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.

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.

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