welcome to spiceland.

Tru can read! She can actually sound out sounds and make words out of letters. She’s not just memorizing, either. We were learning about vowels and consonants yesterday. We were making consonant-vowel-consonant words and sounding them out. We made cat, map, pam, zip, sip, rip, mit, tap, zap, pot, and other similar words. When I stopped working with her, she started making other words, like zop, mip, pes, siz, ter, mot, zom, sit, zot, and other combinations that weren’t really words. However, she was sounding them out and reading them without my help! She was so proud of herself, and I am so proud of her, too! She also has a computer game that gives her a picture and three words. She has to click on the word that names the object in the picture. So if the picture is a dog, she has to ignore the words “bottle” and “cat” and click on the word “dog.” She’s so good at this game, and because of this game, she has memorized some words that she couldn’t sound out, like “bottle,” “book,” and “finish.” I have a video of this that I will get Mike to put up later. Our little girl is getting so big and smart!

Get the Flash Player to see this video. If you are seeing this from facebook or some other site, click on the link to watch the video on our site.

I just wanted to follow up that we are back in Madison now. It was a nice visit, but two weeks is too long to be away from the love of my life! It’s good to be back. We drove Saturday night to Atlanta and spent the night at my sister Ally’s apartment. We got home on Sunday at about 2 PM.

After making this post, I didn’t like how much of the webpage it took up given the respect that Erin’s post should have. I’ve remove it for now and repost sometime later. The election is a long way out and the post should wait.

My grandmother passed away about 30 minutes ago. We expected that it would be tonight or tomorrow, and we are relieved that she went sooner rather than later. I’m so glad that she is not suffering anymore. I know that she is praising God with the population of Heaven as we speak, and I like to think that my mom is welcoming her to Heaven and showing her the ropes!

Granny was an amazing woman. She was incredibly intelligent and a gifted musician. She taught piano and voice for years and served God her whole life. She raised four amazing children and has nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren to tell her story. She was always cheerful and pleasant. I will always remember her dedication to her family and the wonderful times we all had at her house. Whether it was a huge pot of macaroni and cheese, heaping bowls of “Magic Soup” when we were sick, or her famous caramel popcorn and spiced pecans, we always gathered at her house around a table overflowing with food and fellowship. She was adored by everyone who knew her, and we will all miss her dearly.

Shirla Shaw Pinder, 14 January 1930 – 10 September 2008

Hi, all! I’m in Jesup for a while with the kids. My grandmother is doing quite poorly and is not expected to be with us much longer. I would appreciate any prayers, thoughts, or karma, or whatever type of wishes your particular situation inclines you to give. Please pray for health and comfort for Granny and strength, peace, and wisdom for the rest of us.

I will be continually uploading new pictures here.