COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- A year ago a Colorado Springs family of seven decided to expand into a family of nine by adopting two children from Haiti. When Paul and Susan Yost made the decision they figured they'd have at least two to three years to prepare for their children's arrival.
They were wrong.
"We were raising money for the added costs, and by then figured one or two of our eldest kids would be in college," explained Susan.
But after the Haiti earthquake hit, the Yost family was informed they would be getting their children, Ydererline, 7, and Prince, 5, right away.
"It was kind of a mix of emotions, relief for them [the kids] but then 'Oh no, what now?' " recalled Paul.
Although, Paul and Susan had already raised five kids, Prince and Ydererline literally represented foreign ground.
"There are challenges adding kids from other cultures and they've been through all this trauma," acknowledged Susan. After the earthquake the children lived out in the open for more than a week, some days with no food or water along with about 120 other orphans.
English is the biggest barrier. The children knew only a few words before meeting their new family. The children are homeschooled and working solely on their English skills.
"That's a major part of the process right now, is getting them learning English and a lot of that is just so we can explain what's going on from moment to moment. There are things they haven't understood, why one's getting something at the store and another's not simply because the store doesn't have that item for them," explained Paul.
Along with a new language the children are having to learn a completely different kind of culture.
"The first time we put food in the microwave and brought it out, they put their hands on it and they were shocked something would come out of that little box on the counter, hot," recalled Susan.
"Ydererline talks about her mom in Haiti who had to give them up because she couldn't afford to feed them. They eat dirt biscuits just to fill their stomachs sometimes," said Susan. Although Ydererline still misses her birth mom -- they were only in the orphanage a year -- she does refer to Susan as mom.
For Prince his age makes it a little easier. "He's kind of clueless. He's a little boy and just goes with whatever's going on," added Susan.
The family did just purchase a new table to accommodate all of them more comfortably and on Thursday will be receiving a new vehicle.
They had been saving to purchase a larger vehicle, but their savings account had barely gotten started when the earthquake hit.
Phil Long Ford stepped in and agreed to match the funds which Mountain Springs Church raised for a new van for the family.
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKXRM