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The Lyon family plays outside with their two dogs. From left, Hope, Ted, Grace and Krizhana Lyon. 

The Lyon family smiles for a family portrait. From left, Krizhana, Grace, Hope and Ted Lyon.

The Lyon family plays outside with their two dogs. From left, Hope, Ted, Grace and Krizhana Lyon. 

About 13 years ago, Ted and Krizhana Lyon spent part of the hours-long trip between Azle and Atlanta, Georgia, trying to think of a name for their soon-to-be adopted daughter.

When they arrived at the hospital outside of Atlanta, their daughter’s birth mother told the Lyons that she had already selected a name for the newborn baby’s medical records but that the Lyons were free to change it. The name she picked was Hope, and the Lyons thought it was perfect.

After all, the couple had been hoping for a baby for years. The Lyons tried multiple fertility treatments, including in vitro fertilization, and nothing was working. Ted Lyon said the process of trying to have or adopt a baby was like a roller coaster ride.

“We got to that point to where, hey, this may be it, and it would fall through whether it was the medical side of it or the state adoption side of it,” he said. “We’re Christians, and we believe in God, but the question I had was she’s hurting so much, we’re hurting so much, and it’s like where was God through this?”

The journey to finally being able to adopt Hope was expensive. The IVF treatments costed the Lyons thousands of dollars, and when Ted got an estimate over the phone for an adoption, he recalled slamming the phone down because it was so expensive. However, he decided to change his mindset.

“The more I thought about it, the more it was impressed on me that this is not my money,” Ted Lyon said. “God has given me this money. He’s given me the job at Lockheed (Martin). He’s made everything possible for us to maybe afford this, so I wanted to try and see if that door was an open door.”

With that, the Lyons pursued adoption. They went through the process and the paperwork, and after getting signed up and creating a profile, the phone call came on a Sunday morning while they were at church. Not daring to answer a call from an unknown number during the service, Ted Lyon decided to check up on the call after church and found that it was the adoption agency saying that the Lyons were matched with a baby in Georgia. They were told they needed to act fast if they wanted to adopt the baby.

“Usually, they call and tell you that you’re matched, and the mother is three months along, six months along,” Krizhana Lyon said. “They called and said you’ve been matched, the mom picked you and the baby was born today. So, it’s decide now and come get the baby.”

The adoption would cost about $25,000, and the Lyons didn’t have that much money on hand. Ted called the bank, which meant getting a bank employee to answer the phone on a Sunday during Labor Day weekend and secured the funds.

With the help of family, the Lyons picked up items that they would need for a newborn — diapers, onesies, bottles, wipes and other necessities. Ted and Krizhana Lyon left for Georgia that Sunday night.

After arriving in Georgia, the Lyons met their new baby and took her to a hotel, but the process wasn’t over yet. For the Lyons to take full custody of baby Hope, the birth mother had to sign off on the paperwork, and that took more than a week to happen. 

“Until Mom signs those papers, we’re babysitters,” Krizhana Lyon said.

After missing appointments to sign the paperwork, the birth mother went missing and couldn’t be reached for days, Krizhana Lyon said.

Without the birth mother’s signature, a doctor’s office wouldn’t examine the baby, and the Lyons had to stay in Georgia longer, which racked up expenses for the hotel stay, food and baby formula, among other costs.

“We’re just eating through the money,” Krizhana Lyon said.

Around that time, Ted Lyon went to withdraw what he thought was his last $20, but instead there was $600 in his account. He called the bank to report a mistake, and he found out that their church had raised some money for the Lyons and Krizhana’s grandfather deposited it in their account.

That wasn’t the only kindness that the Lyons experienced on their adoption journey. Ted Lyon called Lockheed Martin and asked if the company that he worked for could help him secure a discount on a hotel, but he received more than he asked for. The folks at the Lockheed Martin in Marietta, Georgia, heard about their situation, and Ted Lyon said they gave him a “big roll of money.” Then, he was told that an employee volunteered to shelter the Lyons at their house for free.

“They didn’t know us at all. We could’ve robbed them blind in that situation. They were a really sweet couple,” Krizhana Lyon said.

Ted Lyon attributed the good fortune they received during the trip to divine intervention.

“God provided in so many different ways,” he said. “The whole thing was just a miraculous experience.”

Eventually, Hope’s birth mother called the Lyons and said she hadn’t changed her mind about the adoption, but she wanted to meet the Lyons again. During that meeting, the birth mother asked to hold baby Hope, but as soon as Hope was passed from Krizhana’s arms to the birth mother’s, she started “wailing,” Ted Lyon said. Once the baby was returned to Krizhana, she settled down.

“The birth mom said, ‘I see what I’ve needed to see. Y’all are the ones for my child,’” Ted Lyon said.

After the birth mother signed the paperwork, a week of processing took place before the Lyons left Georgia and headed home. Ted Lyon described Hope as an “easy” baby who slept every night.

Three years later, the Lyons expanded their family again when Krizhana Lyon gave birth to their younger daughter Grace.

The Lyon family smiles for a family portrait. From left, Krizhana, Grace, Hope and Ted Lyon.

“Somebody at church, after Grace was born, made the comment, ‘You have to have hope, evidence of things unseen, before you can have grace, which is favor with God,’” Ted Lyon said. “It pulled everything together.”

Today, the Lyons live in Reno, and their daughters – Hope, 13, and Grace, 9 – attend Azle Christian School. They are very involved with sports and horseback riding. They stay busy and often do things together as a family.

Krizhana Lyon said she and Ted have always been open with Hope about being adopted. They have answered any questions she has and have promised to help her find her birth mom when she’s older if Hope is interested in doing that.

Initially, Ted Lyon said he was concerned about whether an adopted child would truly feel like his own child. But that worry has faded away.

“Hope is as much of me as my own body is, same way with Grace,” he said. “They’re part of us.”

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