Birthday Weekend

This past weekend was my 38 birthday. I cant believe that I am about to be 40 in a couple of years. There is nothing wrong with getting older - it has just flown by! i still like to do my workout everyday and to play with Summer. We are about to go meet our little boy in a few days. Life is so good!

Mark, Summer, Kathza, and I went to my mom's house for my birthday lunch. We had Papa John's Pizza and it was so good. We have not had that since we moved out to Somerville - like 3 years. They gave me some money so I can buy me some Ethiopian souvenirs while we are there.

Here are a few pictures of our day at my mom's house. We had a lot of fun!

So we had a great day. I am so glad that I have my mom and sister in my life! We do not have a big family but we will do anything for each other. I am so glad that they are so supportive of Mark and I adopting our little boy from Ethiopia. It means so much to me to have them so interested in our adoption journey. They both are so glad we are about to go and finally see him and hold him. We also have Mark's parents who are supporting us as well. I have a great father-n-law who I look up to and I consider him like my dad. He is what a dad should really be like. Mark's whole side of the family is very supportive of us adopting. It helps when you have one member that is not.

Sometimes, I wish my dad was on board with our adoption. Sometimes, I wish he would just try to be supportive and call us. I have not really talked to my dad in almost 10 months. I spoke to him briefly on Christmas morning, but that did not go well. And on my birthday I was really hoping he would call me. He never did. I do not know if he knows we are about to go across the world to meet his grandson - who he wants no part with just because he is black. It makes me sad to know that my dad wants to have nothing to do with us because we are adopting a child from Ethiopia. Just sad... However, I am getting use to the fact that he might never come around. I am getting to the point where he might have waited to late to come around. I really do not have a dad anymore and that is what is sad - because he lives only 20 minutes away from me... All I can do is pray for him that he might change....

I did have a GREAT birthday no matter what because we got to get tickets to go to Ethiopia!! What more can a girl ask for???? To pass court while we are there, super fast Embassy clearence so we can go bring him home SOON!!!!!!!!

Email I wrote to Hope

Here is the email that I wrote to Hope Church about the sermon series I Quit. Hope sent out an email asking for people to write about something that you have quit during this sermon. So I wrote this email. Mainly to get it off my chest and to let God have all my worries. I did not ever think they would pick mine to read to the whole church. mine was one of the four that they read. They cut it in half, but it was cool to hear it. Mark was sitting by me and said, " sounds like another couple." I looked at him and said, " it is us!" Then I started to cry once it was talking about us getting the "call". I took it as a sign that God was with us and He would not leave us during this journey.


Our names are Shannon and Mark McDade. We have a biological daughter named Summer who is seven years old. I felt like God was calling me to adopt. I went and told my husband Mark about this and he thought I was crazy. I mean when you sit down and look at how much it cost to adopt international, and all the training you have to do. It was a lot for him to take in, but he eventually was on board. We started the adoption process in June 29,2009 with the country of Taiwan, but after a year of waiting we realized that it was going to be a longer wait than we wanted. Now our daughter was getting older and I thought that we needed another child quickly. Mark and I talked to our agency and we decided to switch countries to Ethiopia in 2010. Our social worker said it might be quicker to adopt from Ethiopia - so we thought too. Then right after we got our dossier over there in Ethiopia the slow down began again!! The government came across some cases that the children were stolen from their birth families. So they shut down some orphanages and we were getting so nervous about the switch we made, but I knew it was the right path to be on. There were days where I would ask God "why is it taking so long for us to be blessed with another child?" I was getting to the point that I thought we would never get "the call" - "the call" that I wanted more than anything at this time. It was really hard to see other people that I knew having a baby or getting "the call" from their adoption agencies. We had other stresses on top of the not knowing when or if we would get the call. One of the stresses that I have to deal with is my dad being against this adoption since we were adopting an African American child. He has not talked to me, my husband, or his granddaughter in over eight months. So this hit me really hard. However, I feel like God wants us to adopt and that is what we were going to do even if it meant it would take a while and certain people were against us. We waited for eight months then we received a referral of a 13 month old little boy in October 26, 2011!! What a happy day that was when the phone rang and our social worker said, "there is a 13 month old boy needing a home." Then we were waiting again... We have been waiting for three months on a court date so we can meet our little boy. During this time Hope started doing the series on I Quit. It was like God was talking to me especially on the sermon about Quit Complaining!! That my blessings out weight my bruises, not letting other people dampen my gratitude, remembering God is faithful and won't give us more than we can shoulder! Man that hit me hard.. So I left that day from Hope thinking differently about our adoption. I gave it all to God on that day and told Him to lead us where He wants us to go. If we have to wait a little longer before we hold our precious boy I can handle that, because I know that God is holding and loving on him while He prepares our family for the blessings yet to come!!

Thanks,
Shannon, Mark and
Summer McDade


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Court Date

Mark and I have been waiting on a court date for some time now. Well, on Monday, March 5, 2012 we found out that the birth family had their court date and now the judge could schedule us a court date. This is what we have been waiting on for four months. Our court date is going to be on April 9, 2012!!! We are so excited about this news. As you can see this happened three days ago and I am just now getting to blog it- mostly because I forgot with being on cloud nine for three days!!! We will be leaving on April 3 and returning on April 10.

We will be spending Easter in Ethiopia this year. It is funny how things work out around Easter for us. Mark and I found out that we were pregnant with Summer on Easter six years ago. Then two years ago when we started this adoption journey our yellow lab named Sassi started to get sick. It was on Easter weekend when she finally got so sick that she died. She was only two years old and had cancer. However, before she died we decided to get us another lab to help Summer and I cope with her dying. So two weeks before Easter we found this five month old yellow lab named Lilly (Easter Lilly). We thought the name was a sign to get her. So we did and kept her name. Two weeks after we brought Lilly home Sassi died. Before Sassi died she helped us train Lilly. Sassi was a great dog and we miss her everyday. This is going to be a great Easter!!

I have finally got our flights taken care of. Now waiting to see if we get the guesthouse that we want to stay in. I have heard so many good things about the Morning Coffee Guesthouse. I cant wait to go. Just think in 29 days I will be holding my son for the first time!!! Oh, how I have waited for this day to come. Oh, how much I have prayed for us and for him. Please to continue to pray for us while we get ready to travel. Please pray for our son to not be too freaked out when he sees us and that he will open up to us. Please pray for Summer that she will have an amazing experience in another country and with her little brother.

1 Samuel 1:27 " I have prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked for"