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.60Please respect copyright.PENANAOgd2VdrJU9
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”60Please respect copyright.PENANA7O0ZucdGAO
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.60Please respect copyright.PENANAAC6oL2z9eI
“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.60Please respect copyright.PENANAdJbHlbLU3F
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.60Please respect copyright.PENANALgUmfL4FFO
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,60Please respect copyright.PENANAF9fORtqvDz
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.60Please respect copyright.PENANAf9N38C1Q1F
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.60Please respect copyright.PENANACe4tCXChL6
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.60Please respect copyright.PENANAFG5N6qQAsg
She had to report every penny.60Please respect copyright.PENANAAOMcnKuzwT
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.60Please respect copyright.PENANAfDQ0AhtIjz
They didn’t do it because it was easy.60Please respect copyright.PENANAanAdjccIUq
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:60Please respect copyright.PENANAnFLdHp0GN2
I had a home.60Please respect copyright.PENANA8MgsZmwEjZ
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.60Please respect copyright.PENANAj4KwlfE4tQ
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?60Please respect copyright.PENANA9rMZYhxraP
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.60Please respect copyright.PENANA7QGpLmenYA
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.60Please respect copyright.PENANAebnr7nCrXc
The outside looked decent—almost classy.60Please respect copyright.PENANAdD76E6T49w
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.60Please respect copyright.PENANADApDZdunc1
The bed sheets had holes in them.60Please respect copyright.PENANAR16zLJCpkM
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.60Please respect copyright.PENANACKB1OkEhDt
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?60Please respect copyright.PENANADnsLPpjYZW
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.60Please respect copyright.PENANAzpxKWpk0AV
I had my stuffed animals.60Please respect copyright.PENANAsDhbYMlJLf
And for the first time in a long while...60Please respect copyright.PENANAG1GSUJuzj2
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.60Please respect copyright.PENANAvrloVmIyj6
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,60Please respect copyright.PENANAhwzMw2UaVT
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.60Please respect copyright.PENANATXtpsNB9tb
But bitter?60Please respect copyright.PENANAuSojIosalY
Twisted by anger?60Please respect copyright.PENANAhFfsMv90QH
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.60Please respect copyright.PENANAmDtYipexWz
I don’t wonder. I understand.60Please respect copyright.PENANAQuhq5qYBWc
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.60Please respect copyright.PENANA2CK4QchEkp
God saw me in my Egypt.60Please respect copyright.PENANA59SB8tcQvX
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.60Please respect copyright.PENANA77AxIiJ2D6
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.60Please respect copyright.PENANAOvfTkipRcZ
Before I ever called His name.60Please respect copyright.PENANA2pHkDVwlCN
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.60Please respect copyright.PENANAGY2Iv54KIU
And that’s why I’m telling this story.60Please respect copyright.PENANA8zgwUbvnso
Because I want someone reading this to realize:60Please respect copyright.PENANAkUMXeJoFvX
He sees you too.60Please respect copyright.PENANANJKDkiRpDE
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