From Deseret News archives:
An adoption-citizenship odyssey
"We have all the documents signed," John Simmons said Wednesday as he walked out of the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services building in Salt Lake City.
Inside the building he was asked by officials if the girls had their green cards or their Social Security numbers. They didn't have either — and it was another nervous moment for John but not a roadblock to getting the certificates.
"You go forward as best you can," he said about the bureaucracy involved with adopting overseas.
John has included those struggles in a new book called "The Marvelous Journey Home," due in stores by July. The family also has its own Web site, www.suncomesup.com.
The book chronicles the adoption of four of five Russian sisters. Officials in Russia would not allow the Simmonses to adopt the fifth girl, who is severely brain damaged.
"She doesn't recognize her sisters," Amy said about the fifth sister.
When the couple started looking into adopting out of Russian orphanages, they already had three biological children of their own, plus a boy they adopted in this country and an adopted Russian boy who is not related to the sisters. They all live in Francis, near Kamas, in a 3,500-square-foot house that they hope will be replaced by Christmas with a new 13,000-square-foot home.
In 2005, John and Amy brought home Sarah and Celeste, the younger two of the five siblings, who were all removed from an abusive home at different times in their lives. The Simmonses learned after adopting the first two that there were more sisters, which compelled them to work toward keeping at least four of the girls together. Emily (formerly Svieta) and Annie (Natasha) arrived from Vladivostok late last year — their given Russian names are now their middle names.
Holding on to booklets about being a citizen, Emily, 15, and Annie, 14, were all smiles after receiving their certificates.
The girls are attending a public school and still learning English, but through translator/family friend Emily Wheeler, they said they like their new names and new family and that they're proud to be citizens. They also said they don't long to be back in Russia but they do miss their sister who is still there.
Emily in particular is glad to leave behind the "sometimes good, sometimes bad" days of living in an orphanage.
"The food wasn't very good," she said. Emily's favorite food now is chicken, while Annie favors French fries.
When asked if there are more children planned for the future, Amy draws on a fishing metaphor to say, "We caught our limit."
E-mail: sspeckman@desnews.com
