Perez Family Christmas Miracle Adoption

For those that see this and may not know us, we will start from the beginning. We are Jenny and Joe Perez, we met on a blind date March 5th 2010 almost 10 years ago, God brought us together in a miraculous way! It was love at first sight and we were inseparable from that day forward.  From our first conversations that day we discussed our desires to have a big family as well as one day a desire to Adopt! We just didnt know in what order God would have it all work out in.  In October 2012 we were Married, Best friends for LIFE! From the beginning we prayed for God to bless us with a little one in His perfect timing. For our first few years together we tried to conceive but were unsuccessful, every month was filled with heartbreak at another lost chance to be the parents we were praying to become. Still we turned to God in Faith He had a plan in it all, that there would be a rainbow after all of our storms. We realized we were having Infertility issues but were terrified to look into why, we knew we would eventually but decided that maybe God was calling us to look into Adoption First. What ever He wanted we would trust in His plan for our lives! The flicker in our hearts to Adopt grew to a roaring blaze when we received a call in January of 2015 to adopt a baby Girl, named Hope, who had just been born from a family friend who knew of a young woman struggling with drug addiction and homelessness. This was her 5th child, her Mother (The Grandmother) was caring for all of these children in hopes her daughter would one day turn her life around to raise them. She is in her late 60's. That night we went to bed hearts bursting at the thought of being first time parents and finally having a little baby to love, we were to leave the next morning to drive up and get her, with no plans, no idea how we would make it happen, just trusting God would work out the details. That next morning a text came in that they had a change of heart and wanted to keep the 5 siblings together. We totally understood, but ofcourse we mourned at another lost chance to become parents. Still we trusted it was all part of Gods great plans some how. A few days later an email came in about local classes to become a Foster/Adoptive parent and we immediatly signed up. The classes were over the course of a few weeks and 3 days after we graduated those classes we got another phone call from the Grandmother of those 5 siblings... The oldest was sent to live with his birthfather, she was heart broken but also felt like she is getting too old to continue caring for the kids and wanted a loving younger couple to adopt the baby girl Hope (6 months old by then) on the condition we would also adopt the other 3 with her! Wow, our heads were spinning but we said YES with excitement to become parents to this sibling group. All had open DCF cases so we began contact with them, and visited the kids, held the baby, bonded with them, prepared our home with 4 dressers, beds, clothes, ect. to receive them as a Non- Relative placement till their cases went to adoption. We knew it was going to be a long road, all the kids had been exposed to drugs while Birthmom was pregnant with them, they had behavior issues, learning delays, and other issues from Birthmom coming in and out of their lives. Still we walked forward in faith that if God was calling us to do this we would do it with our whole hearts no matter what it took. After a couple months of this we stopped hearing from the family October that year 2015. We told God that if we didnt hear more from them by December 2015 we would close the door and look into adoption through an agency. December came and went another lost chance to become the parents we dreamed to be. January 2016 I packed up all the things we had collected for them and cried out to God... we dont know WHY these things are happening but Lord we trust in you and know that some how... this is all part of your plan. We still Trust ONLY in YOU Lord! 3 months later... we got another call from the Grandmother that her daughter was pregnant again with a baby boy #6 and was due any day and getting out of Jail in Montana. We told her we would adopt the baby boy if that is what she chose, we would be here praying and waiting. We reached out to prayer warriors and felt a peace we couldnt explain. She had 2 other choices besides us and it would take many miracles for this baby to become ours. She was at an adoption agency when she heard about Joe and I from her mom, all about how we loved on her other children and had almost adopted them, she left the agency to try and find a way to get back down to Florida to choose us, but her half brother contacted her and said he wanted to adopt the baby and bused her to Las Vegas. When she arrived they put her in a hospital, she saw some things she didn't like with them and asked them to leave telling them she was going to give the baby to a couple in Florida, we were totally unaware still that she would choose us as she wouldn't tell us so we couldn't do anything to prepare, 10 days after our first finding out about this possible baby boy we were in church. I had just put