Poliana is out of the hospital!

I found out on Saturday morning that Poliana was allowed to leave the hospital! We are so happy and relieved that she will be with a family in a home for Christmas. The judge had actually sent her to the Indian House, which is not a good place to be if you are a woman or a child. Happily, she only spent about 4 hours there because Patricia was able to get guardianship of her. Patricia has resigned from her mission in order to ask for custody and she told me on Saturday that she is now hoping to adopt Poliana herself. This was hard to hear, but I have feared this all along. Patricia has certainly cared for her as a mother and has made many sacrifices for her. I am not sure, however, what we will do at this point. Although I don't want to take Poliana away from Patricia, I also worry about the fact that Patricia is a single lady who is already in the process of adopting a 2 month old, and she now has no job since she left the mission. Her sending church has told her that they support her in her decision and that they will continue to support her, but I can't help but wonder for how long. So, please pray with us for wisdom.

Poliana's Birthday

These are the newest pictures of Poliana that were taken on her birthday, Dec. 3. As of today, she is still in the hospital waiting for a decision to be made. Happily she is in a private, air conditioned room now. Patricia (the one holding Poli) is the missionary who has been caring for her for these 2 1/2 months in the hospital. They are trying change who has custody of Poliana right now so that she could leave the hospital. Patricia currently has guardianship but the house that she is renting is on the mission's property and it would not be in Poliana's or the mission's best interests to have her on mission property. A nurse from the hospital has offered to ask for guardianship so that Poli could stay at her house. Patricia would continue to spend most of her time caring for Poli, but she would get a needed break and Poliana could be in a home! Poli is not crawling or walking yet because she has not been allowed to be on the floor in the hospital. I am sure she will quickly regain the time she has lost, but it sure is frustrating! Of course, I would rather they just send her on down to me and not mess around with changing guardianship to a nurse! But if it gets Poli out of the hospital, then I am all for it.

Here's a little side note...I just found out today that Steve will be going to the US on Jan.3 and my mom and step-dad go back to the US on Jan.4. Then there is Michael's birthday on Jan. 7. Yep, we will be boardering on depression around Jan.5! So, I just had a thought. Maybe I could find a good rate for going to Boa Vista on the 4th or soon after. Then we could meet Poliana and Michael could be with his bestest friend in the world (Lucas) for his birthday! Like I said, this is just a thought I had in the last 10 minutes. Steve hasn't even heard of my crazy idea yet. And this will all depend on me finding a really cheap rate to Boa Vista! Now I have to decide if I could emotionally handle going to see Poliana and not bring her back with me. Hmmmmmm....