You can go home again

Monday, August 11th @ 78 degrees and low humidity with a high of 84 today: It's 9:15am. Irv and Wanda take their coffee out to the patio in their tree fort. Occasionally you can barely hear a car or truck on GA 400. The crickets are very talkative and one bird is really insistent on speaking. Several squirrels are playing on the grass by the lake which is a mirror this morning reflecting all the trees on the other side. Today the decision to be made is what kind of flowering plant to get for our hanging basket and another to sit on the picnic table. Irv can't stand it... after he fortifies himself with a healthy breakfast, it's off to get the plants without Wanda who would only complicate the matter. He'll be making this decision as he's the gardener. So Wanda relaxes and decides to bring you all up to date on life in the slow lane.

As I mentioned in the last journal... Saturday, August 2nd:
Irv and Wanda drove over to Cedartown, Ga where Wanda was born to see lifelong friends. What a wonderful visit! Wanda's friend, Mildred (80 years old) is the last living sibling of Wanda's mother, Jessie's best friend, Jennie Brown so these folks have known Wanda since the womb. We visited with Mildred, her husband and daughters (56 and 54 years old) who are grandmothers themselves. Wanda mentioned to Irv that she was born at 5:30am in a house on Main Street... well, Mildred said I'll show which house it is... Wow! All the stories... all the family pictures show Wanda's grandmother driving the Model T to town, never her grandfather and it seems that before Wanda was born they lived outside town on a farm with enough acreage to allow a troop of gypsies to camp on their land. Goodness, stories about Wanda's mother and friend, Jennie embarrassing Mildred's daughter by doing the Charleston in the hat department of Rich's department store in Atlanta. Now you know where Wanda gets it!!! It indeed was like going home again complete with Mildred's Peach Cobbler topped with Ice Cream.
On the way home we stopped at Julie's for a gourmet dinner and report on the girls Mission Trip to the heart of Atlanta. They were a little tired as the last event was handing out lunches and personal necessity bags to the homeless Friday at midnight but had story after story. As you can see in the pictures of this post, Kelly and Emily are enjoying a wonderful meal. We are so proud of them for taking the time to help others. It was an early evening as Jack had been alone all day and was sure to be hungry. King Jack won't eat when Wanda and Irv are away.

Finally the day arrives, Friday, August 8th:
Irv, Wanda, Julie and the girls head downtown to the Fox Theater for his birthday. Unbelievable! For those of you young ones, I'll explain the events. Back in the olden days when Wanda and Irv were kids/teens, when you went to the movies in the city there was an organist and sing-a-long with the words on the screen followed by a cartoon then the news of the week. We were treated to news, the first being a clip from 1935 the year of Irv's birth. The movie was "Iron Man" and not at all what we expected but definitely not dull. The last time Irv and Wanda went to the movies with Julie and the girls to see The Rookie so you know how long ago that was. Kristianne and Matthew gave us gift cards to AMC Theaters the past two year at Christmas so we went to one terrible movie Norbit and last Tuesday we saw Mama Mia. I tell you this to say we saw one movie in 7-8 years and then 2 in a week. The local AMC is 1 1/2 miles from us and we still have the gift cards but Tuesdays are Senior Nights for 6 bucks. Irv said, "Now I know why the kids go to the movies all the time". When we came out of the Fox theater, it of course was dark and we were surrounded by all the beautiful skyscrapers of Atlanta. We looked like real tourists staring up in amazement.
We skpped aftert theater desert because Julie and the girls had to meet at church at 6:45am Saturday morning to go down to the parking lot of the GA Dome for "Convoy of Hope" which lasts all day. Kelly had been to the Dome most of the day Friday helping set up tables in all the tents for service: haircuts, food, clothing, medical, etc . Forgive my opinion but it is amazing what can be done when people not the government get involved...

Admission Fee: Free
Web Site: http://www.checpro.org/
Event Description: On August 9, 2008, there's going to be a faith based event called THE CONVOY OF HOPE in Atlanta Ga. The Convoy travels all over the world to help distressed communities. At this event free medical services, clothing, 80 tons of food, and other items of need are given to low-income households and communities. The non-profit organization providing the free medical services, to those who don't have insurance, for the event, is called C.H.E.C. Pro. Which means CHILDREN HEALTH EDUCATION & COMMUNITY. It's going to be a huge event held at the Georgia Dome and we are expecting about 10,000 people or more!!!! It's to help our children in need, and to let the communities know they haven't been forgotten about.

Sunday, August 10th: It's the big day! Grace starts Pre-K tomorrow so Can invites us to Grace' favorite dinner of spaghetti. What a treat! Cam is head of the Board of Directors for the New Hope Church school (Cam needs to join Julie and Wanda in the Over-committers Anonomous group) so she and Grace made goodie cups with name tags to be handed out in the car pool line and got donuts for the moms. Grace has a new dress and all her school supplies ready in the box. It's amazing to think Owen who will be 4 years old on September 2nd will start Pre-K also in Washington, DC. It's Emily's first day of 11th grade and... Kelly heads of UGA in Athens as a Junior to paint her room in her shared apt. She'll paint today and move her STUFF in tomorrow. We won't be seeing her for a while except at a football game in a packed 90,000 people packed stadium.

Well, I have to close as King Jack needs some attention. Stay tuned for the rest of Irv's birthday gifts... tickets to the Falcons and the Colts next Saturday at the GA Dome.