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.
Leila had an ear infection last week, but other than that, she's adjusted really well.
Once she got past that initial reaction to the spoon (where she screamed), she's now decided she likes food. So far, she likes everything we've given her. But the majority of her 'food' is still the bottle with cereal in it. She'll eat what we feed her either with the spoon or our fingers, but she will NOT pick it up and put it in her mouth by herself.
She has a little push toy. Darrell takes it and has her walk back and forth across the living room with it. If he has his way, she'll be walking on her own soon. (Then she'll get into his stuff and he'll be sorry.) And she still isn't quite 16 lbs, so she looks like she's too little to be walking anyway.
Here she is with our 2 dogs. They've adjusted to her quite well. They check the car seat every time we carry it in. I'm just not sure if it's to see if she's okay or if it's to see if we brought that thing back again.
3 comments:
Wow, it looks like Leila is growing and learning so many new things. Each little step for our girls is such an accomplishment! I had to Iaugh at your comment about Darrell's attempts to teach her how to walk. Anna Kathryn wants to really badly but she's not ready yet. It's great to see the updates from y'all-- hope all of the family is doing well.
God bless,
Kimberly
Love the pictures, Leila is getting big, I can't believe how much she has filled out!! Love the update, it's nice to hear how you all are doing!
Many blessings!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LEILA!! :)
~dreama, bill, jack, grace and julia
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