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NORTHERN UTAH -- The past two days have been an emotional roller coaster for two Utah women who are adopting children in Haiti.
The women, who live near Logan, have been to Haiti to meet the children many times.
The kids live in the Foyer de Sian orphanage, which has shelters in Port-au-Prince and two nearby towns.
The owners of the orphanage are alive, but they couldn't keep phone contact long enough to say if the children are safe.
"We don't know if either of our children are alive right now," said Smithfield resident Kate Woodward. But all she can do is wait to find out if 14-year-old Rolando and 6-year-old Gislene survived the devastating quake.
Less than an hour before their interview with KSL-TV on Thursday, Woodward got word that Rolando and the other children were evacuated from their home before it collapsed.
It's in a town called Petionville, 5 miles outside Port-au-Prince.
"But we have no idea if that's correct or, if it is, where the children are," Woodward said.
Her daughter's situation is more tenuous because her home, which mostly shelters younger children, was in Carrefour, the quake's epicenter.
"How would it make any parent feel to wonder if their children are alive?" she said.
Angie Rasmussen of Hyrum is in the same situation.
Her 10-year-old daughter, Abigaelle, who is also in Petionville, may have been evacuated, but there's no confirmation.
"[These have] been the hardest two days of my life. The longest and most emotional two days of my life," Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen often travels to Haiti to do humanitarian work.
Her sister Mandi McBride, who adopted two Haitian orphans, is currently in the country. Knowing her sister is safe, Rasmussen's thoughts are now with her daughter.
"I wish so bad I could be there and hold her. You think of their fear and how scared she's got to be and she's there without her mom," she said.
If the kids are OK, there are still other questions, like how the quake will impact the adoption. If the paperwork was lost or destroyed that could delay the process, which has already taken a couple of years.
Both Rasmussen and Woodward hoped to bring their children to Utah this year.
"How are we going to bring them home if they are alive? We don't even know at this point how we're going to be able to bring them home now," Woodward said.
Woodward has adopted three other children from Haiti. Both she and Rasmussen plan to go there when it's safe to travel.
Newly adoptive parents grateful for their children's safe arrival
Karen Jorgensen of St. George just recently adopted two children from Haiti. She is also anxious to hear about the children she just left at the orphanage.
Two 2-year-olds from Haiti arrived in Utah on Christmas day -- a gift for the Jorgensen family who spent three years and made seven trips to Haiti to get them. Now, Jorgensen says she is heartsick over the children she left behind.
"A lot of them are already severely malnourished, and so to have this happen on top of that, they don't have anything to spare," said Jorgensen.
She got word all the orphanage buildings are intact, but workers there are desperate for supplies. She is in contact with other adoptive parents who have been working for years to get Haitian kids who are hopeful they will still be able to get them out.
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Story compiled with contributions from Sheryl Worsleyand Sandra Yi.
