For many moms, there will be retirement, an empty house and time to one’s self. This usually happens somewhere around 18 years after childbirth.

For my mother it has been quite a bit different.

My mother is the biological mother of five children and the adoptive mother of 11 — all that really matters is she is the eternal mother of 16.

I don’t know how she does it so well, so eloquently, but it is working.

Tina Betzer is a great woman. I know most everyone agrees their mom is a great mother, the best. I, however, know that mine is a sincerely good person.

I think we too frequently excuse our moms as just that, a mom confined to one title and one life.

My mother taught me that people are not one dimensional. She has spent 30 of her 50 years as a mother.

“This is my dream,” Tina said, “this is what I always wanted to do.”

Though the word “mother” is usually a title, I am starting to think it is more of a state of mind, an attitude and a commitment.

My mom is a good example to anyone, an extremely kind and loving person, and a sincere example of Christ.

She is a wife, a foster mom, a cook, an interior designer, a carpenter, a representative for people with disabilities, a gardener, an awesome volleyball setter, I could go on and on.

As a nurse and a volunteer EMT; she has always been caring and selfless.

Not only is she a good person, she is absolutely beautiful, completely forgiving and a self-proclaimed “enabler.”

“The hardest thing about being a mom is trying to make the right decisions for your kids and having enough patience and faith that they will turn out well,” Tina said.

My 11 younger siblings are all people with disabilities.

Their disabilities vary from complete quadriplegia to blindness, cerebral palsy, to severe learning disabilities and more.

My mother, (and father but hey, this is Mothers’ Weekend), has done this willingly, passionately and without regret.

I think she did this not only because she is full of love and selfless, but also because she wanted to set a good example for people, for me.

I don’t think I will ever be able to keep up with her.

She has memorized the feeding/medication/school/therapy schedules of 16 people.

I have a hard time taking my vitamins each day.

She tube feeds two of my siblings; she has five children in diapers and five teenagers, I just started doing my own laundry.

“People think I am out of my mind. They don’t understand why anyone would want to take on the challenges and the lifetime commitment of a child with a disability,” Tina said. “I wanted my children to have an influence to learn to accept and love everyone for who they were and not where they came from or what they wore or what color they were.

“The most important thing about foster care and adoption is that you have to be totally committed to the child, whether it is for a day or a lifetime,” Tina said.

I was taught to accept. I can see her love everyday. She is totally committed to helping others, making sure they know they are loved and deserve a chance.

My mother said she hopes she has taught her children to “be kind, hardworking, good people.”

When I see my older sisters working with special-needs children, my brother’s wonderful family or my 13-year-old sister helping her friend with a disability through the hallways, I know my mother has been successful.

When I asked my mom what she wanted to say to the world about being a mother, she said, “Every child is born with the right to be loved unconditionally by a family and to have a home.”

The example of a great mother, combined with that of a truly caring person, is more overwhelming than I can say, and is a blessing I am grateful for every day.