Hi everyone! This story will be long, but this is a last-last resort; and it gives the full context of what has happened leading to this point.

Our names are Natalia (26), and my husband is Frankie (27), we live here in Solano County.

In December of 2022 we found out we were pregnant with our first blessing, we call her "baby Yaya".

We were in no financial trouble, and moved into our new apartment in the beginning of April 2023 My husband was a production operator, and I was an administrative assistant for a realty company. However, the beginning of the snowball of our financial emergency began on April 23rd, 2023. At this time I was 4 months pregnant, we went in for what was supposed to be a regular ultrasound, where we found out I was in immediate danger for preterm labor, I was taken up to Labor & Delivery at Kaiser in Vallejo, CA and had to have a surgery the next morning called a “cervical cerclage”. As a result of this surgery, I was ordered by my doctor to remain on bedrest for the ENTIRE remainder of my pregnancy.

This was devastating as not only was I worried for our baby, but I had just started my new job. I discussed my circumstance with my employer to see if there were any work alternative options, however- they had no options for me to work from home, which forced me to resign on April 29th, 2023 and begin receiving pregnancy disability benefits a week later.

This reduction in income meant I went from $2,800 a month to $949 a month. My husband continued to work his position, which was enough income for the home (about $4,500 after taxes) and allowed us to pay the rent, I decided to use my pregnancy disability to care for smaller bills.

We continued to pay the rent, but we received an unexpected surprise as our daughter was born one month early (August 8, 2023). Her birth meant that we were one less month prepared financially as we were anticipating the middle of September. We remained in the hospital for 6 days, and once we got home my husband was needed at home to take care of both our baby and myself (driving, cooking/cleaning, taking our daughter to Drs appointments, helping me with movement and strength, being nearby in case I developed postpartum preeclampsia). As it is only us in our home (other family members were not an option), and there were no other options.

His job was aware of his need to be with us, and granted him time to be away, however, he did not qualify for FMLA or CFRA as he had been there less than 12 months- therefore, he had to apply for paid family leave (PFL) for the time of absence which granted him 6 weeks of pay “bi-weekly”. His claim was submitted on August 15, 2023 and he received 3 payments total.

This is where the hardship became stronger, as were now on two (2) reduced incomes, and were scrounging between both his PFL, and my pregnancy disability that had been changed over to paid baby bonding “paid family leave” (PFL) (which remained at the same amount as the pregnancy disability).

My husband was scheduled to go back to work on September 4th, 2023. However, our home was not yet ready for him to go back; my postpartum recovery and pain was still in a high/vulnerable state, and although our daughter was born healthy, she is considered “late preterm” and required more attention to her health as she had a greater susceptibility to illness, breathing problems etc., that we were told to look out for, moreso in the first few months of her life.

He attempted to go back to work for a shift on September 5th, but the inconsistent and unexpected needs of home, mixed with his lack of rest, on top of the amount of energy and attention to detail it took to do his job all kicked in at once as he had a very exhausting work schedule (overnights, from 6pm until about 6:45am, and sometimes more overtime)- meaning he would be gone during a critical part of the night where I needed the most help and where at least one of us needed to be up to watch her while her sleep patterns were adjusting. He took another week off then attempted to return the week of September 13th through the beginning of October, but had to call out periodically for the same reasons. These absences were unpaid as he had already exhausted his sick/personal leave with his job from emergency trips to the hospital during my pregnancy after my surgery.

Although he had great rapport at his job, they informed him that there were not many other systems they could work out for him, and he was discharged from his position on October 12, 2023.

This sudden change in income was the shockwave that we have been currently under pressure from the most, as he was no longer receiving benefits, and now we had used his final pay checks toward rent and bills; also, my baby bonding benefits were set to end on November 14, 2023.

We began to fall (and are still) behind on not only 3 months worth of rent, but 3 months worth of our other expenses:

PG&E ($958, fortunately we were able to get on an assistance program)

Our car payment ($800)

Phone bill ($600, btu we got it reduced thankfully)

Credit Card payments from emergency use (Over $1,000)

We want to assure you, we have not been stagnant in our search for resolutions, we informed our property managers immediately when we saw the hardship was not recovering fast enough, and they were gracious enough to grant us some time to try and see what we could work out. They did have to unfortunately have to warn us about the potential of an eviction proceeding if we couldn’t pay anything soon, and we completely understood.

