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 18, 2012

Cruise

Sept was busy.
In addition to getting back in to the school routine, cross-country track, gymnastics, ballet, 2 family reunions, etc - I went on a trip.

Mom and I went on a Carribean cruise.
We flew to Miami and boarded the ship there.
It was a 7 day cruise, with 4 ports - Half Moon Cay, St. Thomas, San Juan & Grand Turk.
It was beautiful - the water, the islands, the ship - all of it.
Weather was great.


We went on a Harbor Tour in Miami. We was 'stars' houses. They were completely unbelievable. We could probably live in just one room of some of these houses. It was hard to believe we were only seeing the backs of these houses. Also, these are probably just summer or vacation homes.
P Diddy's House

Shaquille O'Neal's House

At Half Moon Cay, we went 'swimming' with the stingrays. I thought it would be neat, but I had no idea just how neat. It was fantastic. They are such gentle creatures, and they were everywhere. Just standing in the water - they swam around you, between your legs, and didn't mind being touched (or even held).
There were also starfish, sea slugs, conch, and plain pretty fish.

At St. Thomas, we went to Magen's Beach. Magen's Beach is supposed to be one of the top 10 beaches in the world. It was nice, it was pretty, but I'm not sure I think it was all that. I've actually seen some I thought were better, so I'm not sure how they do those ratings.
We also went on a city tour. We went to BlackBeard's castle and an amber museum.

Magens Beach

Amber Waterfall

BlackBeard's Castle

Our next stop was San Juan, Puerto Rico. We did another tour there, which included a rainforest. They said it was the only rainforest in US jurisdiction. That confused me because I really thought Hawaii had one too, but I don't know.


Grand Turk was our last port.
We originally had 2 excursions booked there, but for various reasons both were cancelled. So we shopped instead.
Grand Turk was small but very pretty.

Great week.


Although I missed David and the kids terribly - I didn't want to come home to the rainy, cool weather and the housework and the daily grind.

I've decided to be a professional tourist when I grow up.
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