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Two teenage sisters from Russia are living with two younger siblings for the first time, united a world away from their troubled childhood because of the big hearts of a Utah couple.
“This wasn’t about saving the world,” John Simmons said. “It was about keeping biological siblings together.”
His wife, Amy Simmons, said it “means a lot” to be able to bring the sisters together.
“For them to be able to have each other. ... I can’t put words to that,” she said.
Svieta, 15, and Natasha, 14, arrived at their new home near Park City this week. They’re now known as Emily and Annalise.
“We wanted them to feel American. They were all for that,” John Simmons, 42, said.
He and his wife earlier had adopted their sisters, Sarah, 6, and Celeste, 4. The four siblings had never met because the older girls were removed from their home in Vladivostok before the younger ones were born.
Amid allegations of abuse, authorities also removed the younger girls. A fifth sister has a mental disability and lives in a Russian institution.
For Amy Simmons, 38, it was personal experience that motivated her to adopt the four.
“I grew up in an abusive home,” she said.
Adding the girls to the family raises the total number of children to nine, including a boy with Down syndrome who was adopted in Las Vegas and a Russian boy who is not related to the Russian sisters.
The Simmonses have a 3,500-square-foot home but are building a new home in Kamas with 13,000 square feet.
“I’ve been very fortunate,” said John Simmons, who is president of a family business.
The parents are learning Russian, and their new daughters don’t speak much English.
“So there’s a lot of charades at our house right now,” he said.
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