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.29Please respect copyright.PENANAjWBUQYv7JL
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”29Please respect copyright.PENANAKTChfDutVs
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.29Please respect copyright.PENANAMApwwOfvnG
“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.29Please respect copyright.PENANAdYcYrTmImK
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.29Please respect copyright.PENANAyrH1xFDLxI
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,29Please respect copyright.PENANAnVsavy20dU
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.29Please respect copyright.PENANAdcN4sgKSrg
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.29Please respect copyright.PENANAQel0UFZRnc
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.29Please respect copyright.PENANAQRG0r4RewA
She had to report every penny.29Please respect copyright.PENANAuctePA26Qu
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.29Please respect copyright.PENANA8IxgexQEoT
They didn’t do it because it was easy.29Please respect copyright.PENANAWPFaCjAPQm
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:29Please respect copyright.PENANApqsr3eBoOZ
I had a home.29Please respect copyright.PENANAowrnJVajgF
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.29Please respect copyright.PENANAdsEpFbNW9T
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?29Please respect copyright.PENANAWaaxybajRY
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.29Please respect copyright.PENANAcfS7CvuIii
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.29Please respect copyright.PENANAEdrV7cJ5Tr
The outside looked decent—almost classy.29Please respect copyright.PENANA6fy9Cr3YP2
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.29Please respect copyright.PENANAsKevMxv5h9
The bed sheets had holes in them.29Please respect copyright.PENANAzVrqRe7mJf
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.29Please respect copyright.PENANA95KpxRKYyO
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?29Please respect copyright.PENANA25RqHKASAC
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.29Please respect copyright.PENANAjxLLarwgJr
I had my stuffed animals.29Please respect copyright.PENANAiSC0waUVSL
And for the first time in a long while...29Please respect copyright.PENANARUGLld2Twh
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.29Please respect copyright.PENANAYItx1jJ2fD
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,29Please respect copyright.PENANAUTKXYiE49R
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.29Please respect copyright.PENANAujd37OW5CK
But bitter?29Please respect copyright.PENANA88BDaLXgTa
Twisted by anger?29Please respect copyright.PENANAAbVGfDKker
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.29Please respect copyright.PENANAbJM16DhFgX
I don’t wonder. I understand.29Please respect copyright.PENANAs9LaiWi6A2
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.29Please respect copyright.PENANAgeaKZD14FR
God saw me in my Egypt.29Please respect copyright.PENANABkqfXyvPle
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.29Please respect copyright.PENANA1PQzSfBhDA
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.29Please respect copyright.PENANAzcV8lw7qoX
Before I ever called His name.29Please respect copyright.PENANAMmmb7pZOYB
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.29Please respect copyright.PENANASI2WBnG2zU
And that’s why I’m telling this story.29Please respect copyright.PENANAQetUUOlO0T
Because I want someone reading this to realize:29Please respect copyright.PENANArIKzGYh9g6
He sees you too.29Please respect copyright.PENANAp8310PR3PA
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