Was there ever a baby so loved and adored?
You wouldn’t think so by the overwhelming response upon our arriving home on Tuesday afternoon. We arrived back home to the squeals of delight from all of our children. They each took turns meeting, holding and adoring their new baby sister. It was such a special day.
Throughout her first week she was greeted by friends and family members who stopped by the house to meet the newest little Lambdin. She also took her first trip to Jim Elliot Christian High School where she was “oohhed & aahhed” over for hours by hundreds of teenagers. Friends & family members stopped over all week and we had a “Welcome Baby Christiana” Open House on Sunday. She is blessed to be surrounded by so many people who love her and are committed to her.
As the saying goes…”A picture paints a thousand word” – I will let you enjoy these photos of Christiana’s homecoming week.
Daniel meets his new baby sister! (Who he has claimed as “mine”)
Kristen adores her newest sister
Joy is going to be a fabulous big sister!
Our dear friends Kelly Hale & her Daddy “Grandpa Jim” meet the baby girl
Tiffana stops by to meet our newest addition
Cousin Janessa adores her baby girl cousin
Auntie Jennae chats with her sweet new niece
Daniel helps feed his baby sister – what a great big brother he is already becoming!
Sooooooooooo sweet!
Nothing better than a sleeping baby to take a nap with!
All eight of our blessings from God together at church on Sunday morning. This moment made my heart swell with joy. Truly these children are my greatest treasures along with the love of my life, Dan. I can only encourage everyone reading this to give thanks for the blessings you have been given. If you are debating or considering having another child….do it! If you have ever thought about adoption (or even if you haven’t) begin to look into your options. If you have the room in your heart & your home (and believe me there is more room in both those places than you think) – why not open them up to a child of God? Be open to all life that He may want to let you play a small or even large part of here on this earth. Don’t miss out on all that God has for you….you just may be “entertaining angels unaware” (Hebrews 13:2) and you will certainly be close to the heart of God.
Enjoy this slide show of our “Welcome Baby Christiana” party! Yes….I would say she is loved.
We decided to visit the capitol building in Nashville while we were there – partly because we wanted photos of Christiana in her birth state Capitol and partly because I had one of my homeschooling daughters with me (Rebekah who is the 13 year old “rich” babysitting daughter & paid her own way to be there for the adoption of her little sister) and after all “life is school”. When we arrived in the building there was a lot of commotion going on. We asked the security guard what was happening and he shared that they were about to start a legislative session. Not wanting to pass up an opportunity to see government in action, we headed towards the balcony seating to watch a few votes. To our surprise we ran into Karen & Sue at the bottom of the steps – the Life Choices Executive Director & Board President. They were as surprised as we were and asked if we were there for “the vote”. 
Not having any idea what they were talking about it was quickly shared that the strongest pro life legislation in Tennessee was up for a vote that very afternoon and was expected to pass – giving a great victory to the pro life movement. They began introducing us to the multitudes of pro lifers that were there and were showing off our sweet Christiana to all, as a testimony to the option of adoption over abortion. I can’t begin to explain to you what this all meant to me – a lifelong passionate pro lifer. Wow! God is amazing!
We met the staff and toured their impressive facility which offers a full range of services for women experiencing crisis pregnancies – everything from ultrasounds, counseling, prenatal and parenting classes to adoption services, financial, clothing and housing assistance for both women and men who are walking through an unexpected or crisis pregnancy. 
It stirred up a passion that has long lived in my heart to see this type of organization exist in my own hometown. Nothing about our entire three day in Tennessee was “accidental” but merely the providence of God bringing together our passion for life into our pursuit of adoption. There are so many things I could share and hopefully will have time soon to do that.
We the drove over to the home of the family that has been lovingly caring for Christiana for her first six weeks. We were joined there by several staff and board members of Life Choices as well as the cradle care family. We had a time of scripture reading –
Gloria Virginia Winslow Borden is a lovely Christian lady with a strong, independent, adventuresome spirit whose positive outlook, faithful heart, solid commitment, strength and encouragement have had an awesome impact on my entire life. She is my mother!
She was and is always there for me. She instilled in me values, principles and paradigms that have positively impacted my life and that I hope as a mom to pass on to my own children. Let me share a few:
he was married to my Dad for 35 years before his death. I grew up with the security and stability of knowing that she believed that marriage was forever and that she would never forsake her commitment to my father. She not only spoke these words often but she lived them out daily always being diligent to work at strengthening her marriage. She often told us that the best thing parents can do for their children is to love each other.
She believed in me and told me on a regular basis that I was smart, talented, creative, beautiful, special, successful and good. She always shared her belief that I could do anything in life that I set my heart and mind on and that God had created me for a special purpose.
t was so nice to spend the day with these lovely ladies and to be the recepient of their blessing. (Now all we need is a few more boys for the boys bedroom!) 
Inspire Ministries 