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.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Vacation

A New Family Photo

The Rock Wall at WonderWorks

A Night Time Visitor to the Cabin

DollyWood

Dinner at the Black Bear Jamboree



We've been on vacation. We went to TN.
Although we've been there several times before (my brother and his family live there), we decided to rent a cabin (instead of staying with them), and do things we haven't done before.
We did go to Dollywood, even though we've been there several times already (Leila hadn't).
We went to Splash Country, which we all loved. I can't believe that as many times as we've been there, we'd never gone there. It was great.
We had our picture taken at one of those old-timey places.
We even went to a couple of dinner shows.
We did a few other things too, and other than being hot, the weather cooperated too.
Overall, it was a nice time.

We came home Sat night. Austin left for boy scout camp on Sun. He's working down there (about an hour away) for the next 4 weeks. He's going to be washing dishes. We think/hope it will be a good experience/practice for him.
Darrell will join him next week. Big difference though - Darrell's going to camp and have fun for one week. Austin is there for a month to work.
Nevertheless, the house will surely fill empty next week.

Leila had her 1st speech therapy session on Mon. Although I was a little curious as to how they plan to do speech therapy with one her age (and at her cooperation level), the first time went really well.
There are 2 different ladies. Although they work together, one deals more with the speech side of it and the other deals more with developmental aspects. We like both of them, but more importantly - Leila likes them. They'll come for an hour once a week and will alternate weeks.
The session on Mon was with the developmental lady (Lisa). Mostly it consisted of a full hour of Lisa and Leila playing. Leila loved it.
Then she gave us some suggestions on things to work on for the next week. It included things like finger play (Itsy Bitsy Spider, etc) and naming body parts (Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, etc.)
The best part - they come to our house, and it's FREE. It's part of what's known as the 'Birth to Three Program'. It's run by the state, and will provide for her until age 3 at which time, she can attend the preschool program in the public schools. How great is that!

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