We’re David and Lois McBeath. We live in Point Pleasant, WV – a small town along the Ohio River on the western side of the state. We have 2 sons. Austin is 15. He’s a sophomore at Pt. Pleasant High School. Darrell is almost 12. He’s in the 6th grade at Roosevelt Elementary.
We actually began our adoption journey more than 10 years ago. I saw an ad in the newspaper about Chinese babies. We called about it, but it just wasn’t even feasible at that time in our life. All these years, it was always there, stuck somewhere in the back of our minds. I don't know why exactly – it just was. The thought never completely went away.
We also talked off and on about having another child. Our house was only 3 bedrooms, and we know the boys could have been in a room together, but we didn't want to do that if we didn't have to. In the spring of 2006, for some reason (I don't recall exactly what) - it came up again. We started thinking and talking - why not? So we started checking into it more. We did a lot of research online. The more we found out, the more we felt a calling, a desire and even a need to do this.
We started the adoption and added onto the house all at the same time. It took about 6 months to get the paperwork together. Then about another month after we sent it to China for them to translate it and 'log us in' (11/6/06). That's when we started to officially wait.
We finally got "THE CALL" on 7/13/08. It was a Sunday afternoon! After 2 ½ years, we are finally going to get our baby!


Leila Ann McBeath, formally known as Shun Xi Yi, was born on Oct 29, 2007. She had a cleft lip and cleft palate. The lip has been repaired, but not the palate. (We'll have to do that when we get her home.) She's in the Children's Welfare Institute of Shunde District of Foshan City, which is located in the Guangdong Province, in the southern part of China.

Shunde, the hometown of flowers, is one of four cities under the jurisdiction of Foshan City. Covering an area of 806 sq meters and with a population of 1.05 million, Shunde City is situated in the middle of the fertile Pearl River Delta, between Guangzhou and Hong Kong. It was set up as a county in the 3rd year (1452 AD) of the Jintai reign of the Ming Dynasy (1368-1644), and conferred with the administrative status of a city in 1992 by the State Council.

Foshan City is also where the actor Bruce Lee was from.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Thursday Night



What a day. Leila has been fussy all day. I don't know if maybe she doesn't feel good for some reason or if all the changes are catching up with her. The only time she's been really happy is when we went out for a walk or in the bathtub.
Also, Darrell has been a little sick today.
One thing with Leila, I knew that with having the cleft palate, food would come out her nose sometimes when she ate. I guess I just wasn't really prepared for stuff to come out it almost all the time - food, snot, saliva, whatever happens to be in her mouth at the time. It's like her nose runs nonstop. And she really, really hates having it wiped. If you even wave a tissue in front of her face, she starts to cry.
She's not big on eating either. At this point, the only thing she eats is a bottle about every 4 hrs with cereal in it. To attempt to try to put anything else into her mouth (whether it's medicine, congee, or anything), is cause for a huge hissy fit. No wonder she's so tiny.
Cleft babies don't really suck either. She just chews the nipple to get the milk out.
I'm really ready to get her home, so we can get started on a 'regular' life.

On another note, we ate at an Italian restaurant tonight. Yeah, Italian in China. We all played it safe with ordering. (We did NOT order the goat liver.) What we did get was excellent though.
I also forgot, that the first night in Beijing - when we ate in the restaurant in the hotel - they were playing Christmas music. If you know David, you'll appreciate that more. He loves the movie, 'A Christmas Story'. There's the scene where the dog eats Christmas dinner and they all go to the Chinese restaurant for dinner. All the Chinese people are singing - fa, ra, ra, ra, ra - ra, ra, ra, rah.

Also, I appreciate the posts. It lets me know that people really are reading this, and I'm not typing it for nothing.

3 comments:

Judi said...

Your daughter is adorable! I'm an AWAA mom that is still in the waiting phase, so I enjoy others' journeys! So, "others" are reading your journal!

Dawn said...

She is such a cutie pie! I know it is nice to get them into a routine, but it will fly by, and you will be home before you know it.
Congratulations on your little Leila.
In Him
Dawn
AWAA waiting family

wbailey said...

Oh, you already have some sweet pictures of her!!!!!!!
That is funny about the Christmas Story movie. That is one of my FAVORITE movies.