Disney dreams for family of 12
BY JENNIFER MOONEY PIEDRA
JMOONEY@MIAMIHERALD.COM
When Daily and Sergio Martinez went on their first date as teenagers, they talked about a subject taboo to most young couples.
”I asked him how he felt about adoption,” Daily recalled. “I knew then I always wanted to adopt and have a big family.”
Now, 23 years later, the couple has just that. Ten children — two biological and eight adopted — call them Mom and Dad.
The oldest is 22, a biomedical engineering student at Florida International University. The youngest is 2, in diapers and accustomed to spending each night in his parents’ bed.
The newest additions — Chris, 15, and his brother, Isaac, 13 — were adopted last month and feel blessed to be a part of a loving family.
Life for them has not been easy.
Their biological mother abandoned them twice. They were adopted by a couple who abused and neglected them. They spent many nights locked outside of their home, with no food and only the ground to sleep on. They were called ‘’stupid,” deprived of hugs and kisses and forced to watch their toys be destroyed with a sledgehammer.
Five of their other children were born to the same mother, an alcoholic and drug abuser who used cocaine and marijuana while pregnant.
The Martinezes feel blessed to open their hearts and their doors to so many children.
Besides Chris and Isaac, there is Sergio Jr., 22, Pablo, 16, Alexandria, 11, Rebekah, 10, Victoria, 8, Joshua, 6, Briana, 5, and Matthieu, 2.
”Our joy, our happiness is the kids,” said Sergio Martinez, 42.
“I wouldn’t trade my life for anything.”
But financially, it isn’t easy supporting a family of 12.
FINANCIAL BURDEN
Feeding the clan costs an average of $600 a week — and that’s taking advantage of coupons and in-store specials. A breakfast of scrambled eggs for everyone requires at least three dozen eggs.
The family dines out once a week on Thursdays, when the children can eat free at Piccadilly cafeteria.
With day-care costs out of reach, the two youngest stay home with Dad, who owns his own business breeding birds. Daily, 41, works as an executive assistant at VITAS Hospice in downtown Miami.
The family — nominated for Wish Book by the Voices for Children Foundation — shares one outdated computer, which has cords running through a hallway from one room to another. Having additional computers for homework and papers would be nice.
GOING AWAY
But their Wish Book request for the holiday is to do something they have never done as a family: Go on a vacation together.
They dream of traveling to Orlando and spending time at the theme parks — especially Universal Studios.
Sergio and Daily wish they could take their children, but cannot afford the travel expenses, including hotel rooms, food and park tickets.
”There’s so many of us,” Daily said. “It’s been hard, impossible, for us to do.”
For Chris, the trip would be especially meaningful.
In his previous home, he was excluded from most family vacations. His adoptive parents would admit him into a group home while they went out-of-town.
”They wouldn’t let me go on trips,” he said. “I missed the vacations.”
But now, he wants to celebrate his new life with his new family.
”It would be a new experience,” he said. “We could go on roller coasters and water rides.”
Chris wasn’t always such a happy kid.
He and his biological brother, Isaac, spent nine years living with a family in Country Club of Miami.
The two were mistreated, neglected, unloved.
Last year, the boys were turned over to His House Children’s Home, a Miami Gardens facility that provides neglected children with a home-like environment.
It was there they met the Martinezes.
”When I saw them, I wished those were my parents,” Chris said.
Daily and Sergio — and the rest of their kids — were equally as fond of Chris and Isaac.
In August, the two boys moved into the family’s West Miami-Dade home. On Nov. 15, National Adoption Day, they became Martinezes.
It was a dream-come-true for the boys. They had their own beds, clothes and home-cooked meals.
They also got a a gift even more precious.
”I love being part of such a big family,” Isaac said. “My mom and dad changed our lives.”
