MOM JUST WANTS KIDS BACK FOR CHRISTMAS

Some Christmas Stories Aren't The Stuff of Hallmark Cards.

They're tough and gritty and involve poor choices and struggle to change.

They take place not in a gilded church sanctuary, but in a place
closer to a cold, smelly stable.

They're about second chances, which some would say is, after all,
the real meaning of Christmas.

Patti Gurule found her life spiraling out of control. She got mixed
up in drugs, separated from her husband, lost custody of her three children.

"She had to hit bottom," said her mother, Tootie Weaver. "Then she
came to us for help."

Such, Gurule said, is the nature of addiction.

Thanks to Quest Recovery Services, Gurule has been drug-free for
more than six months.

She's ready to make a fresh start. More than anything, she wants her
children back.

"They only thing the kids say they want for Christmas is to be back
home with their mom," Weaver said.

Since February, Gurule's children -- a 17-year-old with her own
3-month-old baby, a 14-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy -- have
been living with an aunt and an uncle who have temporary custody.
Gurule lives with her mother, works two jobs and continues to attend
Quest classes several days a week.

She's paid up all her bills and saved enough money to rent a home on
Massillon's northeast side and buy groceries. A final obstacle to
the return of her children Dec. 20 -- the lack of a stove, a
refrigerator and beds.

The family's old belongings were stored in a friend's basement which
flooded. The cheapest they've found the items now is $250 apiece, a
pricetag that keeps the necessities on their wishlist.

"We're trying desperately to make this happen," Weaver said. "We all
want the same thing. We want them back home together."

The entire family has been through a long, rough journey.

"You have no idea the heartbreak, the sleepless nights, the days
spent not knowing what to do to help," Weaver said. "It's been very,
very hard on everyone."

Weaver is, however, proud of her youngest daughter for taking the
responsibility for turning her life around.

"She's done extremely well," she said. "She's willing to do anything
to get her children back."

Even if everyone else, including her children, have worries about a
relapse, Gurule doesn't.

"I have no doubts," she said, her voice hard-edged with resolve.
"Not anymore."

She has a motivation like the one that long ago drove a woman
determined to make a home for her newborn, a woman who made the best
of a barn.

Being reunited with her children "means everything to me," Gurule
said. "It's the best Christmas gift I could ever have.