Tina

I hope she doesn't mind that I'm doing this, but this girl needs a shout out from the rooftops. This is one strong girl. You'll never believe how strong she is.

9 years ago (right?) she got pregnant. She was very young. She and T's dad decided that they were going to release him for adoption. This choice, first of all, ranks up there as the hardest decision ever, in my book. Or maybe not *hardest*, but even if it's the obvious "right" choice for a person, that is the largest letting go a person can ever experience. I simply cannot imagine what it was like to walk out of the hospital without him.

My strong Tina carried on, somehow. She and T's dad were still together, and a couple of years later, they were pregnant again. This time she was a little older and she was keeping this one with her. This is T's full blood brother.

This is the part that's amazing. I'm not sure how common it is- I HOPE it's more common than I'm aware of....but T's adoptive parents have always kept Tina in their lives, in Tylers life. Did you hear that? Tina gets to see Tyler, talk to him, touch him. It give me happy love tears just thinking about it because it's so big on EVERYONE'S part. Was it scary for T's parents the first time? Were they nervous? Was it hard for Tina, after going through the enormous letting go? It's (in my own, small, know nothing opinion) the SMARTEST thing in the WORLD! How can they all not benefit from this? Tyler will probably not have the hole that some children who are adopted talk about feeling. She will have been there the entire time. He will know his story the whole time! His life story has her woven through it's entirety! Tina's heart can rest easier knowing and seeing that he is loved, to know the people who are loving him, to know that Tyler is okay. It's just so hugely BIG.

It makes me proud to know her. Her loving heart shows in everything she does anyway, but sometimes I still just want to yell to the world "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT SHE'S DONE AND WHAT SHE'S DOING?!" so that she can get the round of applause she FULL deserves from the universe. Over and over.