up a prayer request on the prayer wall asking God that if it was His will to please make this baby boy our son. As we walked out of church a text came in from her... a picture of a baby boy just born with the words "I choose You!" We couldn't believe it. But, she had backed out on the other 2 and we knew there was always the possibility she could do the same to us so we discussed how to get her home to Florida, bought an Arline ticket, baby boy had to be 2 days old to fly, she got on the plane, we picked her up in the airport and she gave us the baby boy we had been praying for! We had no plan, this was so sudden and backwards to how it normally works with adoption. Normally you find the agency first, then they find the birthmom. So we scrambled to find an agency, handed over our new baby boy and spent the next few days doing paperwork, raising money and fighting to bring our miracle boy home! In just 3 days God moved every mountain through many of you and miracles happened to bring him home. FINALLY our prayers were answered and we were parents, our hearts were overflowing with a joy we had never felt before!! You see, God had a plan. We couldnt see it until we looked back at all He had been doing. Had we not gotten that phone call about baby Hope, we would not have started those classes, had we not gotten to know the family by being willing to adopt the other kids and trusting God, they may not have known us enough to choose us to adopt our son. ALL of what we had been through God used for good and ALL the glory is HIS and HIS alone! We named that baby boy Jaxson Luke Perez. Means Gracious Gift from God and Walking in Light. And that he is!! A light to everyone he meets and our lifes greatest blessing. He is 3.5 almost 4. And pretty much right away we knew we wanted to work on a sibling for him. So we began to look into our Infertility issues, did testing and all came back as "Unexplained Infertility". I had low Progesterone, and Joe had a few slow swimmers but nothing that they could say would prevent pregnancy. We started doing some rounds of medication to help us get pregnant, and decided we would give this 6 months and if nothing happened we would look back into adoption. 6 months came and went. Negative pregnancy test after another. Honestly, the whole time all we could think about was adoption anyways even looked into being able to pursue both at the same time.  Fast forward to 2019, 7 years of marriage, 7 years of infertility, and 3 wonderful years with our Miracle Jaxson. In March 2019 we celebrated Jaxson's 3rd birthday and the day before his party we got a phone call from a distant family member stating she was going through some rough times and was pregnant, Due in October 2019 and wanted to know if we would be willing to adopt the baby... ofcourse we said YES!! We were honored to be asked and how special the baby would get to stay in the family and she could be a part of watching her baby grow up over the years, do visits and still be involved. We were told this was a for sure thing, there was no other option for them otherwise and began the process of paperwork and preperations to Adopt! I made a cute announcement for Joe and Jaxson, we called all our family members together (The birthmom and I) to announce to them our plans and everyone was supportive and over the moon happy! Then in May 2019 we sent her to get an ultrasound so we could find out the babys gender and do our first Gender Reveal since we would never get to experience this with infertility. That day, we stopped hearing from her. In our hearts we knew what this meant. She had seen her sweet little baby on the screen, heard the heart beat, found out the gender and fell HEAD OVER HEALS in love... it was a baby girl! Eventually we got to talk to her, we told her our hearts were ofcourse broken but that we loved her and always wanted it to be her choice, we understood completely and were here to support her in whatever she needed. The baby is loved and cared for and everything worked out for her and that was all anyone could hope for for that sweet baby girl. We are proud of her for even considering adoption, and for doing all she has done to get on her feet and raise her sweet baby! The next couple months were spent in deep prayer, Lord again we dont know all the answers to all our "whys" but we trust you and know this is somehow all part of your plan, we saw all you did to bring Jaxson home! Three months after that door closed... we got a phone call from Jaxsons birth grandmother in August 2019, someone saw Jaxsons birthmom at a gas station (The brother) (we hadnt heard anything about her, or been able to find her for 2 years and feared the worst so we were grateful to hear she was alive) he said she looked like she had a belly on her and may be pregnant but they arent sure, she is still homeless, doing drugs and living in the woods and appears to be struggling more now with her mental health. Wow. Could it be? We had no other information so all we could do is pray for her, pray for this possible babys safety and pray for Gods will for us all. One month after that in September, we heard from the Grandmother again, She saw her walking on the street and was able to talk with her... she asked her if she thought she was pregnant and she said maybe but I dont think so because even though my belly is getting bigger I dont feel any baby moving so I think its passed away.  