eat macaroni and cheese in between capturing life’s greatest moments on one of her favorite cameras.

What Is Maundy Thursday?—How to Celebrate During Holy Week

As we celebrate Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter, you may start to wonder, what is Maundy Thursday? Three days before Easter, we come to Maundy Thursday. "Maundy" comes from the Latin word "mandatum," meaning command, order, or commission.

Abby & Brittany: Conjoined Twin Abby Hensel is Married!

They’re the most famous conjoined twins in the world, and now Abby Hensel, of the duo Abby and Brittany, is now married! 

Babysitter Knows Mom Is “Paranoid” After Her Baby’s Death—So She Texts Her This Picture

The 15-year-old needed to make a sandwich, but she didn't want to let the baby out of her sight. She was in quite the predicament.