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, February 12, 2021

Spring 2020

Jan was pretty much uneventful. 
 Feb brought a new baby to the family. 
 Ryan had a little girl on Feb 17 - BrookLea. 
 Darres and Juanita are finally grandparents. 
They are thrilled.
She was born a little early, but is doing fine. 
She went home in March to Darres and Juanita's house. 
They are currently taking care of her, due to some circumstances and situations with her parents.
Everything changed in March. Covid-19 (or the Corona virus) hit the USA.
 Life as we knew it - stopped and changed. 

All the schools closed, and extracurricular activities stopped. 
All of our 'kids' had some time off work because their places of employment temporarily closed, but not David. He was considered an 'essential worker', because he works at the hospital. He still had to go every day. 
Leila had just started archery with a program called 'Centershot'. After 2-3 practices - that ended for the year. 
Her basketball games with cheer - also ended. 

The slower change of pace had some definite advantages - like no longer running non-stop. 
But there were SO many things that we missed out on. 
It was Leila's last year at Roosevelt Elementary. They didn't get to go on a 6th grade trip, or have a last Field Day, or a last Water Day, or any of those 'lasts' before moving onto Jr High. 

I know that in the grand scheme of things - those are little (even though they feel big sometimes too). People lost jobs, businesses closed, funerals and weddings and graduations were postponed and ruined, churches closed.  
We now have to wear masks everywhere all the time. 
New words, like social distancing, became normal and everyday. 

This 'new normal' sucks. 

We didn't have Easter dinner with the family. 
Well - we cheated a little. 
My immediate family still got together and ate and enjoyed each other's company.


Mother's Day was also low-key, but at least we had it.


We bought a side-by-side, so we could try to do more things as a family.
Part of this family stuff wasn't too fun. 
We spent 2 (very difficult) days working at the cabin. 
One day inside - one day outside. 

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