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.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

The Big 13

Darrell turned the big 13 today.
We didn't do much though.
He and David were supposed to go on a 4-wheeler ride. But it rained really bad this morning, so they decided to postpone it.
We actually all went down to get our swine flu shot, but there was a really long line. We decided we were not going to stand in line in the rain, so we didn't do that either.
We did go out to eat and then had cake tonight.
But it was pretty much a lazy day otherwise.

The boys got school pictures back this week.
This is Austin's 11th grade and Darrell's 7th grade picture.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Beautiful Baby

Okay, so I know I may be just a little biased, BUT, what a beautiful baby...


Thursday, October 29, 2009

Trick-or-Treat

Leila LOVED trick-or-treat tonight.
It only took her 1 house to get the hang of it.
After that, she was off. She did not want to be held or carried.
She would run down the street and up to each house, wiggle her little butt to the front of the line, and hold her bag out.
This free candy thing was GREAT.



What a pretty little ladybug!

Happy 2nd Birthday!


Happy 2nd Birthday to my beautiful baby girl.
It hasn't been too great so far.
Leila and I went and got our flu shot this morning.
I really hated for her to get a shot on her birthday, but today was the 1st chance I've had to get one.
She was such a big girl. She didn't cry at all!
Her day will get better though.
We're going trick-or-treating and to the big block party tonight.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Carving Pumpkins

We carved pumpkins tonight.
David did Leila's, but Darrell did his ALL by himself.


'What is in there?'



'This is sort of fun!'



'A little messy!'



'We're done!'



'This is hard work.'



'What a great job!'



Austin missed out tonight. He went to the movies on a date.
He may disagree, but we think he missed out on all the fun.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Nosey - Nosey

On Tues night, Leila fell. She hit her face on the desk.
Her nose was bleeding, but just a little. It started to swell, but just a little. It scared me though, more than a little bit.
I am usually the calm one when the kids get hurt.
I've thought about this since, and I think one of the reasons this upset me so much, is because it dealt with her face. And with her nose and mouth not being 'normal' or 'right' to begin with, I REALLY don't want/need anything to mess that up any more.
There used to be an 800# to call where you could talk to a nurse 24/7. (I have the magnet with the number on the refrig.)
I called it. It no longer works. Apparently with budget cuts or liability or something, they did away with it.
That stinks. I never called it much, but when I did - I liked it.
I ended up calling my friend, Vicky - she's a RN.
She told me that even if it was broken, there's nothing they can or will do. She said NOT to go to the hospital (with all of this flu going on), UNLESS it swells to the point that she starts having a hard time breathing.
Okay, I felt better then.
We watched her the rest of the night, and she acted fine.
The next morning, it was still a little swollen and bruised, but only on one side.
I don't know if it could be a little cracked or if it's just bruised, but it doesn't seem to be bothering her.
When she fell down today though, it started to bleed again (a little bit). (No, she didn't hit her nose - she just fell on her butt.)
That's worrisome all over again, but we're thinking that maybe there was a small blood clot that broke loose. Still didn't seem to bother her.


You know as prissy as she is at times - with her jewelry and her purses and all, she's such a rough little thing and quite a contradiction at times too.
New people still scare her.
But when we were at the store last weekend, the boys were trying on Halloween masks to 'see what she thought'. I thought for sure she would get scared. Nope, they were funny - even with the scary noises behind them.
The other day, the boys were wrestling around on the floor (not something I encouraged, but was happening nevertheless). As soon as Leila saw them, she went running and dove right into the middle of the melee.

Friday, October 9, 2009

A Great Place to Live


We live in a great place.

I took Leila to the doctor the other day.
When I got ready to leave, the doctor said to wait, they had something for me.
Both the doctor and the physicians assistant had gone through their daughters' clothes.
They had a big bag and a box of clothes there for Leila.
Can you believe that?! And almost everything in it fits her.
(The weather is starting to get cooler, and now she has plenty of cute things to wear.)

Then yesterday, I stopped at the jewelry store to have a necklace fixed.
The lady that owns the store, gave Leila a Viva Bead bracelet - 'because it matched her outfit'.
How nice was that?!
(Leila LOVES bracelets.)

We may not have all the amenities and conveniences of a big city, but we make up for it in so many other ways.
I wouldn't want to trade one for the other.

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Chinese Moon Festival

Yesterday was the Chinese Moon Festival.
This Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, which is usually around late September or early October.
(Last year we were actually in China for this important event.)


The Moon Festival takes place at the time of the autumn equinox, when the moon is supposedly at its fullest and roundest, and many of the traditional festivities center around admiration of the moon and eating foods that resemble the moon.

(The moon was certainly full and bright last night.)
This day is very similar to our Thanksgiving.

Many of the stories surrounding the Mid-Autumn Festival center around the story of Chang’e, the lady who, according to legend, lives on the moon along with her companion, the Jade Rabbit.
Chang’e was purportedly the wife of a famous hunter, whose search for eternal life finally yielded a single pill of immortality.
Chang’e accidentally swallowed the pill and became an immortal, floating up to the moon and leaving her husband behind on earth.
Many Chinese people burn incense to the Moon Goddess, and her image is often featured on boxes of mooncakes.

Another story about mooncakes comes from Chinese folklore.
In this legend, Ming dynasty fighters who were rebelling against the Mongolian Yuan dynasty used mooncakes to smuggle messages to and from rebel bands, enabling them to defeat the Mongols.

Chinese mooncakes are small pastries about the size of a human palm that consist of a cookie-like crust and various fillings, ranging from lotus seed paste to red and green bean paste.
Traditional mooncakes usually have a bright orange salted duck egg enclosed in the filling, which symbolizes the moon.
Mooncakes are very rich and heavy, so each mooncake is usually cut into 4 wedges and shared.
Modern mooncakes have also made an appearance – many of these use fruit fillings instead of the traditional fillings.
There are also frozen mooncakes that are made with ice cream, as well as jelly mooncakes.

The traditional way to enjoy mooncakes is to sit with family and friends, and to eat the mooncake while admiring the moon.

We were 'lucky' enough to get to eat mooncakes last year during the Moon Festival.
'Lucky' is a relative term though.
We didn't think they tasted so great.
They're definitely not real dessert-y by American standards, that's for sure.
This is a picture of the one our guides (Rosa and Maggie) gave us as a gift last year.
Whether we enjoyed eating it as much, really isn't the point - we LOVED the gesture and the thought behind it.


Many people celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival by lighting paper lanterns, which they carry on the end of a stick, or by lighting sky lanterns, paper balloons that float into the sky with the buoyancy provided by the hot lantern lit under them.
Dragon dances are also popular performances at this time, and many people wear traditional Chinese clothing.

In the adoption community, many families with children from China, use the Moon Festival to remember and discuss birthparents.
I think Leila's still a little young for that, but perhaps in the future we can do something similar.
We have lots of storybooks on topics like that, and we'll read then when she can sit still for an entire story.