MARION - A year after two Haitian girls joined their American family in Marion in the weeks following an earthquake that devastated their home country, remembering life in their home country stirs a mix of emotions for the teenagers.
U.S. citizenship for Saintania, 15, and Eveline, 13, is a work in progress, but inside their Greenwood Street house with their new parents, brothers and sisters, they have a permanent home.
Bill and Christina Wyatt run a busy family, with their five other children, who are homeschooled with their newest sisters.
The couple is also fostering another child they'd like to adopt, as they did their second youngest, Abel, who is 2 years old and took to Saintania and Eveline from the start.
After being matched with the Wyatts, it took four years for the girls to come home to the U.S., a time filled with trips for Bill and Christina to Haiti to do mission work and see their daughters-to-be, lots of paperwork and lots of waiting.
When the earthquake hit in Haiti, the western half of a Caribbean island shared with the Dominican Republic to the east, the girls were in an orphanage in Port-au-Prince, the country's capital that was devastated by the natural disaster.
The finalization of their adoption was months away, and the Wyatts feared it would be postponed further, but hoped that in the midst of the catastrophe, somehow, the girls would get to come home sooner.
After a few more days, which Bill said seemed like forever, Saintania and Eveline boarded a military plane filled with 80 other children from the girls' orphanage.
When it landed in Florida, Christina and her mother-in-law were there to meet them.
During the waiting period, the couple didn't get much sleep.
"Or you'd sleep with the TV on and pop up when you heard them say Haiti," Christina said.
OLD FAMILY AND NEW
The country hasn't changed, she said.
The only contact the girls have had from their family in Haiti was when Christina received an e-mail from the orphanage months ago, requesting an update on how they were doing because their birth father was there asking about them.
They were two of 10 children when their parents decided to give them up for adoption, unable to care for them.
Such stories are commonplace for children in Haiti, Christina said, recounting stories from the girls and from orphanage officials about the infants who had been pulled from toilets and trash heaps, abandoned by parents who couldn't care for them.
The girls miss their family and their friends from the orphanage.
Christina thinks if Saintania and Eveline had had to leave behind the other children, the transition would have been much more difficult.
"They would have felt much worse. Knowing their friends are here, it's easier that way," she said.
But the biggest difference for Saintania is that in her life in the U.S., she always feels safe.
Tears came to her eyes when she thought about how she lived in fear at times, hearing stories of killings and turmoil when she lived in Haiti.
Both girls talked of the new style of discipline they've grown used to, looking to their parents as they explained the difference between being corrected verbally now instead of otherwise in Haiti.
"I like to be here, having friends and family around," Eveline said. "I like when we listen to people and they listen to us."
Both girls were less shy than a year ago, but still cautious when they spoke with their Creole accents.
SIBLINGS, CHURCH AND SCHOOL
The family's church, True Life Church, is a large part of the girls' lives.
"We learn about God, not to do bad and pray to God every day," Saintania said.
Eveline is a greeter at the church, and both girls are depended on and have roles in the congregation.
"They're active and a big help," Christina said.
Eveline has become a good conscience for her siblings, correcting them when they misbehave, reminding them what their parents would want them to do.
It's something her little sister, 10-year-old Rheanna, says makes her a good role model.
From Saintania, Rheanna said she has been inspired to take more responsibility for herself.
"To not watch television and play video games all day long," she said.
Her sisters, instead, are first to help around the house and work on school work.
While Christina and Bill had two teenage boys before the girls arrived stateside, having two teenage girls too was an adjustment.
Understanding the bond they have and the bond they have with Rheanna can be frustrating.
"But I'm glad that they have it," she said.
Her husband agreed.
"Going from two to four teenagers over night. The two daughters are different than the teenage boys," he said.
"They have different outlooks and perspectives," Bill said.
Sibling rivalries have a different dynamic now, with the teen girls, 18-year-old Dakotah, 14-year-old Tristen, then Rheanna, Cornelia, 3, Abel, and the foster child.
All-in-all, Saintania and Eveline adjusted quite well, he said.
And though there may be rivalries, there are special bonds, too.
"Dakotah is a good buddy," Saintania said. "And Rheanna keeps my secrets."
"It's like a big slumber party every night," Christina said.
While the girls were excited to see snow for the first time last year, Saintania has decided she doesn't like it.
Eveline, however, is Rheanna's snow buddy.
One of the biggest challenges in the adjustment was bringing them up to speed in school.
The standards between Haiti and the U.S. are very different, and though she thinks Saintania and Eveline made up a couple grades just in one year, meeting the work requirements in high school still would be difficult for them.
"I'm thankful I'm able to keep them at home. Otherwise, they wouldn't get the individual attention they need," she said.
Reading and math are where they've made their most significant improvements.
Math even is Saintania's favorite subject, though it definitely wasn't at first, she said.
NOT ALWAYS EASY
Sometimes, the Wyatts face criticism for having adopted children from abroad, outside their own culture.
But it's always anonymously, with comments left online on the family's blog posts, social media networks or on news media reports.
"We're big. We're different. We're interracial and intercultural," Christina said.
When they go out, they inevitably draw attention.
Christina doesn't mind those who are curious and ask questions.
She often finds herself explaining why she and Bill decided to adopt children from abroad, and that they also are foster parents and have adopted in the U.S.
Parents who give their children up for adoption in Haiti are making the choice to give them a better life, when otherwise they may starve or be homeless, she said.
"To step up and say, 'I can't,' and giving up your child for adoption isn't saying 'I don't love you,' " she said.
In fact, it says they love their children very much.
Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, isn't even a third world country.
"It's a fifth world country," she said.
Both girls shook their heads instantly, almost fearfully when their mother asked them if they would rather be back in Haiti than living with a white family in the U.S.
