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.56Please respect copyright.PENANAlMaOQjl9lu
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”56Please respect copyright.PENANAvOM9ylnPU7
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.56Please respect copyright.PENANAVZFZKTSp2d
“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.56Please respect copyright.PENANAzrzFS6GsQf
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.56Please respect copyright.PENANAcCrCTLpJ3L
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,56Please respect copyright.PENANASSUwiJJoWZ
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.56Please respect copyright.PENANAwCwyOfvcMF
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.56Please respect copyright.PENANAVec3VyPmFN
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.56Please respect copyright.PENANAEdkjYrkg6f
She had to report every penny.56Please respect copyright.PENANAw54uccEsQu
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.56Please respect copyright.PENANAutScCMrnqJ
They didn’t do it because it was easy.56Please respect copyright.PENANAxGIghk4rIF
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:56Please respect copyright.PENANAiETe8bzj8n
I had a home.56Please respect copyright.PENANABSKpxugi8L
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.56Please respect copyright.PENANApU3E0wANKs
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?56Please respect copyright.PENANA786BQWZrVj
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.56Please respect copyright.PENANAeImE8qkcp9
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.56Please respect copyright.PENANApvL8WZkVGB
The outside looked decent—almost classy.56Please respect copyright.PENANAV7u2d6pqZx
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.56Please respect copyright.PENANAzMrtfwj1AV
The bed sheets had holes in them.56Please respect copyright.PENANASFU7a6qQpk
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.56Please respect copyright.PENANAnTsPyBmpqz
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?56Please respect copyright.PENANAXwxkOrp4fl
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.56Please respect copyright.PENANAxF1ZGTFFkE
I had my stuffed animals.56Please respect copyright.PENANApRf1JfCQ0S
And for the first time in a long while...56Please respect copyright.PENANA8DcjBXTibH
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.56Please respect copyright.PENANAnvts3txLtT
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,56Please respect copyright.PENANAar5hqgCSNZ
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.56Please respect copyright.PENANA93nWjt44D3
But bitter?56Please respect copyright.PENANAc6oo4r4qCK
Twisted by anger?56Please respect copyright.PENANA7R3irDfNlk
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.56Please respect copyright.PENANA3ciQPdohcx
I don’t wonder. I understand.56Please respect copyright.PENANAWNh30urMei
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.56Please respect copyright.PENANAMiRbm6ACMg
God saw me in my Egypt.56Please respect copyright.PENANAD1VFsmgc7v
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.56Please respect copyright.PENANA8qpeLm5gwn
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.56Please respect copyright.PENANALhLvCjL5pf
Before I ever called His name.56Please respect copyright.PENANA7S1OewtAnN
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.56Please respect copyright.PENANA7C1jIIlOhD
And that’s why I’m telling this story.56Please respect copyright.PENANAeQ9yQ5p4Qp
Because I want someone reading this to realize:56Please respect copyright.PENANAsQ50A90XYS
He sees you too.56Please respect copyright.PENANAbt2Ks9hO8s
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