Mathew 7:7  “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

Tomorrow is December 10th.. To most people it’s just another day in December. But to me, this day is special. This is the true story, of the true miracle, that happened on S. Manor Avenue in Kingston on December 10th, 2013. My Christmas Miracle

I had returned home from the courthouse after two grueling days in my divorce trial. When I left my husband I had moved into the house next door that we owned together. It is a two family house, each apartment has two bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room/dining room and bathroom. The house was completely renovated and rather cute. The trial experience was awful. In my husband’s attempt to get full custody of our children, his attorney went on and on about how terrible it is for my children to have to suffer in a two bedroom apartment. Why in the world should they have to live like this when right next door their father has a three story Victorian house with 9 rooms to roam… an in the ground pool…  a beautiful dog .. where the sun was always shining…the birds were always singing… At my apartment they had to share a bedroom, share a television, spend time in close quarters, and they only had one bathroom. What can i say, it was all true. But I really didn’t know that my apartment was something to be ashamed of until it was pointed out to me in court. We were fine. We had a clean place to live, no lack of food, and the kids never complained.  I left the courthouse that day and I was beyond upset. I really thought I might lose my children simply because I couldn’t provide them with a larger house.

It had been snowing for two days. The kids had another snow day and were waiting for me when I got home. I made dinner and we all sat together to eat. At my house we all have dinner together. It’s something I think is very important. They don’t do that at their father’s house. I remember thinking that I should have said that in court, I hadn’t, and it was too late. After dinner I called Egidio to tell him how it went. It didn’t go well and talking about it made me very upset. I didn’t want the kids to see me cry so I went outside to shovel snow. It was like a blizzard out there. Egidio had worked late and when he left HQ he drove the streets of ward 6 looking for houses that had “for rent” signs on them. I was the Alderman in Ward 6 at the time, therefore I had to live in the ward. I was shoveling the sidewalk, and the tears were running right off my face. This is the God’s honest truth… I stopped shoveling and I said the words out loud “Please God, help me keep my children”. I stood there for a few minutes trying to gain my composure. I looked down the street and saw my friend John’s house. John Burridge lived three houses away and he had been my friend for many many years. He was the Chairman of the Conservative Party in the City of Kingston and was very active in local politics. He had worked on my campaign and throughout the years he became a very close friend. We watched out for eachother. He knew I lived alone and would check on me from time to time. If there were strangers on my porch he would come down to make sure I was okay. I helped him in his yard several times and when he was sick I would cook for him. That day, I knew that John wasn’t well, so I walked down to shovel his sidewalk and steps. As I finished up, his front door opened and he stepped out onto the porch. He said thank you for shoveling, and that he had been meaning to come see me, but he was putting it off. He told me that the heart surgery he had in September hadn’t gone well, and that his heart was failing. He wasn’t able to live alone anymore and would be moving into his daughter’s house up north. Then he said He hadn’t been able to pay the taxes on his house and that the city was going to take it on the 31st. He said if I was interested in the house that I should call him in the morning. He said his daughters didn’t want the house, and if I paid the back taxes he would sign it over to me.

The next 14 days were a blurr. We had trips to the lawyer, the bank, the title company, back to the lawyer… And on Christmas eve, the house was legally mine.

I went to Target and bought the last Christmas tree they had. Egidio and I put the tree up in my new living room and we decorated it. It was the only thing in the house.

I hadn’t told my children about the house. If it didn’t come together, I didn’t want them to be disappointed. On Christmas day, my kids woke up at their father’s house and spent the morning with him. At 2:00pm they came over and we opened up the presents under the tree in my apartment. When everything was opened I said…”Wait, something is missing… everyone get your shoes on we have to go down to John’s house. There is something there for us”.They took turns guessing what it could be as we walked three houses down..  No one guessed it right… They were speechless.

In the weeks that followed we visited John a couple of times at his daughter’s house. We brought pictures of the changes we made in the house. we talked about the new paint colors, the new kitchen cabinets and of course Kingston politics. John left a small stained glass ornament on his front door when he moved out. It says “with God, all things are possible”. I kept that on my front door the entire time we lived in the house and It came with us to the farm. It’s something I will keep for the rest of my life.

John died a few months later. I will never forget that day in December. I know some people don’t believe in miracles. Some people don’t believe in God. I know better… With God all things are possible.