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.
Happy Chinese New Year (yesterday)!
2009 is the Year of the Ox.
We celebrated by having dinner at Pizza Hut with our International Adoption group. They're a great group of people, and like always, we had a good time. We had 5 little girls and 1 little boy there. This is the group of kids that came out to celebrate Chinese/Vietnamese New Year together.
We had lots of snow today, and we're getting ice tonight. (No school today or tomorrow.) The boys took Leila sled riding today. She didn't really mind being out in it, but she would NOT let them put her down in the actual snow. That just wasn't going to happen.
2 comments:
Happy New Year!! I bet it was fun celebrating (at last!!) with Leila. Y'all look awfully cold in that picture...
Hello,
You don't know me, but I found your blog when googling Shunde SWI. Our daughter is waiting for us there, and we are looking for others that have been there since May 08 and may have seen our daughter. I would love to hear from you.
wallesbs@comcast.net
God's blessings on your new little girl!
Sarah
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