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.48Please respect copyright.PENANAEjPYRJt7bX
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”48Please respect copyright.PENANA0rbJyb7Ch1
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.48Please respect copyright.PENANA1XwT2gMmuz
“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.48Please respect copyright.PENANADzDZuabFCF
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.48Please respect copyright.PENANAgCRVaQJUu1
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,48Please respect copyright.PENANAWQJuLGU00W
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.48Please respect copyright.PENANAH2N8tiHsim
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.48Please respect copyright.PENANACJPjz7Dq3i
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.48Please respect copyright.PENANA5x4rLfc4L1
She had to report every penny.48Please respect copyright.PENANAuJVLAPaSDB
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.48Please respect copyright.PENANATk1MAHyz8A
They didn’t do it because it was easy.48Please respect copyright.PENANAsD90ROMiUL
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:48Please respect copyright.PENANATp1EnkzK8V
I had a home.48Please respect copyright.PENANAuiZR6dzChZ
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.48Please respect copyright.PENANA8bWPTwIaN6
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?48Please respect copyright.PENANAzP8zqHI5kv
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.48Please respect copyright.PENANA3YpYxsZcqk
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.48Please respect copyright.PENANA6e4i5KNFhT
The outside looked decent—almost classy.48Please respect copyright.PENANAxizinpzrVL
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.48Please respect copyright.PENANALi11pZAUHT
The bed sheets had holes in them.48Please respect copyright.PENANAUeD74ggzJ1
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.48Please respect copyright.PENANAZCSraAUsnL
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?48Please respect copyright.PENANAHEIwel1jRn
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.48Please respect copyright.PENANAazGSrjVld4
I had my stuffed animals.48Please respect copyright.PENANABO0GmLL6H3
And for the first time in a long while...48Please respect copyright.PENANApGtU4vYsWG
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.48Please respect copyright.PENANAgZwfFLE3tC
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,48Please respect copyright.PENANA5blPCX0ofN
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.48Please respect copyright.PENANACM9lxrtk5Z
But bitter?48Please respect copyright.PENANAUgfT2CkFXE
Twisted by anger?48Please respect copyright.PENANAjxhvUINOMx
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.48Please respect copyright.PENANADrJVp1sIZT
I don’t wonder. I understand.48Please respect copyright.PENANAlZQpXWIqfr
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.48Please respect copyright.PENANAW9dlYmvAYG
God saw me in my Egypt.48Please respect copyright.PENANA75kk7HV4KG
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.48Please respect copyright.PENANAQfKoYoavjk
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.48Please respect copyright.PENANALcISmeZ7RJ
Before I ever called His name.48Please respect copyright.PENANAbXMHT6a2TD
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.48Please respect copyright.PENANA9x6hqB121y
And that’s why I’m telling this story.48Please respect copyright.PENANAXdpc2Mv8Wa
Because I want someone reading this to realize:48Please respect copyright.PENANAYugrOaX3d5
He sees you too.48Please respect copyright.PENANA1qUlyJsx9s
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