A stepdad covered his face in shock and cried tears of joy when his two stepkids revealed a cardboard sign to ask if he would adopt them. Tyler McRoy, 28, from Chattanooga, Tennessee, has been in the lives of his stepkids – Jasmin, 7, and Jake, 5 – since they were just one and three years old. The pair instantly fell in love with Tyler, their mom, Mint McRoy, 25, said, with Tyler going on to teach Jake how to fish and Jasmine how to ride a bike. The kids' biological father had not acted like a father figure, Mint said, and, one day, Jasmine asked if she could have the same last name as her mom and Tyler, who she called "Daddy." They decided to make a series of signs – first to wish Tyler a Happy Father's Day, and then to be flipped to ask the big question. As Tyler sat down in his home on June 18, the kids held up the cardboard Father's Day sign before revealing one that read, "We don't have the same DNA, but can we have the same last name?" Things then started to click for Tyler before Jasmine and Jake held up their final sign – "Will you adopt us!" – which brought their stepfather to tears.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 I've always never wanted to have my kids
00:02 to have a stepfather.
00:03 And that was one of the things that I was like,
00:06 kind of iffy about,
00:07 because sometimes you never know what could happen.
00:09 - So she never would have thought this would happen.
00:13 Min's kids grew up without a father figure.
00:17 - They didn't have an actual father in their life
00:19 that showed them what love could be
00:22 and what it is.
00:24 - But when Tyler came into their lives three years ago.
00:28 At first, my kids did call him Tyler.
00:31 And then later within like about a year,
00:34 they started calling him dad.
00:36 I mean, it was an automatic love.
00:37 Like it was just,
00:39 it was just amazing how my kids were able to cope with him.
00:42 And it was just crazy how like,
00:45 especially my daughter being the age that she was
00:47 to like, to fall in love with him being her dad.
00:52 - Who's your best friend?
00:56 - He taught them to fish and ride bikes.
00:58 But most importantly,
01:00 he taught them what a true father figure was.
01:03 - My daughter asked me,
01:06 it was just out of nowhere, honestly.
01:08 She said, "Mommy, what's my last name?"
01:10 I said, I don't know what her last name was.
01:13 And she was like,
01:15 "Well, I want my last name to be yours
01:17 "and daddy's last name."
01:18 She's like, "Mommy, I wanna do a big sign.
01:20 "I wanna do this for daddy."
01:22 And I said, "Okay, well, we can do it."
01:24 - So seven-year-old Jasmine and five-year-old Jake
01:27 surprised Tyler with that big sign.
01:30 (gentle music)
01:33 (people chattering)
01:36 (gentle music)
01:39 (gentle music)
01:41 - At first, he was kind of confused.
02:07 He didn't know what was going on.
02:09 And then all of a sudden, he started reading the sign
02:11 and his emotions started to change
02:14 and he realized what it was.
02:16 And my kids were with smiles the entire time.
02:21 I'm a very, what do you call it, independent woman.
02:24 Even when I was with my other kids,
02:26 that I did everything on my own.
02:28 And to find a man that is there for not just you,
02:33 but is also there for your kids was,
02:36 and for him wanting to adopt my kids
02:39 took a lot of emotion in me.
02:41 To just be able to let my kids see
02:45 and let them know this is what love is about,
02:47 to have a father in their life.
02:49 (upbeat music)