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.37Please respect copyright.PENANAJUqzVbWKRo
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”37Please respect copyright.PENANA5j0cdO87l2
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.37Please respect copyright.PENANAagDXF1RyiX
“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.37Please respect copyright.PENANAv5fQfF2KmY
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.37Please respect copyright.PENANAGqW2FDMJDI
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,37Please respect copyright.PENANAK7kCXEU9vf
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.37Please respect copyright.PENANAblFDNQgU2P
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.37Please respect copyright.PENANAeXflZTYQyk
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.37Please respect copyright.PENANAaw9b7Aj0m5
She had to report every penny.37Please respect copyright.PENANA5wDk3Lha59
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.37Please respect copyright.PENANAlGrF6ZxU8v
They didn’t do it because it was easy.37Please respect copyright.PENANATsBnjFmwMr
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:37Please respect copyright.PENANA0W3muh41RT
I had a home.37Please respect copyright.PENANAzl1AXHeRop
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.37Please respect copyright.PENANAN8C5Xk9e0R
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?37Please respect copyright.PENANALSDfNATAjd
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.37Please respect copyright.PENANAPJVj0JJ1mm
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.37Please respect copyright.PENANAa8piq7kQnB
The outside looked decent—almost classy.37Please respect copyright.PENANATaok2J5VLB
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.37Please respect copyright.PENANAE2MNTk8Mkg
The bed sheets had holes in them.37Please respect copyright.PENANAt4ubxU9JPf
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.37Please respect copyright.PENANAf6dfezdjFG
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?37Please respect copyright.PENANAKmN24fI39A
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.37Please respect copyright.PENANAu64J7dPAY3
I had my stuffed animals.37Please respect copyright.PENANAkR9G2WbTFt
And for the first time in a long while...37Please respect copyright.PENANAI1FkoLOLhZ
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.37Please respect copyright.PENANAsGzVFmzl0O
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,37Please respect copyright.PENANAyaqb137oVH
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.37Please respect copyright.PENANA82sYgxO4rP
But bitter?37Please respect copyright.PENANAGUgcFH0xC3
Twisted by anger?37Please respect copyright.PENANAt8kezLHrJn
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.37Please respect copyright.PENANAgRNnLZDkIC
I don’t wonder. I understand.37Please respect copyright.PENANA3TjxZ3R1AU
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.37Please respect copyright.PENANAAc0s30EZQ6
God saw me in my Egypt.37Please respect copyright.PENANAsO1Kriwi4Z
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.37Please respect copyright.PENANAMCw5ckQeyj
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.37Please respect copyright.PENANAfxX0i2ONHv
Before I ever called His name.37Please respect copyright.PENANAuslmGFI9FA
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.37Please respect copyright.PENANAneG5Ixu7aP
And that’s why I’m telling this story.37Please respect copyright.PENANAMRxHpK68Hc
Because I want someone reading this to realize:37Please respect copyright.PENANAXIrUngtGt0
He sees you too.37Please respect copyright.PENANAyIbNJyLHg7
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