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.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk9XAXk17Nt
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEigHIzBIxN
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡETay6VfTsY
“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.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEjqbfZTcJQ
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJu81ibNGQ2
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeoLYGItRqZ
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL7R1tO1Izx
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.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY70zC8VQOo
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.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJBb505xGsQ
She had to report every penny.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeNaQqxWB6z
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWltK6RX8GI
They didn’t do it because it was easy.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL7F5bRzEsH
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzYcG4c71JF
I had a home.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwboQFis8Nd
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXYD5uvgGje
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBOgxXLEesW
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOOTtLao2VX
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMhgsaWZfxb
The outside looked decent—almost classy.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnHELeHtub1
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFoa2OQaMOW
The bed sheets had holes in them.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4A7TJjYSyC
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ0SHDe59lu
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?141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMmgXind6ZD
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiOIeoTBxiH
I had my stuffed animals.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaV0WtLWPIS
And for the first time in a long while...141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWyv8aD1TlU
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.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZggcWsME9
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,141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqJEQ0WQGUN
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hVyyeXiCo
But bitter?141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTBg82F3Orf
Twisted by anger?141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrt6DdIuNTA
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.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEWId7zng8V
I don’t wonder. I understand.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡimy1e7zxyy
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ97XvPr0bqU
God saw me in my Egypt.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs9bKQEXs2T
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5FQaChPJCV
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe3mbC4hhj0
Before I ever called His name.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpLcsH8kUEz
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrAcV9envdP
And that’s why I’m telling this story.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYBbwERHIDX
Because I want someone reading this to realize:141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHTISxLDr8
He sees you too.141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCLgE7k9mrX
141Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4oXJsmofY3
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and then Add to home screen.