Heartbreaking news, so we prayed. Prayed for Gods hands to be around that tiny baby in her belly and protect it from the drugs, lack of prenatal care, lack of nutrition, that there was still a heart beat and to keep it safe. She refused to go to a doctor (Paranoia). She did also ask her if baby WAS alive if she plans to give this baby to Jenny and Joe to adopt and she said yes. But she still hadnt talked to us and refused to go anywhere with anyone. So our hands were tied and all we could do is pray and wait... another month went by then we got a 3rd call in October 2019, they ran into her again and were able to give her basic needs items and have her take a pregnancy test... it was positive and belly had grown some. But still she didnt want to talk to anyone, go to a doctor or even believe the baby was alive. More prayers, and another month wait... They called again November 2019 and had run into her again, her belly looked HUGE either it was twins (which she has had one set of twins before) or she was due soon. Still not willing to talk to anyone about it and in denial she was pregnant at all. We had no due date, no gender, and no idea if the baby was one baby or two, or healthy with a heartbeat. Still we walked forward in prayer and faith but all we could do is wait. We planned a visit in November to go spend time with the Grandmother and 4 other kiddos we almost adopted, and planned to try and find Jaxsons birthmom in the woods so we could finally talk with her and see if she really wanted to seek adoption with us. We prayed and prayed the brother would be able to find her in her homeless camp so we could meet with her. While we were visiting with the Grandmother and kids (which was heaven, as the kids have a very special place in our hearts) we got a call from the brother that he had infact found her and took her to the gas station accross from her homeless camp to come now, she has no idea or she may try to leave. We left right away and waited in the parking lot for her to come out of the gas station. Istantly her face lit up with a smile when she saw us, but then quickly changed to a face of shame or guilt.  I gave her a big long hug and told her how we had been thinking of her and praying for her. It became clear immediatly she was struggling with drug induced pshycosis as most everything she said was far out there and random. We sat with her and chatted the best we could, We fed her and gave her food items she could take back to her camp with her. I took the time to thank you again for blessing us with Jaxson, we both teared up and she said she was glad he was in a good home. When it came time to delicately bring up adoption, I asked her how far along she thought she was and she said she wasnt pregnant it was a balloon inflating inside her. So I went along with it because there is no arguing with mental illness, and asked well if by chance there IS a baby what is your plan? She looked away and said I dont know, My body my choice right? I assured her yes, it has always been her choice and we would love her no matter what she chose but we wanted her to know we were here if she did want to choose adoption again and keep the siblings together. She said yes it would be good to keep them together but still would not say if she chose us to adopt or not. That was as far as we could get in answers with her. It was cold out so I gave her my jacket and we gave her a cheap one month phone she could use to call for help IF she went into labor, we told her our numbers were in there if she wanted to choose us to adopt, and if not her brother and mothers numbers were in there and she could atleast use it to call an ambulance so she didnt have the baby in the woods. My heart breaks for her, leaving her was hard. I wanted so badly to scoop her up out of her circumstances and get her somewhere safe, but she refused all help we offered and we watched her return back into the woods still no answers as to weather she would choose us or not. Weather she would make it to the hospital in time or have complications in the woods. Who would be there to help her and none of us know the day or hour. Seeing her in person is was apparent that it would take many miracles for this baby to make it to a hospital and into our arms. We had no idea how much of our conversation she comprehended or would remember. I was able to snap a side photo of her belly so I could ask my cousin who is a Midwife her thoughts on a guesstimate of how far along she may be... her guess was at that time (which was end of November) she was around 32/34 weeks (8 months) along. Others were guessing 5 to 6 months or 7 months was the most popular guess. Man how could we know, that means she was due anywhere from January to who knows when. We thought well, we will get through Christmas atleast and then in January we will go up and try to find her again. Gods timing is always perfect so we will just wait and pray!


