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, July 20, 2013

Summer is Flying By

Summer is more than 1/2 over, and I feel like it just started!

The end of May was busy with end of the school year stuff.
Leila 'graduated' from preschool.
She's a big 'kindergartener' now.

We had our Bible School that same week.
Lots of fun, but busy busy busy.
We all had jobs this time.
Darrell taught a class, I was the photographer, and David helped with music.
As always, the week ended with a program, food and a water slide.
Darrell decided to 'surf' the slide, rather than slide the slide. Hence, a trip to the ER and a concussion later ensued.

The beginning of June brought Austin's 20th birthday.

Leila had her 1st Dance Recital that same night.
I'm sure a dance recital was NOT how he had originally planned to spend his birthday, but he went and was good about it.
And I LOVED it.
She did SO good, and was just so darn cute doing it.

The end of June, Darrell went to CA.
This was a trip with FBLA.
To get the money to go, he had to do fund-raising - which he did everything they offered for the last several months.
Then he worked on his own, to make up the difference. (He really wanted to go.)
He has been mowing (our yard and the church), teaching swimming lessons, house-sitting, and whatever odd jobs came his way.
It all paid off though, because he got to spend almost a week in CA.
He competed at FLBA Nationals, went to Disneyland, took a tour of Hollywood, and went to Huntington Beach.

In addition to teaching swimming lessons to little kids, he's been swimming in a summer league (which is also almost over).

He leaves on Sunday for Camp Electric - a Christian music camp.
This is his 4th year to go. (And probably his last.)

He's such a good kid. I'm very proud of him.

On July 1, Leila had her Pharyngeal Flap (p-flap) surgery in Columbus.
I was really dreading it, but she did amazing.
She was SO brave going into surgery.
We were there from Monday - Thursday.
She has recovered from this so much better than I anticipated.
Although this surgery is supposed to be so much more difficult - she actually did better with this one than she did with her tonsils back in Nov.

Austin and Casey have been dating over a year now, so last week they went to Kings Island for the day - and he proposed.
Of course, she said yes.
They say they're going to have a 'long' engagement.
I asked what 'long' means.
Welllll, that's anywhere from 1-3 years.
We'll see.

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