I have always wanted to go to Europe, particularly the Mediterranean. It has always been my dream ever since I was in high school. I would look at travel sites, read stories about other people’s travels, and just kept living my dream in my heart and thoughts.

My daughter was turning 18 in 2007, and she asked that instead of a debutante party, she wanted us to go on a trip with her. She wanted to go to Greece and I told her that it has always been one of my dream destinations. I just said ok, even knowing then that we did not have the money to travel that far.

We ended up going to southern Spain and mainland Greece during Christmas break in 2007. When we were about to land in Malaga, Spain, I was in tears as I realized then that one of my dreams was finally coming true. When we landed in Athens, I just felt like I was finally home. It was just probably the culmination of my dreams, but I felt like I belonged there, and on our last night, I didn’t want to leave. Looking back now, I still cannot believe that we have done it. We had a nice time in Spain and Greece and we often talk about the places we saw and the food we ate.

Ever since that trip, we’ve always wanted to go back to Europe. Last year, I made a vision board of all the places we want to visit, with a picture of a plane and a cruise ship, and in June this year, I wrote 2011 in the pictures of all the places that we wanted to visit.

Last May, my son had a health scare – a lump the size of a golf ball suddenly appeared on the left side of his neck. He hasn’t been sick or anything, but it just suddenly appeared out of nowhere. For a few weeks it was scary not knowing what it was, as even the doctors were bewildered by it.

I always go for walks, and one day, before the test results came out, I went out to clear my head and free myself of the distressing thoughts going through my mind. On this walk, I intentionally asked God to give me a sign that the test results would be negative. I asked that he would send a bird, and not just like the ones we usually see in spring, but one that I haven’t seen before. I set out on my walk trying not to think of my son’s medical situation. I turned my gaze to my left and out of nowhere, I saw a bird that I haven’t seen before fly across and then perch on top of the chain link fence. I gave my thanks to God and then immediately second guessed myself and asked, “Could that have been the sign I asked for?”

As I turned on a corner street, I saw two more birds on the lawn that had the most unusual colours. I was in tears by then as I finally realized that God has not just given me one but three signs, and I thought that they represented, “Father, Son and Holy Spirit”. I gave my thanks again and continued my walk keeping the faith that all will be well.

Thankfully, the biopsy results indeed came back negative. My son still went back for appointments with the specialist and was told once that if the swelling does not go down, they will have to operate on it. I prayed once again, that the swelling would go away.

During this time, my dear friend gave me a bottle containing holy water from Lourdes, France, and made in the image of our Lady. She told me to apply it on the spot and pray that she watch over my son. I did this every night before his next appointment with the specialist and asked that the swelling go down so they don’t have to operate on it. Guess what? The swelling went down a bit before his next appointment and when he went back, the doctor said that they will not operate, but will have to come back again in two months just to make sure. I gave thanks to our Lady and asked that she give us an opportunity to be able to travel to Lourdes to give thanks to her personally. I did not know how it would happen, but just asked for that.

My husband and I were talking one day about giving thanks to my son’s improved medical situation. I told him that I had asked our Lady for the chance to travel to Lourdes to give thanks to her personally. He said he wished we can do that in the near future. Some years back, he told me that he made a pledge to our Lady that he will travel to Lourdes to give thanks for giving him another lease in life after having an asthma attack that almost took his life. It had almost always been a dream before, but now I am happy to let you know that our Lady has indeed given us what we have asked for. We are travelling to France in July 2011 and have booked our hotel (only a few hours away from Lourdes). Also, it has been our dream to go on a Mediterranean cruise as a family. We got a good deal in 2009 from a resort company and we had to take the cruise within two years. For the last six months or so, I have been writing in my journal every day, “Thank you for our Mediterranean cruise in 2011,” even though I didn’t have a clue about how we were going to do it.

On September 3, I decided that day, that instead of thanking for our cruise I decided to write: “Thank you. We have booked our Mediterranean Cruise in July 2011,” and wrote down the ports we were going to visit. Guess what? We booked our cruise on September 6, the day after we booked our hotel in France.

I do believe in miracles!