Alexander Kai Campbell

Announcing the birth of newest Campbell Grandbaby born on August 22, at the crack of dawn. He weighed in at 8 lbs 8 ounces and as yet has no name! I will update with a photo and more information as it becomes available. In the meantime, I didn’t want anyone thinking that that poor pregnant woman from last week’s picture was still suffering! In fact, all is going well after Janell’s 3 hour labor and delivery at home! More info on the way…..

or so says Nancy Drew in The Sign of the Twisted Candles. With advice like that I could easily send Nancy off to college with nary a worry.

Child #4 leaves soon for school, 18 driving hours away from home, responsible to cook for himself, excited as all get out that this day has finally arrived. I spent yesterday shopping with him for new shoes, clothes, “lifetime warranty socks” from the Clarks store. What a great idea, though I don’t think their socklife policy applies when said sock is wrapped around the drum of the washing machine, smirking to himself as he joins the other singletons in the laundry abyss.

Once again my life will change in a major way. I am always really sad the first few weeks that the older child is gone, missing the adult conversations we share over coffee or tea, longing to hear their “particular noise,” the sounds only that person in the family makes. When Mollie used to head back to school in the fall, we would all miss the several hours of piano practice, Bach, Mozart, Gershwin, their notes that wandered through the hallway and down the stairs, a live concert for free. My mom would always say “Mollie is gone now. It is though a light has gone out of the house.” She probably won’t feel the same way about the White Stripes, Ryan Adams, and the Gorillas when they are safely tucked inside the i-pod and out the door.

Child #5 already has dibs on the cool attic room where all the brothers before him have lived. He already knows where he is going to put his flag collection and where the speakers will go for the best surround sound. I love that room too. It is so cozy under the four gables and sky lights let in the morning and evening sun, rainy days drawing you back under the covers as the drops pound the roof. Oh what I could do with that space! Built in drawers for craft supplies, a large quilting frame, nooks and crannies full of scrap paper, collages in the making. By the time it is available to me, my knees will not take me up the two flights of stairs.

We never begin school before Labor Day. Somehow everyone feels like they are getting a real vacation when they see the yellow school buses rushing past our house for a good week and a half before we move back into our own routine. Is there anything more decadent than knowing that you can drink hot chocolate whenever you want and mom’s hugs are always available? Or that it isn’t weird to be 17 and still like to hug your mom? These are the things our superintendent of schools knows nothing about!

This year we will be studying geography and are continuing through American History after World War 2. The boys hope to finally pour over the stacks of genealogy work my father-in-law compiled before he died. We will read and research and Grandma will join us for the travelogues when they arrive from Netflix. I can see a great year on the horizon.

This time of year is usually difficult for me. I am not a person who takes well to change, though fall is my favorite time of year. But all the really difficult, life-changing experiences in my life have started in the fall. And since my birthday is right around the corner, thoughts of my birth mother are pretty much near the surface all the time and will be during the next few weeks.

Over the weekend I received a copy of my adoption records from the Florence Crittenton Home in Peoria. Since the state of Illinois only allows “non-identifying” information to be given to adoptees, the records are sparse but full of information that is intriguing and new to me. This was the first time I ever knew anything about her physical appearance. She was 5′1″ tall. She had brown hair and blue eyes, just like me in my pre-gray hair and L’Oreal days. She was only 15. She had no mom or dad at home, only a stepfather and step siblings.

My parents knew only a few things about her, one of them being that she came from Coles County about 2 hours south of where I was born. My mom happened to see the piece of paper where that was written down the day they were in court and her attorney saw her and snapped “you weren’t supposed to see that.” She remembered it and told me years ago. It came back to me as I read that this young girl came to Crittenton Home six* months pregnant and was too far from home to go back for her clothing.

I found out that there were three high schools in Coles County in 1953 and that my birthmother finished 9th grade. Yesterday I talked with the librarians at all three schools and they are each sending me a copy of the pages with pictures of the 9th graders that year. I am anxious to see them but a little frightened, too.

I will keep you posted.

*I had originally written “three” here but realized this morning that she was really only 3 months from delivery when she came to Peoria. I am guessing that she had to finish out her school year. Can you imagine the shame to have been in her situation in 1953?

I tried, I really did, but when Clay saw that I was cutting and editing enough for a couple more podcasts, he protested and wondered why I felt compelled to limit my thoughts on such an important topic as seeing children as blessings from the Lord. Since I had no good answer for him, I have decided to continue with parts three and four of the topic of Militant Fecundity vs Children as Blessings from the Lord on August 22 and 29. Stay tuned…

“Among the thoughts that come to an old man before he enters heaven, the most plentiful are those that had before visited him when he sat upon his mother’s knee. That which made Dr. Guthrie ask for a “bairn’s hymn” when he was dying, is but an instinct of our nature, which leads us to complete the circle by folding together the ends of life. Childlike things are dearest to old age. We shuffle off a portion of the coil that surrounds and hampers us, and go back again to our more natural selves. Therefore, the old songs are on our lips, and the old thoughts are in our minds. The teachings of our childhood leave clean-cut and sharp impressions upon the mind, which remain after seventy years have passed. Let us see that such impressions are made for the highest ends.” ~ Charles H. Spurgeon