SAN JOSE -- When Gloria Esther first heard the muffled cries coming from a duffel bag in Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, she couldn't have dreamed of how her life would change over the next year.

Gloria looked into the bag and found an hours-old infant boy, apparently abandoned by its mother. On Wednesday, Gloria and her husband, Rogelio, stood in front of family and friends at 8 a.m. mass at the same church for the baptism of the boy.

They stood there as the child's foster parents -- in the latter steps of an adoption process they hoped would be final by Valentine's Day.

"I'm a very, very happy," Gloria told KTVU in halting English. "He's a gift…He's a very good baby."

Gloria told the San Jose Mercury News that she had prayed to God to conceive a child, but she was not able to become pregnant.

Then on early on Jan. 31, 2006, Rogelio said goodbye to his wife and went to work at the church. At about 6:30, he noticed a black duffel bag. He looked inside and saw some old clothing.

So he thought he be nice to some of the homeless who live near the church and placed it outside for them to use.

Meanwhile, Gloria -- a volunteer worker at the church -- arrived to prepare the chapel for the 8 a.m. mass. A short time later, a homeless man alerted Rogelio to the child.

Gloria rushed outside to the duffel and found the baby inside.

Authorities took the child away and for six months it lived with a foster family in Gilroy. But Gloria and Rogelio refused to give up on their dream to adopt the child. Eventually, the boy was placed in their care as foster parents.

The deeply religious Gloria felt as if a miracle has taken place.

"Three years ago, I dreamed that the Virgin said, 'Don't worry, this is my son,' '' Gloria told the paper.