Sometimes the moment you have been waiting years for arrives when you least expect it.
For Abbey and Tim, that life-changing moment came while they were in Minneapolis helping Tim’s parents move. They noticed a missed call from their adoption coordinator back in Omaha, where they live, and almost casually decided to call back.
That phone call would change their lives forever.
“We were told there was a baby born in Omaha, and the birth parents had chosen us,” Abbey recalled. “As soon as she told us, Tim immediately started crying.”
The coordinator explained that the baby was in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and encouraged them not to rush. But rushing was exactly what they did.
“We were obviously going to hurry,” Tim laughed.
Within minutes, they were gathering belongings, loading the car, and preparing for the long drive back to Nebraska. Before they left Minneapolis, a text came through. The birth parents hoped to complete relinquishment paperwork that evening.
Five Years of Hope and Waiting
The adoption call came after years of uncertainty, heartbreak, and perseverance.
Five years earlier, Abbey and Tim began exploring ways to grow their family. They learned that a pregnancy would not be medically safe, leading them to explore alternatives.
The couple traveled overseas to pursue surrogacy. Abbey spent weeks undergoing injections, procedures, and embryo transfers, all thousands of miles away from home.
“We only had two embryos, and both transfers failed,” Abbey said.
The experience was emotionally and physically exhausting. After the treatments were unsuccessful, they gave themselves time to heal and reflect. Adoption had always been part of their conversation, but they wanted to fully explore their options before taking that path.
One phrase stayed with Abbey from classes at Lutheran Family Services during that season: “Adoption is second choice, not second best.”
That perspective helped shape the next chapter of their journey, one that ended with their adopted child.
Abbey looked down and smiled at the sleeping baby girl bundled in Tim’s arms and said, “Now that we’ve met her, there’s no question, she is our child.”
Finding the Right Path
After moving from Texas back to Nebraska, the couple spent time discussing what adoption might look like for their family. They researched options, talked through their hopes, and eventually connected with LFS through a recommendation from a family friend.
The Infant Adoption program at Lutheran Family Services provides training, home studies, ongoing support, and guidance throughout the adoption process. Families complete extensive preparation before entering the program, and because the program is intentionally small, families receive individualized support throughout their journey.
According to Cierra Svagera, Pregnancy, Parenting and Adoption Specialist (PPA) with Lutheran Family Services, the program typically serves no more than 15 adoptive families at a time. Over the past year, the program has facilitated six infant placements, making it one of the most active years in recent memory.
Abbey and Tim expected the process to take time. A lot of time. “We were ready for it to be much longer,” Tim said.
Instead, just a few months after beginning the process, they received the call. “We didn’t think the first call would be the one,” he said.
The Longest Five-and-a-Half Hours
The drive from Minneapolis to Omaha was about six hours, but for Abbey and Tim, it felt endless.
“It was probably the longest drive of our lives,” Abbey said.
The entire trip was filled with excitement, fear, hope, and uncertainty.
They called family members. They contacted their employers to let them know they may not be in to work that week. They tried to prepare for every possible outcome.
At gas stations along the route, Abbey found herself running through aisles, hurrying to get back to the drive, and then reminding herself to breathe.
“It was a roller coaster of emotions,” she said.
Despite the uncertainty, one thing became clear almost immediately: their family and friends were ready to support them. By the time they arrived in Omaha, relatives had already begun shopping for baby supplies.
“We basically only bought the car seat,” Abbey said. “Everybody else handled the rest.”
A Rare and Remarkable Adoption Journey
Unknown to Abbey and Tm, a remarkable story had already been unfolding at the hospital.
When Cierra received a call from hospital staff, she learned that a mother had delivered a baby girl and wanted to pursue adoption. When she arrived at the hospital, she discovered both birth parents were together, involved, and fully supportive of the adoption plan.
“That’s not something you see very often,” Cierra said.
In many adoptions, agencies must navigate additional legal steps involving absent parents, notifications, waiting periods, or court proceedings. In this case, both birth mother and birth father were present and actively participating in the process from the very beginning.
The following day, the birth mother reviewed family profiles provided by Lutheran Family Services and selected Abbey and Tim.
By that evening, everyone was gathered together in the hospital room: the birth parents, the adoptive parents, and Cierra from the LFS team supporting them through the process.
