The Adventure Never Ends
Hyrum ended up surprising everyone by flying in from Oregon to Utah on Wednesday afternoon. It was great to have Jonathon, Hyrum, and Heather united with their sisters and children to rekindle their relationship.
On Thursday afternoon, they were playing in the backyard and jumping on the trampoline. Remember the rule about only one at a time on the trampoline? Well… Dasha ended up with a broken leg. Jonathon, Anne, Anna, and Hyrum loaded her up and rushed her to Mountain West Orthopedics where our neighbor, Dr. Steve Huish, arranged for her to be seen and x-rayed. Dr. Christopher English cared for her at the office and put her in a splint. She then went to Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful for surgery on Thursday evening performed by Dr. Jared Tyson.
We are grateful to Dr. Huish, Dr. English, Dr. Tyson and all the staff at Mountain West Orthopedics who were so wonderful in caring for her. The staff at Lakeview Hospital were also incredible with Dasha and made her feel like a princess. She has had minimal pain and is recovering well at home.
Everyone has been adaptable and the progress in learning English has been amazing.
Now that Olena, Anna, and their children are safely here, we have taken some time to reflect on what has transpired these last few weeks and all the help that has been given by multiple people. While Olena and Anna don’t speak English, they wish to express their gratitude to all of you.
The message has been translated from Ukrainian to English.
Message in Ukrainian
Залишити Батьківщину в Україні було дуже важким рішенням. Ми не уявляли, як виглядає наше майбутнє, але Саша вірив, що наші брати і сестри в Сполучених Штатах згуртуються, щоб допомогти. Перетинати польський кордон серед ночі було дуже страшно. Зустріч з Енн Марі Льюїс та Кеном Ханада, коли ми вийшли з автобуса, щоб привітати нас о 3:30 ранку, була великим полегшенням. Наші серця сповнені вдячності цим двом чудовим людям, які кинули все у своєму і без того насиченому житті, щоб прийти допомогти людям, яких вони навіть не знали.
Перебувати у Франції під опікою Анни Марі та її чоловіка Кріса було дуже втішно. Сильний зв’язок, який може сформуватися за дуже короткий проміжок часу, коли люди допомагають один одному в дуже важких обставинах, може бути дивним. Незважаючи на те, що ми познайомилися з Енн-Марі, Крісом і Тедом лише кілька тижнів тому, ми відчуваємо, що знаємо їх усе життя. Вони справді були ангелами в нашому житті, і ми ніколи не могли їм достатньо подякувати.
Залишити Енн-Марі та Кріса у Франції, щоб вони поїхали до Мексики з Енн (матір Джона) та Олівією (дружиною Джона), було трохи хвилююче, але ми повинні були довіряти їм, що план приїхати до Сполучених Штатів через Мексику буде успішним. . Коли ми приземлилися в Мексиці, ми зустріли іншого ангела, Ріда Хоуса. Він організував усе від Мехіко до кордону в Сьюдад-Хуарес/Ель-Пасо, а потім перельоти до Солт-Лейк-Сіті.
Ми відчували себе в безпеці та спостерігали за кожним кроком відтоді, як залишили рідний дім в Україні. Лише нещодавно ми дізналися, що, хоча Енн Марі, Кріс, Кен і Рід відіграли важливу роль у допомозі нам своєю присутністю, багато хто з вас допомогли зробити це можливим, зробивши пожертви, щоб допомогти профінансувати всю цю поїздку. Декого з вас ми ніколи не зустрінемо, але знайте, що наші серця переповнені вдячністю.
Спасееба!
Олена, Анна, Даша, Микита, Віолетта та Аріана
Message in English
Leaving our homeland in Ukraine was a very difficult decision. We had no idea what our future looked like but Sasha trusted that our siblings in the United States would rally to help. Crossing the Polish border in the middle of the night was very scary. Meeting Anne Marie Lewis and Ken Hanada when we stepped off the bus to greet us at 3:30 in the morning was a great relief. Our hearts are full of gratitude to these two wonderful people who dropped everything in their already busy lives to come help people that they didn’t even know.
Being in France under the care of Anne Marie and her husband, Chris, was very comforting. The strong bond that can be formed in a very short amount of time by people helping one another under very difficult circumstances can be surprising. Even though we only met Anne Marie, Chris, and Ken a few short weeks ago, we feel like we have known them our whole lives. Truly they have been angels in our lives and we could never thank them enough.
Leaving Anne Marie and Chris in France to go to Mexico with Anne (Jon’s mother) and Olivia (Jon’s wife) was a bit unnerving but we had to place our trust in them that the plan to come to the United States via Mexico would be successful. When we landed in Mexico we met another angel, Reed Haws (Anne’s brother). He arranged everything from Mexico City to the border at Ciudad Juarez/El Paso and then flights to Salt Lake City.
We have felt safe and watched over every step of the way since we left our home in Ukraine. We only recently learned that while Anne Marie, Chris, Ken, and Reed played a vital role in helping us personally, that many of you have helped make this possible by donating to help fund this entire endeavor. Some of you, we will never meet, but please know that our hearts are overflowing with gratitude.
Spaseeba!
Olena, Anna, Dasha, Mykyta, Violetta and Arianna
Example for Others
We are grateful for everyone that has followed this story. Upon learning that the United States will turn away all Ukrainians at the border beginning Monday April 25, we are relieved that Olena, Anna, and the children all made it through with Humanitarian Parole. Another Ukrainian family, Masha and her two children, contacted Emily Leger (Anne Marie’s sister who has been helping on this side) on Thursday at noon. Knowing of the new laws going into effect in less than four days they, along with their host family in Romania and their sponsor here in Utah, decided to try to fly to Mexico via the same route that our family had taken. They met up with Nahum in Ciudad Juarez and he did the same thing for this family that he did for us. After over six hours in the customs office, they were released into the United States under Humanitarian Parole to the relief of all of us on Sunday afternoon. They are probably some of the last Ukrainians that will get through in this manner. We are grateful that they made it and that all the logistics that were set up with Olena and Anna were successful without any time to spare.
Story by Loren Eisley
One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean. Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?” The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.” “Son”, the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!” After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said, “I made a difference for that one.”
We are all grateful for everyone helping make a difference for these “ones.” Our hope is that we will continue to serve others wherever we are as there will always be more beaches with more starfish that need rescued.
