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.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC2YU9Xdm3R
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9nDA41FIq8
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ggH3rmN1k
“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.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXKYEmtnRQV
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPS9xdojm5r
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbJ74PfAQgR
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmuUkXP88g7
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.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhuLoYdj2Ib
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.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ76Yv65ZcHy
She had to report every penny.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJmulkBGCy
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwv1RAUfeRB
They didn’t do it because it was easy.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnznXH7VzYK
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdT4Nv29BhT
I had a home.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrFW1ODGn90
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlFZO6BfWNv
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0dik89BiZr
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiBQ1WCFuH8
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4ZHKc4xaRo
The outside looked decent—almost classy.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgbOZ1JWC9h
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN1lIXK0Glj
The bed sheets had holes in them.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGrj9jl9dzJ
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC7pXxlP52g
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?80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ1sUA2u8yt
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJoseZmQaDk
I had my stuffed animals.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAo2OMuL93n
And for the first time in a long while...80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6nEycU53p0
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.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaaKlAYnyPy
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,80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs6dvSQTd2t
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdQlhFC37nP
But bitter?80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ622Gau2wQy
Twisted by anger?80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKRs5Zjl7df
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.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3Y7sJupWjc
I don’t wonder. I understand.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLpPm32PDfu
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKcPCMuB3m3
God saw me in my Egypt.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOioCFCGOM8
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGBnNfTctaI
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm18YiCKYfK
Before I ever called His name.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyLA2EZCv5Q
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhb064e3Snv
And that’s why I’m telling this story.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYQcnnc06IS
Because I want someone reading this to realize:80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4qTn1vOYUE
He sees you too.80Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUgZ6B8TuyA
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and then Add to home screen.