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.
I got some new info on Leila's orphanage yesterday. I had written to "Love Without Boundaries" asking if they were the ones responsible for doing her 1st surgery. They weren't, but they do run a nutrition program there. They sent me 4 pictures they had of her when she was little! In one, she was teeny, tiny. In another, she only looks to be a month or so old. You cannot imagine how much having this extra little part of her life means.
We had our 1st post-placement visit from our social worker. Our adoption agency only requires 2 (at 6 months and 12 months), but our homestudy agency requires 3. We had our 1st one last week. (Our social worker is SO nice.) We'll have another one in September, and one somewhere between now and then.
We got Leila's US birth certificate in the mail too. It's a little different. It's a WV birth certificate, that states she was born in China. I'll bet not too many people have one of those.
I think that's the last piece of official paperwork I was supposed to get.
Austin's wrestling ended last Saturday. BUT, Darrell started track on Monday. We had ONE day off. (I'd hate to have too much of a break there.)
It's been a very long week. Leila has been horrible. I took her to the doctor on Friday. I told them to find something wrong with her, because this couldn't really be her. She had an ear infection. We all had colds last week, so apparently hers went into her ear. She's getting better now - thank goodness.
She also went for her 1st dentist appt this week. She didn't do too bad. He got a quick look at least. She better get used to it. She's going to be there a lot in the future.
She fell and hit her eye on the bottom of the desk chair the other day. I'm not sure how good this will show up, but she now has her 1st black eye. Poor baby.
