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.

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Spring 2018

Although it's supposed to be spring, winter seems to be hanging around.

Leila is back in cheer.
This is her 2nd year with GC Starz.
I think we all like it better this year.
We know more what we're doing, plus I like her team better this year. They seem more cohesive and more 'team-like'.
They're doing pretty good too.
We have one more competition left - Myrtle Beach.





Leila had her first Science Fair.
Her topic was: 'Paws and Think - Choosing Sides'.
It was about whether or not animals have a dominant paw (hand), like people do.
Turns out they do.
Not only did she win 1st place at her school, she won 1st place at the county fair too!
Although she had the option of going on and competing at the state fair, she didn't get to due to a scheduling conflict (cheer competition).
Awesome job - especially for her first one ever.

In spite of the weather being hit and miss lately, Easter turned out great.

The 3rd annual Easter parade was fantastic.
Weather was perfect.
Our church was given 'Blind Bartimaeus' as our theme.


We had the egg hunt, colored eggs, the Easter Bunny came, cooked the Sunrise Breakfast (way too early), went to church, had dinner and took a much needed nap.
A perfect day.