Strangers no more: Ukrainian orphans jump straight into family's hearts

MURRAY — The family motto, engraved on a painted plank of wood and hanging in Barry and Carla Olsen's living room, used to say it all: "Enter as strangers, leave as friends." But two strangers, here just two weeks and from farther away than any visitor ever, might leave as family.

The welcome the Olsens have given the two young girls from Ukraine was being etched in pumpkin by Oleena, 13, and coming through loud and clear last Sunday in 6-year-old Yulia's giggle as the two carved and danced their way toward their first Halloween and a party with all 45 members of the Olsens' extended family.

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."

Yulia's tap is wide open: toys, bicycles, the Olsens' piano, and one more thing — "This house and the people who live here," says Otinova, translating what she's saying but is plain as day in the girl's dark eyes and infectious smile.

'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.