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.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJLcDFfjl1t
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡasPyLP3Xb8
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMx2PQ5bqGC
“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.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB6gXChBIu4
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNiwdxSv5QO
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2n52bFlaGa
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbJj4NKdRao
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.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgs5IRBCzz5
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.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQg5zyfTGsr
She had to report every penny.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9PsJr8nOZn
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbo166wE0vY
They didn’t do it because it was easy.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ3Ikv99Bfu
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqBkBW9oy8i
I had a home.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeVu5Dg1Yzb
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV1TcfOTO8x
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡO4kZOLAfl4
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl3PFbeqM8C
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS5yqWQZH73
The outside looked decent—almost classy.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1FnqNUm9A
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYeZXeUnLQi
The bed sheets had holes in them.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6CNDJrKmVS
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZZOzEk7kQz
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?150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtsrM13MC1K
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRHpEUvBL3k
I had my stuffed animals.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡji0tlJWTFr
And for the first time in a long while...150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYG5eaEBQ3l
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.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡl83jwaIa8b
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,150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡekNIM2bB8p
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ50D4gfIzPb
But bitter?150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYVwqrnMq3
Twisted by anger?150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpyJtKU3L6O
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.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx31kf5uvPM
I don’t wonder. I understand.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcgaJtOKYAx
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS7UkAkpPT2
God saw me in my Egypt.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDoGbinKqvO
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsxzBWJcQoB
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNRz5ClY4pC
Before I ever called His name.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxkJmCS7sLr
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyDvbAHPF8h
And that’s why I’m telling this story.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ765fCgsa62
Because I want someone reading this to realize:150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBUgU3vWM60
He sees you too.150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoBuIMn49rt
150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNiiwttY4uB
150Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQhatxsc2RA
and then Add to home screen.