Strangers no more: Ukrainian orphans jump straight into family's hearts
Both the occasion and the feeling of family togetherness are unknown in the state orphanages that have so far been home to the half-sisters.
"They are smiling all the time here," says Tatiana Otinova of Oleena, Yulia and the 29 other children who have come to Utah through the Save a Child Foundation. "The children are happy here. They are not in Ukraine such happy."
Twenty Utah families are hosting the children during their 2 1/2-week stay, giving the children a taste of American traditions and way of life and introducing them to the family dynamic.
It's a valuable lesson for the children to learn, says Otinova, one of four chaperones traveling with the group and helping serve as translators for the children.
"They don't know about what means 'family,' " she says. "So I think it's very good for them."
It is, in fact, what Oleena cites as her favorite thing about Utah and the United States. When pressed about what she likes best, the reticent teenager quietly answers "family."
'Part of our family'
Oleena and Yulia may have come more than 6,000 miles to Utah, but it was just a hop, skip and a jump into the Olsens' hearts.
As Yulia plays with pebbles in the parking lot outside the children's elementary school, Carla Olsen sums up the past couple of weeks: "These girls are part of our family. Once you get them in your home, you can't see life without them."
There have been many breakthroughs, as Carla puts it, since the girls' arrival. Big ones, like on the fifth night when Oleena responded to Carla's good night with her own "I love you." And small ones, like the hugs that come more freely each day.
It was Carla's idea to host the girls, says husband Barry, who describes himself as being "slow but supportive" of his wife's plan. But as he watches Oleena and Yulia interact with his own children in the family's kitchen, there's no sign of hesitation.
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