We applied for a program called Season of Sharing, however we were informed on December 5, 2023 that we would qualify, but because they are “privately funded”, that we would have to provide proof that there was going to be income beginning the next coming month that at least totaled to the monthly rent amount. So we must update them when a first paycheck comes from a position that matches that qualification, and then they can proceed with our application, this will help greatly.

In the meantime, we are receiving some government assistance, but it amounts to less than our rent.

We had minor help from both my grandfather and his mother, which have helped greatly to pay small parts of past due bills, or emergencies like gas, but that was an exhausted system that is not only unfair to them (as his mother is in her mid 60s, and my grandfather is 80 years old and [unfortunately] financially takes care of my two younger siblings and my biological mother who all currently live with him), but is also painful for us to process needing this much help, as we have never needed this kind of help before.

While my husband was in transition, I tried taking up a part time retail job, but I also am a breastfeeding/pumping mother, which means I cannot just work a regular full-time day job , as I am needed frequently throughout the day. I attempted to take a part time position night stocker from 1:45am-6:15am (matching our daughter’s sleep schedule) Unfortunately my body wasn't ready for the intense physical demands of the job, I also have fibromyalgia which results in my body shutting down/feeling sick when excessive physical or emotional stress is on it. Because of this, I had to leave.

My husband's field is water treatment operations; this field takes a while to secure, so he has been patient with this process. The good news is, he does start a new job next week, which will cover the rent and our other home costs as well- but it won't take full effect until March 1.

We are currently in limbo, as there are not many options for us other than for my husband to continue his job assignment while he awaits hearing back from his desired field.

Please understand, our story has nothing to do with you all, and as God Almighty is our witness- we have no desire to let this financial hardship continue any further. This has not only been emotionally taunting for us, but as two young, new parents, we are trying to do our best to continue to provide the most loving, nurturing, and safe environment for our new blessing and in return she has been the happiest and most joyful baby we have ever seen. We have cried, we have broken down, we have had to explain our situation over and over to debt collectors and bill representatives. There have been weeks where things hit us literally every day.

This financial hardship is not an easy recovery, as all jobs and programs have processes, and there are many ahead of us who are also in need. We respect these matters and understand that the only thing we can do is be patient. We can gratefully say this situation does not define us, rather, it is a significant experience in the lesson of unexpected events.

My husband and I have always been, and will continue to be, doers of good and honest works. We do not believe in negligence or laziness; and genuinely have done our best to not ask anyone for help, as we would rather help others. Even though we have had to apply for government assistance and come on this platform, it has truly been a last resort for us while we wait for better options to come. We are so thankful for any of the help we have been able to receive!

This situation could happen to anyone, in the blink of an eye we went from financially well and planned out, to (literal) pennies in our bank accounts, having to negotiate (every week) payment extension dates for bills, and have faced two car reposession notices in the last month. It's hard, it hurts, but we know this is all temporary compared to our triumph.

We ask that you take our circumstance into consideration, as we are (beyond) faithful that we will be able to produce a greater outcome, this is a new and confusing experience for us to work through, and the one thing we need right now is grace to allow us that room to breathe and have a better starting point.

We have already been served our notice of eviction paperwork two weeks ago, however, we spoke with our property's legal department two days ago and we were informed that we still have time. Nothing in final until we make it to having a hearing (which could be about a month from now or less). Our property managers really don't want us to be evicted, and want to work with us to make sure we can come up with a financial plan or pay it off, and then continue to pay the rent from there so we don't lose our apartment. (If we are able to get on a payment agreement with them, there won't be a need for a court date)

Forfeiting the apartment is another option they gave us, then we would just owe the back payment, but unfortunately we would have no where to live. We are safe here, especially with our daughter.

Here is our goal/plan:

Our total owed to the property is $7,068 in rent ($2,356 x 3 months) + utilities and their attorney fees ($2,000), so our total owed to the property to avoid evection is about $9,000.

With your donation not only would be be using this money immediately toward the past due rent to help us avoid a court date and eviction, but will be able to use another $2,356 toward our rent for February, giving us more than enough time for my Husband's income to settle in, by then we will no longer qualify for government assistance (which will be a positive thing). The remainder of the funds will go toward back-owed bills and anything else our home needs.

The beautiful thing in all of this, is we still have each other, our faith has been stronger than ever, and the LORD has protected us in more ways than one! We (literally) pray nightly for anyone going through times of trouble- as we are not the only ones.

If you cannot donate anything, we just ask that you just keep us in prayer for our circumstance to pass, that is more than enough!

(and yes, we have proof of everything relating to this situation)

May God bless all of you!

With love,

Frankie, and Natalia