we're so glad that you've tuned in to pardon the mess we're parents just like you doing our

best to raise kids who will love and follow christ we hope you will join us and our guests each week

for honest conversations about the good bad and ugly of raising kids. There's no perfect parents, just a perfect God,

who stands ready to pardon our mess

and guide us on the most challenging yet rewarding journey, parenting.

Hey guys, this is Cynthia Yannoff, the host of Pardon the Mess,

and I'm glad you're with us again today.

We have Melanie Shankle.

And Melanie is a New York Times bestselling author of lots of books,

but she has sparkly green earrings, church of the small things, nobody's cuter than you, and many

others. She also writes the Big Mama blog and has a podcast called Big Boo. She's a regular contributor

to the Pioneer Woman's blog. And that caught my eye, by the way. I love that pioneer woman. She has lots of other great things she does as well. She's a regular contributor to the Pioneer Woman's blog. And that caught my eye, by the way. I love

that Pioneer Woman. She has lots of other great things she does as well. She's a graduate of Texas

A&M University and loves writing, shopping at Target, looking to see what's on sale at anthropology.

But most of all, she loves being the mother of her daughter Caroline and the wife of her husband

Perry. The three of them, they live in San Antonio,

Texas with their two elderly dogs. What I love about Melanie having read her books the last few

weeks is that she just takes the ordinary things of our lives and she brings them into the

holy. And she just has this amazing sense of humor and she has a way of writing and relating

things well to us and doing it in such a real way,

but also making you realize you're not the only weird one that's thinking that.

She's such a gift.

...