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, August 13, 2010

Busy, Busy, Busy

It's been a while since I posted.
We've been BUSY!

2 weeks ago, we had our annual swimming party for the church.
Some of the 'regulars' couldn't make it for one reason or the other, but the ones that did - had a good time.
We swam and ate all afternoon.

Then sports started full-swing.
Austin's been weight-lifting in preparation for wrestling for about a month now.
He also decided to go out for golf this year.
Golf is a little different in that they only take the top 4-6 'qualifiers' to each tournament.
Austin just started playing golf this summer. Most people on the team have been playing since they were like 6.
Chances are - he may never 'qualify' at all this year.
He was a little disheartened by that thought at first.
(And it didn't help that there's a couple snotty brats on the team too.)
But after thinking/talking about it - it's okay.
He's still getting FREE golf lessons and FREE play time every day. (And since golf is such an expensive sport - that's pretty good.)
Learning this now is something he will be able to enjoy the rest of his life.
(I love his wrestling, but let's be honest - after high school, wrestling is pretty much over.)
Darrell started cross-country. He likes track season, but he loves cross-country.
He says he gets bored just running in circles. Cross-country gives him variety.

I took Austin to buy a suit for senior pictures and all that 'senior' stuff.
(Not really ready for that.)

Can't believe school starts in about a week and a half!
Austin will be a senior, and Darrell will be in the 8th grade.
And then there's Leila.
Boy we've got them spread out, don't we?

After about a month lull, Leila started with (another) new speech teacher.
She seems to be doing really well with her though.
Hopefully we'll be able to keep this one until she ages out of the program in Oct.

One of my (many, many) cousins had a birthday last week.
We had a little mini reunion to celebrate.
Actually I believe the birthday was just an excuse to get together and party a bit.
This is just a few of them:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)