May 27th

Tina has been with us two months now. Her progress has been much slower than Jolene, who came at the same time (but from different cases). Whatever happened to Tina in the past before coming here-must have been life altering.

We are convinced that she went through something heartbreaking and extreme, and wasn’t treated kindly.

She will reach from afar to grab a treat from you and run, but that’s the most she feels comfortable doing. She doesn’t like you to touch anywhere on her body. If you try, she does everything she can to get away. You can tell with every single encounter that she expects the worst. Lots of times we just sit with her so that she knows we aren’t expecting anything of her but her trust, and only when she is ready. She’s curious- just very, very scared.

For the first time we were able to walk her outside of her area without her freaking out, but she was on guard with every quick movement. We are happy with the little steps as we trust she will learn over time that every single thing we do is with love….and if that takes forever…we will still be here.