On December 9th this past Monday, at 2:56pm I received a frantic phone call from Jaxsons birth Grandmother, she was crying and hyperventilating and her voice was shaky as she told me the baby was just born this past Saturday December 7th at 5:35pm, weighing 5lbs 13oz, 19 inches long and was estimating to be around 36 weeks along so 1 month premature and was placed in the NICU and.... ITS A BOY!!!!! She said the phone we had given her was stolen so she didnt have our numbers to call us, and she had been trying to contact her mom to call us but she didnt answer till Monday afternoon. She states she wants Jenny and Joe to come up right now and adopt the baby before DCF gets involved. Birthmom had tested positive for drugs, babys urine was negative for drugs but he had been exposed and they would do further test to see what/if he was exposed to anything all the way back to 22 weeks the belly. She said come NOW, and hurry she is wanting to leave the hospital to get back to the woods. So at this point I am an emotional mess, hyperventilating with excitement and thousands of unanswered questions swirling in my head, jumping up and down, running around the whole house unable to even think clearly at all. I told Joe to hurry up and get ready we had to leave, called my mom to come cover my home daycare and packed us a suitcase as we had no idea what we would have to do when we got there (The baby is in Bradenton 2 hours away). We left and made a ton of phone calls, contacted our adoption agency to get things moving with them and reached out to our prayer warriors and all of you to ask God for Christmas miracles to happen!! When we arrived we went straight to her room, she had a male homeless friend with her who had come along to support her through the whole process. By now she had been in the hospital 2 days, she had a bacterial flesh eating infection on her foot from the woods and needed IV antibiotics so the drugs had time to leave her system and she was much easier to have a conversation with this time. We asked her, if she truly wanted to choose us to adopt her baby boy... she said yes ofcourse, that was her plan all along (she just didnt tell us). Tears ofcourse came to my eyes, but I didnt want to fall apart in front of her, I wanted to be strong because I could see on her face how hard this decision was for her. Another baby lost, her 7th to be exact. I would never wish this heartbreak on anyone. But she just isnt ready to turn her life around, and knows she is fully unable to care for a baby at this time. We told her we would be here to help her get on her feet if she ever wanted help with that. We talked about keeping in-touch with her, her other kids and how we are all family for life now. We would always pray for her and love her no matter what. She was so grateful that we could give her babies a safe loving home. She said I may not take care of myself but I would die to make sure my kids went to good places. We thanked her for giving us the chance to be parents again. Jaxson hugged her and thanked her for giving him a baby brother, this made her day! He knows the story of how he grew in her belly and all about his adoption. We pray for her together all the time. That night they took us back to see our sweet baby boy for the first time, no papers had been signed so we couldnt touch him but we could look. We scrubbed up and they took us over to him 2 at a time, Jaxson and I went first and Joe and Jaxson went next. Jaxson was SO excited to meet his baby brother for the first time!! He kept saying aww its ok baby, dont cry, we are here. Seeing him for the first time took our breaths away, so tiny, so precious and so perfect! God knit this little one together in his mothers womb with us in mind for each other... wow! That night we left with plans to meet the adoption agent at the hospital the next morning for Birthmom to sign over her rights to us, So we asked her if she would please stay one more night so we didn't have to go find her in the woods and she agreed. The next morning (Tuesday 12/10/19) when we arrived the agent was already in the room with her signing documents with her mother (Jaxsons birth Grandmother) as a witness and one other. She began to cry when she saw us walk in and my heart was crushed for her, I can not imagine being in her shoes. Most in the room had tears flowing. I gave her a quick hug to comfort her and told her we were sorry this was so hard. The agent asked us to leave the room while they finished paperwork so we sat in the waiting room right out side the room. How do you explain this feeling... your SO incredibly excited to be welcoming a new life and that baby deserves our excitement and on the other hand your heart is broken for the pain you know birthmom is walking through in the room behind you. We made a quick video for our baby boy about how we loved him so much and couldn't wait to bring him home while we waited. After they finished, we let her have a break and they took us down to see our precious baby boy and this time... they referred to us as the parents and allowed us to hold him for the very first time! When the nurse placed him in my arms I cried tears of joy! He opened up his little blue eyes and smiled at me. We spoke sweet words to him, gave him kisses and stroked his little blonde peach fuzz on the top of his head. They even allowed us to tube feed him and change our first diaper with him. Words cant describe the feelings you have. This precious little life is now ours to fight for, to love and