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.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Chinese New Year

Sunday is the first day of the Chinese New Year.
2010 is the Year of the Tiger.

The Chinese calendar is set to a 12 year rotation with each year being represented by one of the 12 zodiac animals - rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.
Legend has it that the people born in each animal's year would have some of that animal's personality.

Leila is a pig - she's supposed to be sincere and smart.
Austin is a rooster - honest and bold. / Darrell is a rat - generous and optimistic.
David is an ox - strong and confident. / I am a sheep - shy and creative.
Hmmmm.......

Chinese New Year (also called Spring Festival) is the longest and most important of the traditional Chinese holidays.

Chinese New Year starts with the new moon on the first day of the new year and ends on the full moon 15 days later.
The 15th day of the new year is called the Lantern Festival, which is celebrated at night with lantern displays and children carrying lanterns in a parade.

The Chinese calendar is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements.
This is why, the Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year.

New Year's Eve and New Year's Day are celebrated as a family affair, a time of reunion and thanksgiving.

In China, customs and traditions vary widely.
People may take weeks of holiday from work to prepare for and celebrate the New Year.
People buy presents, decorations, material, food, and clothing.
It is also tradition that every family thoroughly cleans the house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes of making way for good incoming luck.
Windows and doors are decorated with red color paper-cuts with popular themes of “happiness”, “wealth”, and “longevity”.
On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families.
They end the night with firecrackers.
Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes.
(Red is a very significant color in the Chinese culture.)

The Chinese New Year tradition is a great way to reconcile forgetting all grudges, and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone.


We celebrated Chinese New Year early last night.
We got together with our International Adoption group at Pizza Hut.
As always, we had a great time visiting and catching up.
We had 'representatives' from China, Vietnam, Guatemala & Russia.


I was so impressed by and liked the felt 'fortune cookies' that Erin made for the kids at our 'China Reunion' last summer - I decided to try my hand at it for this.
I studied the ones Leila had been given and made some to take last night.
I put them in cute little containers from the Dollar Store - along with a real fortune cookie from the Chinese restaurant and gave them out to the kids after dinner.
All 3 of my guys said that Erin's 'cookies' looked better, but softened their criticism by telling me that the real cookie was a nice touch, and it was still the thought that counted anyway.
That's okay - I still felt good contributing something, and hopefully they'll like it at least a fraction as much as I did.

2 comments:

Nicole said...

Chinese New Year at Pizza Hut? That made me laugh out loud!
I usually only eat Pizza Hut in China, so that is why it was so amusing to me!
GOOD JOB at even going after that fortune cookie project, you are WAY braver than me! I would have called Erin and asked her to make them for me :)

February 12, 2010 at 6:17 PM
E said...

Good job for giving those ol' cookies a try! Here's the website where I learned how to make them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEWQTkMnDwM I just watched the video and would pause it, run to the machine, sew and then run back again. Love the boxes!

February 24, 2010 at 2:12 PM

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