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You are here: Home / Archives for Compassion

Compassion

I’m worried about my delts (and I don’t mean a sorority)

Compassion, Just for fun

Before my trip to the Dominican, I wondered what the food would be like. What exactly is Dominican food? (Hey! Have I mentioned my trip to the Dominican? My word, it's overkill at this point and I apologize.) I still can't really say for sure but Dominican food seems to involve various unidentifiable meats fried into a ball-like shape, vegetables steamed beyond all recognition and Read More

Thoughts after three days and a lot of Mexican food

Compassion

We left the Dominican Republic at 9:20 a.m. last Friday morning and I finally arrived at the San Antonio airport at 5:45 p.m. after two time changes, six bags of in-flight snak mix (Apparently the airlines can no longer afford the "c" in snack), countless Diet Cokes, and finishing "Such a Pretty Fat" by Jen Lancaster. (Hysterical book, by the way.) P ended up having to be out of town to guide Read More

The post that should have gone up on Friday night

Compassion

Clearly I am no longer on the airplane because that would be pure torture considering we left the DR two days ago, but I wrote this on the way home. Then I got home and was nearly assassinated by a huge pile of laundry and forgot all about it. So I'm posting it a little late. Just pretend like I'm not and the world will be a happier place. At the moment I’m writing this I am on the plane Read More

A piece of mi corazon

Compassion

**I thought I set this to post while I was flying home today, but apparently it was a major fail. That's what happens when you take a Benadryl before posting. After we visited another Compassion project yesterday, we went to the market since it was our last day and we all wanted to pick up a few souvenirs to take home. Here are a few things I'll take home with me. A fab amber ring that Read More

It’s a bird! It’s a plane!

Compassion

At some point over the summer, Caroline discovered The Justice League cartoons. Here is where I could go into a long tirade about how I’m not really a fan of Flash Gordon and confess that Spiderman kind of creeps me out, but I’ll save that gem of a post for another time. Caroline became intrigued with the whole concept of superheroes, especially Wonder Woman. If she’s like her mama then it’s Read More

The irony is that I’m eating Oreos right now

Compassion

I talked about how hard yesterday was in my last post, but it was also my favorite day so far. The kids were so excited to see us and I got a small glimpse of what it must feel like to be Hannah Montana, but without the long blonde hair and legwarmers. I couldn't get enough of them as they climbed all over me while saying, "Mi Americana! Mi Americana!" They were all so precious and I Read More

El pollo bailar

Compassion

I am sitting in my hotel room mentally going over the events of the day and I have tears rolling down my cheeks. I’ll be honest, it’s not the first time it’s happened today. On the flight to Miami, I listened to my iPod most of the way. The song “Captivate Us” by Watermark came on and as I listened to the lyrics I felt like I was seeing a glimpse into my week as I listened to Christy Nockels Read More

Dominican Republic unplugged

Compassion

Today during one of our home visits, we got a little impromptu concert by two of the children. This is Misael and his sister Emily and they are both Compassion children. It was one of the bright spots in a day filled with a lot of heartbreak. I'll be back with more later, but in the meantime if you'd like to sponsor a child you can click here. Read More

Hope in the midst of humidity

Compassion

We are back at the hotel after a day spent visiting the first of many Compassion projects we’ll see this week. I am not going to lie to y’all and tell you I smell good because I don’t. It was hotter than Houston in August here today and my fellow Texans know what that means. Let me just say it’s not a DRY heat. I’m not sure how I’m ever going to be able to articulate everything I Read More

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Who is Melanie?

Melanie ShankleMy name is Melanie and, in some strange twist of fate, I’m also known as Big Mama because I started this blog in July of 2006 when my daughter, Caroline, was not quite three years old and I was in the process of convincing her that BIG girls use the potty and BIG girls don’t have pacifiers, thus she thought BIG was the highest compliment in the land and began referring to me as BIG MAMA.Read More

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I’ll apologize in advance because the next few m I’ll apologize in advance because the next few months will have me awash in nostalgia as Caroline moves through the last of the firsts. ⁣
Tonight is the first high school soccer scrimmage of the season. The last first scrimmage. ⁣
And so I made her let me take a picture because she knows her mom is deep in my feelings as we round the corner of senior year. The fact that Perry jumped in was a bonus. ⁣
Also, she scored two goals. Go mules 💙⚽️💛
Look who’s officially a Fightin’ Texas Aggie. Look who’s officially a Fightin’ Texas Aggie. 👍🏻❤️⁣🎉
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As a parent, I don’t know if there’s anything better than watching your kid have a dream and then seeing them work hard to make that dream a reality. She’s wanted to be an Aggie from just about the day she was born. It took a lot of blood, sweat, tears and prayer but she did it. ⁣
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I couldn’t be prouder of our Texas Aggie. Gig’em! 👍🏻 #Classof2025
Eye of the tiger. Happy Halloween! Eye of the tiger. Happy Halloween!
So this photo session just happened today. I’m So this photo session just happened today.  I’m not crying, you’re crying. 💙💛💙#alamoheights #classof2021
Number of times I will get tired of watching Carol Number of times I will get tired of watching Caroline play soccer? ZERO. It is my favorite. ⁣
Add in a huge Aggie win over Florida and it’s been a nice little day. ⁣
Yay for sports!! ⚽️💙👍🏻🏈
This little guy running through the bluebonnets wi This little guy running through the bluebonnets with the unfortunate bangs he cut himself is fifty years old today. ⁣Those bangs speak volumes about who he would become. He never does anything halfway. 
⁣
I am so grateful that boy grew into a man who loves God, loves his family and leads us with unwavering loyalty and love. In a year full of chaos and uncertainty, he remains steadfast, solid and full of opinions he is never afraid to express. I’m thankful for all of it. Except maybe some of the opinions. ⁣
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I also love that he hates social media and won’t see this until I say “Look! I posted about you on your birthday!”⁣
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Happy 50th birthday, P! I love you. I’d say let’s grow old together except I think we already have. 😂❤️
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Texas A&M, Orange Bowl Champions 🏆

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Melanie Shankle@BigMama·

This has been me for the last three and a half hours.

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