Meeting the Birth Parents
The young couple had spent several days reviewing Abbey and Tim’s family profile before choosing them. By the time they met in person, the birth parents felt like they already knew them.
Meanwhile, Abbey and Tim knew almost nothing about the birth parents.
“We asked if they had any questions for us,” Abbey said. “I thought they’d ask about schools or religion.”
Instead, they asked something much simpler.
“What are your dogs’ names?”
That question broke the ice and led to conversations about family, hometowns, hobbies, and life experiences.
The birth father admitted he had been nervous about his decision. But after meeting Abbey and Tim and spending time with them, he felt reassured that they were the right ones.
During a visit to the NICU, he shared that meeting the couple helped confirm that they were making the right decision for their daughter.
“The birth mother told me, ‘When I saw you holding her, I knew you got it. You’re the ones.'”
It’s a memory Abbey still struggles to share without tears.
“They loved her deeply,” Tim said. “They wanted her to have opportunities and a life they felt they couldn’t provide themselves.”
Meeting Their Daughter
After spending time with the birth parents, Abbey and Tim were finally able to meet the tiny baby waiting in the NICU.
Although she was born early and needed NICU care, she was healthy and strong. She weighed just 3 pounds, 15 ounces at birth, but quickly demonstrated remarkable resilience. Within days, she was eating well, gaining weight, and meeting the milestones needed to go home.
“She never needed oxygen or anything like that,” Abbey explained. “She was just tiny.”
The NICU stay ended up providing an unexpected benefit. It gave the couple time to prepare their home, assemble furniture, and transform a spare bedroom into a nursery.
Family members pitched in immediately. By the time their daughter was ready to come home, the house was ready too.
“She’s very spoiled already,” Abbey joked.
Building an Open Adoption
From the beginning, both families agreed they wanted an open adoption.
Phone numbers were exchanged, photos were shared, and plans for future communication began taking shape.
The birth mother even spent additional time visiting in the NICU after placement.
“We want her to know her story,” Abbey said, speaking of their adopted daughter.
The couple has embraced the idea that the birth parents will always be an important part of their daughter’s life.
“We speak positively about adoption,” Abbey explained. “The birth mother made a choice out of love.”
They’ve already found themselves helping family members understand adoption differently.
“It’s not about loss versus gain,” Abbey said. “It’s about people loving a child enough to make difficult choices.”
“Her birth parents loved her deeply,” Tim said. “They wanted her to have opportunities and a life they felt they couldn’t provide themselves.”
For Cierra, the open adoption reflects what was special about this placement. The birth parents felt confident in the family they had chosen, and the adoptive family embraced the importance of maintaining that connection for their daughter’s future.
Becoming Mom and Dad
For Abbey and Tim, parenthood arrived in a whirlwind. One day they were driving from Minneapolis toward an uncertain future. The next, they were holding their daughter.
“We went from not having a baby to having a baby in what felt like an instant,” Tim said.
The experience strengthened something they had already learned through years of waiting: family isn’t defined by biology alone.
“It’s funny,” Abbey said. “People keep telling us she looks like us. She has his nose. She looks like me.” She laughed. “Obviously she isn’t biologically ours, but in every way that matters, she’s completely our child.”
When Everything Comes Together
Looking back, Cierra says this adoption stands out because of how smoothly everything unfolded.
The initial hospital call came on a Friday. By Saturday evening, the birth parents had completed the necessary paperwork together, Abbey and Tim had arrived from Minnesota, and everyone involved had the opportunity to meet, talk, and begin building a relationship.
“You don’t always see things work out this smoothly,” Cierra said. “To have everyone together, supporting one another, and feeling at peace with the decision, that’s incredibly special.”
Stories like this are a reminder that adoption is more than a legal process. It is a partnership built on trust, compassion, and a shared desire to create the best possible future for a child.
Advice for Waiting Families
Looking back, Abbey and Tim offer simple advice to others about navigating adoption.
• Stay hopeful.
• Build support systems.
• Talk to other adoptive families.
And remember that every journey looks different.
“You can’t really plan for when it will happen,” Tim said.
For Abbey, the lesson is even simpler. “There were times we wondered why we were doing all of this. But now, holding her, every step feels worth it.”
The path to parenthood wasn’t the one they originally imagined.
But when the call finally came, it led them exactly where they were meant to be: to a tiny hospital room in Omaha, where a little girl was waiting to meet her family.
