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, October 16, 2018

Summer 2018

We had a very busy (and trying) summer.

Austin and Casey sold their little house and moved.

They bought a new house.
Granted they're only about a mile down the road now, but they're no longer 'just next door'.
Their new house is nice, and I'm happy for them.
(I really am.)
But I so miss them being right there.


Darrell and Haley got a dog.
Millie is a very sweet, well-behaved 6 year old German Shepherd / Lab.
She loves coming here to play in the yard and with Charlie.


We went on our 'family trip' in July.
We really wanted EVERYONE to be able to go, but that didn't work out.
Austin and Casey didn't get to go with us this time.
We flew to Puerto Rico and took a 7 day / 5 port cruise to the South Caribbean.

Our first stop after leaving Puerto Rico, was in St. Thomas.

We went on an excursion called the BOSS (breathing observation submersible scooter).
It was one of the neatest things I've ever done.


The next island was Barbados.

In Barbados, we went out on a catamaran and went snorkeling with turtles.


Our third stop was in St. Lucia.
St. Lucia was my favorite.
The water, the beaches, the island, the people - it's all beautiful.
Our excursion here was a Segway Tour and then beach time.



St. Kitts was next.
In St. Kitts, we toured the island in a 4x4 jeep, before stopping for some more, much enjoyed beach time.



There's a point on St. Kitts called Sir Timothy's Hill where you can see both the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
Breathtaking!

St. Kitts is also home to lots of monkeys.


Our last island was St. Maarten.
St. Maarten still had a lot of devastation left from last year's hurricane, but this was probably our least favorite stop.
Our little group went on 2 separate tours here.
Darrell and Haley chose to go horseback riding on the beach.


The rest of us went on an island tour.

We saw sights such as the Dutch / French Border.
(St. Maarten is actually split in half.)

We visited the famous Maho at Sunset Beach where planes fly right over your head as they come in to land.


Once we returned to San Juan, we spent an extra night there before flying home.



This is a much abridged version of the things we saw and the fun we had.

But - as we know, all good things must come to an end.







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