The McDade Family

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Hi! Our names are Shannon, Mark and Summer McDade. We are a family of three wanting to expand our family through adoption. We were planning to adopt from Taiwan, but the wait has helped us change countries to Ethiopia. God has a purpose foreverything and we are going to stay faithful and follow Him.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Received our I-171H Approval

We just received our I-171H Approval to adopt from Ethiopia. We are so excited to get this back so quickly. It only took 2 1/2 weeks. Now this week we can send our Dossier off to Ethiopia!!! So happy. I am so ready to get our Dossier sent to Ethiopia. It might not be too long now. What a great feeling!!! Please keep praying for us and our family that we will get a referral soon.


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Friday, November 26, 2010

A Day To Chill

Today is the day after Thanksgiving and we are so full of turkey and all of the other foods we had. All I could think about yesterday as Mark, Summer and I would eat at our family's house was the little boy we don't have yet. I wonder if he is even born yet and if so I wonder how old he is now? What is he eating right now? Does he have enough food to eat? Is he living with his parents or at least one of them? Is he being cared for, tucked in bed at night? Has he been hugged, kissed and told that he is loved? As I sit with my daughter on my lap I wonder if he is being held by his parents. I am ALWAYS wondering how he is. I hope and pray that he is doing great and being prepared for us to one day go bring him home. I am so thankful for all that we have.

We all helped decorate a Ginger bread house. We have so much fun doing this every year. Thanks to Nana for always buying us one to do. Summer loves decorating it and is very good at it. Maybe next year Connor will be here to help.









Today I received two books in the mail for us to read to Connor once he becomes part of our family. I am hoping Summer will be reading great by then and she can read to him too. We still are waiting for three more books to come.








They are such good books. I cried while reading both of them. I am so emotional when it comes to this adoption. Mark just starts laughing at me. He says, " I am sorry, but I hope you don't cry every time you try to read this to Connor". I don't think I will once he gets here. I am just on an emotional roller coaster and I hope one day it will level out some. I hope the waiting will end soon and our adventure will be a new one with us as a family!! I can't wait for that day to come!!!!!
Please pray for us and our family that we will get a referral soon!!


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Monday, November 22, 2010

It is Looking Like Christmas!

Mark and I have been working a lot during these past three weeks. We both work at UPS and it is peak season for us. I am glad because whatever extra we make we put up towards our adoption for travel. So we have been really busy in our household. We have five more weeks of this peak season and I will be so ready to rest after it is over with.

Last week our daughter and I made a jar to put extra money in. The extra money that goes into the jar is going for us to travel to Ethiopia. It says " Money For Connor " and she colored and drew some pictures on it. Summer went into her room, got two quarters and put them in the jar. She said she wanted to be the first to put money in it and that she is going to be a "big sister". I just wanted to cry. I am so glad that she wants a little brother. She has handled this adoption great. We have had our ups and downs, but we keep going. I will be glad when we get a referral and get him home.




My Aunt Kap called me to ask me if we wanted her Christmas tree. It was too big for her to put up this year. We said yes and went to get it. This is another way our family is saving money this Christmas. We are not buying a live christmas tree. Mark and I have always had a live tree ( 8 years). So this is something that we can do to save money for travel. Summer was excited about the tree because we put it up earlier than a live tree. We all had fun decorating it and thinking of how it is going to be once we get Connor here.




Our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree




Summer holding an outfit that she picked out for Connor (3T). Hopefully, he won't be bigger than that.

Please pray for us and that our adoption will be complete soon with a referral of a little boy. Please pray that we get all of the travel funds that we need to travel twice. Pray for the family of our little boy and that they will be comforted while making the decision to give up their son for whatever reason. Help them to know that he will be taken care of and that they will not be forgotten for the love that they have for their little boy. We will always keep them in our prayers and open to talk about with Connor.

We are so thankful for everything that we have. We want to thank God for everything that He has done for us. During this week of Thanksgiving we give Him all the glory.






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Monday, November 8, 2010

Home study approved for Ethiopia!!

Our home study is approved for us to adopt from Ethiopia!! We are so excited about it!! Our social worker sent off our I-600 approval to change to Ethiopia. It should not take too long for them to approve us. Whenever we get approved from the government we can sent our dossier to Ethiopia. We have everything that we need for our dossier except the approval from government. I hope it doesn't take too long. I am so ready for the adoption journey to be over with so we can start a new journey with our new son. It is going to be an exciting time once we get a referral and see his face. I know it is going to happen soon.

Mark and I have a manager at UPS who has adopted a boy 25 years ago. I was talking to him one day about us adopting and he told me that he had adopted. I would have never known this without him telling me. Mark and I found this out around the time we were thinking about switching countries from Taiwan to Ethiopia, but wasn't sure yet. After talking with him and seeing pictures of his son and his family I knew we needed to switch. It just felt right. Well, after we had decided to switch to Ethiopia to get a boy. He wrote letters for us (quickly) as a referral. He now is gone to have surgery on his knee which he will be gone for 6 months or so. Then when he comes back he might be somewhere else in the company. We truly believe he came to my work area to help us change to Ethiopia. I think God sent him to help us get our son home sooner. We started this adoption journey about a year ago. It has had it's own twist and turns, ups and downs, but God's plan is still going on. He has picked the child for our family and it might take some time, but we will be with him soon.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Summer's Halloween

Summer, Mommy, and Aunt Kathza went to Hope's Fall Fest and it was so much fun!!!!!! Man, I love our church. There is always so much to do for the kids and for us. Here are a few pictures of our night at Hope.
Starting our night at Hope.



Where is Summer??


Summer going down the slide



Summer getting her face painted



We had so much fun at the Hope Fun Fest!! We plan on going every year. I can't wait until Summer has a little brother to go with her. They will have a blast.

We all had a fun Halloween. Summer dressed up as a kind witch.



Summer and Mommy ready for Halloween.



Summer and Daddy ready for Halloween.


We all went to my mom's house and then to Mark's parents house to go trick or treating. It was so much fun!!! Summer got so much candy. It should last her the whole year!!!!

Summer carved her first pumpkin with the help of her daddy. However, she didn't want much help.

It is a little slimy and gooey!


So scary!!!!


We had so much fun as a family, just being together.

My weekend was almost ruined by my dad going off on me for adopting from Ethiopia. He just doesn't get it. This is something that Mark and I are excited about! He is going to have to try to get along with the idea and be polite about it. It is only going to hurt himself. Mark told me not to get too worked up over it. So I am trying not too. It just hurts that my dad doesn't support me and our decision to adopt. Please pray for him and that he will have his heart changed.

We are still waiting on our social worker to complete the update on our home study. Hopefully, she will have this done by the end of this week. Then all we have to do is wait on the I-600 approval to come so we can send our dossier off to Ethiopia.

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