Grandma Lou and Grandpa Ron Enter the Scene
Years later, my grandma told me about the phone call that changed everything.
It came from my dad’s commanding officer.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIFmAzcu6lc
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnCbAsuIf8m
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGHXQYZf8HM
“With his weak immune system and his blindness... he’s going to be picked on for the rest of his life.”
That’s what she was told.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCtHmNVBZfe
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ393eOSy39r
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFye0AMTR0u
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhr7PC5RKAI
That’s not really “grandparent age.” They were still young, still building their own life. But they didn’t hesitate. They didn’t ask, Can we afford this? or What will people say? They didn’t treat me like a burden.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFJfAaO0weC
They treated me like family.
They drove down, picked me up, and brought me home.
The courts officially gave me to them. Grandma Lou had to keep track of how much money she spent on me each month—diapers, clothes, food, medicine—everything.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ78dQP2Yrn
She had to report every penny.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVa9uYRmoYh
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJs9FrX1Sfh
They didn’t do it because it was easy.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWQW2MtdhP9
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1NO5SautjT
I had a home.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTnIVmiSjTC
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQB5w6aFJe
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvlnwMowTlF
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmu1GkZXJwT
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZRXz2w20K
The outside looked decent—almost classy.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSBqdpHhVE3
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ69cNvImS1S
The bed sheets had holes in them.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡquWTRUFrr7
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFDbaxdkNKg
It was the kind of place where you don’t take your shoes off—and if you do, you say a prayer first.
But to me?152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSsordQjiMH
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jUzQ3QTIP
I had my stuffed animals.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjKVP4hac2b
And for the first time in a long while...152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ZEGw9vUN4
I had people who actually wanted me.
Even in a crummy hotel room in Kentucky, surrounded by threadbare blankets and cheap carpet, I was beginning to feel something that almost felt like peace.
It wouldn’t come all at once.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt5ksD32Zmk
But this—this was the start.
Looking back now, I realize something important:
If God hadn’t been protecting me before I even knew His name,152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEepVUkHIpM
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6V0tqJJgLc
But bitter?152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFneSMZJqg4
Twisted by anger?152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbAeJ9mDWl8
Eaten up by loneliness and pain?
Yeah. I could’ve gone down that road.
Some folks look at villains in shows and wonder how they got so messed up.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtVUtlSwZYQ
I don’t wonder. I understand.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS6wZTkWhq3
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡONF2DgoNls
God saw me in my Egypt.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMHTCtkYy6r
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ513pfxNoVr
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvDCeTBhP1
Before I ever called His name.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1nnXoKEbxe
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEZCoi6mlgt
And that’s why I’m telling this story.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡomXw0DM8xF
Because I want someone reading this to realize:152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr2R7YnM03a
He sees you too.152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRJCG32MYtt
152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoIZimj2YIy
152Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtc0EFLy4Rb
and then Add to home screen.