Chelsea and Andrew Davies of Turner show photographs of the twin boys from Ukraine they hope to adopt. The boys have visited them in Maine but are trapped somewhere in Ukraine as their orphanages try to evacuate to another country following an invasion by Russia. Steve Collins/Sun Journal

TURNER – For Andrew and Chelsea Davies, the war in Ukraine hits close to home.

A and D, 12-year-old twins who live in separate orphanages in Ukraine. Submitted photo

“There’s tears every day,” said Chelsea Davies, a nurse who is painfully aware that three boys she hopes to adopt are somewhere in Ukraine, too close to wailing sirens, missiles and all-too-real danger, much too far from the safety of her home in Turner.

“Our hearts are breaking as we know they are in danger,” she said, “and there is nothing we can currently do.”

Two of the boys are 12-year-old twins she calls A and D to protect their privacy. Though they live in separate orphanages in Ukraine, both were at the Davies’ home for four weeks around Christmas, part of an international visitation program that may one day lead to them becoming part of the Davies family.

The boys have an older brother, 16-year-old M, who hasn’t been eligible to go overseas since the COVID-19 pandemic hit two years ago. The Davies are in touch with him, too, and hope they can also add him to their family.

M is the one who sent the Davies a message shortly after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine to tell them that “war has started.”

In the days since, each of the orphanages has begun an evacuation. The children in their care are somewhere in the Ukrainian heartland as officials there try to figure out how to get them safely beyond the border.

“It’s hard. We have a lot of emotions daily,” Andrew Davies said.

Chelsea Davies said, “I feel like I have aged 10 years in 10 days.”

She said she and her husband are busy every day trying to figure out how to secure permission for the boys to come to Maine when they do get out.

“If they say come get them,” she said, “I’m going to get them.”

There are tens of thousands of orphans in Ukraine, with many of them already in the process of getting adopted by families in other lands, including many in the United States. Davies said she knows of several families in Maine alone that are desperate to get Ukrainian children out of harm’s way.

For the Davies, the legal mechanisms are even more iffy, though, since they haven’t yet formally begun the adoption process for either A or D. They’d simply made the decision to get cracking on it when war interrupted everything.

Even so, they said, they already love the two boys. A was with them and their 2-year-old daughter for 10 weeks last summer, the couple said, and they were thrilled to bring both boys over during the holidays.

“They’re not like American children,” Chelsea Davies said. “They just want to be loved and they want to be with you.”

Chelsea and Andrew Davies of Turner Steve Collins/ Sun Journal

Andrew Davies said he was struck last summer when, “nervous and excited,” they rounded up A at the airport. He saw “this little Ukrainian boy get off the plane” after a 27-hour journey, he said, and couldn’t wait to welcome him into their home.

“This boy is so sweet, so adorable,” Chelsea Davies said.

The boys “are true orphans,” Chelsea Davies said. “They don’t have any living family” since their grandmother died a few years ago, leaving them to be raised in separate orphanages that are set up a little like boarding schools.

The boys speak Russian, though A seems to understand a fair amount of English now. The Davies said they are all able to communicate with each other.

When they returned to Ukraine after Christmas, the Davies sent tablet computers back with them so they could talk online when the internet cooperates. That allowed them to stay in touch regularly, at least until recent days.

Chelsea Davies said she has always wanted to adopt children as a goal in her life. She had both a mother and a grandmother who had been adopted so the idea, and the joys it can bring, have been “a part of life” for as long as she can remember.

She wanted to do her bit to help children in need as well.

Both A and D “want to be in a family,” Chelsea Davies said.

In Maine, the boys have gone sledding, attended dances, played a lot with each other and had “lot of laughs” with the family they agreed to visit. Nothing happens without their consent, Chelsea Davies said, including the adoption she’s hoping for.

The Davies started down the road toward the boys’ adoption after hearing from friends about the possibility of securing permission in Ukraine. They had to go through background checks to be able to host the boys for the visitation program.

To adopt them will require a lot more paperwork, a trip to Ukraine to get a judge’s approval there and more. The Davies said it typically takes a year or two — and that’s without a war to complicate things.

It is not clear what effect the war and potential evacuation to a third country may play on the Davies’ ability to bring the boys to Turner, even if it’s just to follow through on existing plans to have them come for the summer.

They said U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ office is working with them to see what can be done to clear the way for the boys to head to Maine if they can get safely out of Ukraine.

The process of getting them to Maine for the long haul isn’t easy or cheap. The Davies said it costs about $3,000 per child just to get them to Turner.

To adopt them will take tens of thousands of dollars before it’s through, they said, something they can only afford because friends, family and the community have donated money to help make it possible, taking advantage of the opportunities social media has created.

The couple remains determined, despite the new obstacles raised by war.

Chelsea Davies said the boys “have been through so much already. These are kids that need our help.”

They need a chance to “have a normal life,” with “a little bit of chaos and a little bit of fun” with a family that cares for them, she said.

“They’ve had so much heartache over there,” Chelsea Davies said.

She remembered one of them telling her, “Please, no Ukraine. Stay in America.” But they had to go back.

Just to have gotten this far in the painstaking process, Chelsea Davies said, “There must be a higher power rooting for us.”

She said that when the day comes that A and D are allowed to come to live with them permanently, she will be overjoyed.

“It would be like we were given the whole world,” Chelsea Davies said. “I love these boys.”