grow with, he is no longer homeless but has a loving home to come home to with a family that have loved him and prayed for him long before we ever met him. After spending time with him, we went back up to see Birthmom. I hugged her for a long time and we cried. I thanked her again for giving us the chance to be parents that we would otherwise never have, told her how brave we think she is, and how much love it takes to choose adoption, we would raise her boys to know the amazing sacrifices she made for them to have a family. She again expressed how grateful she was we were able to adopt both boys. And while we were there she asked us what name we would choose... on the car ride up we had chosen the name Jeremiah which means "God will Uplift, and God has sent" and that we wanted her to pick the middle name to honor her... she chose William (Her brothers name, My brothers name and my Fathers name as well by coincidence). Her brother was also a HUGE part of bringing this all together and has been the one going and finding her to help her so it was perfect!  Jeremiah William Perez! We gave her a necklace that we had special ordered for her that had a cross, a piece that read "Love is Brave" and 2 sets of baby feet to represent the 2 babies she blessed us with. She put it on immediately with tears in her eyes, I was so happy she loved it. I have not shared her name to protect her, But she will always have a special place in our hearts and we will continue to pray that one day she turns her life around and gives her heart back to God. We pray that one day our boys will be able to have a loving relationship with her and for God to protect her. We both needed each other, God brought us all together for a reason. We are beyond honored that God chose us to be the parents of these two precious gifts and cant wait for them to grow and learn of all the amazing things God did, all the mountains God moved, all the Miracles God provided to bring them home!! 

We left the hospital and got to work immediately working on our Home study paperwork and getting background checks, medical checks, fingerprinting, home cleaned for our home check, the home visit and so much more. We spent Wednesday till today racing around to get it all done, and today we completed all the home study paperwork and only have left some online classes (16 hours worth) that we have to complete! Whew almost there. 

Thank you so very much to all who have been praying and waiting patiently to hear what you were praying for, God has answered many prayers, Praise Him for that! But we need continued prayer through out this as there are still many Mountains that need to be moved in order for us to bring our baby boy home.  As you can see, all of this happened so suddenly and as much as we hate to reach out and ask for help... we know we can not do this alone. We received the list of costs it will take to make this adoption happen and have listed the amount above... we have a list broken down if anyone wants to see that we are happy to share it!

PLEASE HELP US TO BRING HOME OUR CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!
If you can find it in your hearts and are able to help financially we would be incredibly grateful , but please do not feel obligated, God WILL make a way, He always does! If you aren't able to help financially, we ask that you please keep us in prayer especially baby Jeremiah! And please SHARE our story, maybe someone you know will be able to help. If you know us, you know how hard it is to ask for or accept help from others, we would not be asking if there were any other way. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being on this journey with us, for your support, love and prayers! We pray all Glory will be given to God through out this and that you too will be moved by all God is doing.

Baby Jeremiah is still in the NICU. He had jaundice so they had him under a blue light, he also was not taking a bottle so they are having to tube feed him in between trying to get him to learn to suck on a bottle. Please pray he learns this quickly, 3 days ago he had blood in his stool so they stopped feeding him to give his belly a rest and did a bunch of exams on him to see if he had belly issues or a milk allergy, only giving him IV nutrients for the last 3 days. Today they will try feeding him again we hope. We have no idea when our sweet boy will be able to be released, we are praying we can have him home for Christmas. We know he is safe, being well cared for but it breaks our hearts to think of him in that NICU box with tubes and wires not having skin to skin with us, hearing our voices, and getting loved on by us. We long to bring him home, but trust always in Gods perfect timing! Pray for our Christmas Miracle. Thank you and blessings to all!

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future” – Jeremiah 29:11 (My ALL time favorite verse)
"Whoever Welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me" Matthew 18:5
"Speak up for those who can not speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitue" Psalms 31:8
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” – Matthew 7:7-8
“You are the helper of the fatherless. Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear, to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, That the man of the earth may oppress no more.” – Psalms 10:14,17-18
“I prayed for this child, and the Lord had granted me what I asked of him.” – Samuel 1:27
"For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20