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.44Please respect copyright.PENANA8SMVKQKJFD
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”44Please respect copyright.PENANAjfWDrxql6O
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.44Please respect copyright.PENANAGyBIxYQGwo
“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.44Please respect copyright.PENANAyT77BXqHxR
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.44Please respect copyright.PENANAcUOQsGDCQW
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,44Please respect copyright.PENANA01WoAb2HVj
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.44Please respect copyright.PENANAtKwT9DaWRS
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.44Please respect copyright.PENANA5zp9fdN4jU
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.44Please respect copyright.PENANABoWVjLKDJ8
She had to report every penny.44Please respect copyright.PENANAAlJNddjbxB
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.44Please respect copyright.PENANANJB5uoBIPN
They didn’t do it because it was easy.44Please respect copyright.PENANA3fr7yQnUpW
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:44Please respect copyright.PENANAx1POt7QY5b
I had a home.44Please respect copyright.PENANAiMzwkrUYTo
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.44Please respect copyright.PENANAZvKTDN9F4V
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?44Please respect copyright.PENANAl7uaOgeuWu
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.44Please respect copyright.PENANAguRN60QySZ
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.44Please respect copyright.PENANAeO5SfAoZZw
The outside looked decent—almost classy.44Please respect copyright.PENANAs8FcC0SkG4
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.44Please respect copyright.PENANA6mnCv8LDqH
The bed sheets had holes in them.44Please respect copyright.PENANABxlRZDZ9pD
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.44Please respect copyright.PENANAV02R0V4tLY
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?44Please respect copyright.PENANAfKMNe32DuQ
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.44Please respect copyright.PENANAuYssI0h0Ta
I had my stuffed animals.44Please respect copyright.PENANAV6SuJJDc1Z
And for the first time in a long while...44Please respect copyright.PENANAc5Zwkll5YS
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.44Please respect copyright.PENANA1Fj0uEDpOt
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,44Please respect copyright.PENANACHFpeALXh0
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.44Please respect copyright.PENANAqwXqzqAamd
But bitter?44Please respect copyright.PENANAaLIO9RS10Q
Twisted by anger?44Please respect copyright.PENANApFOKQvnocs
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.44Please respect copyright.PENANAv9orKWmYg9
I don’t wonder. I understand.44Please respect copyright.PENANA2VVITEpJds
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.44Please respect copyright.PENANAEGiWuciCDx
God saw me in my Egypt.44Please respect copyright.PENANAZAy3ditxIo
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.44Please respect copyright.PENANAFEVknGiNWa
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.44Please respect copyright.PENANAWxEl4fCFGS
Before I ever called His name.44Please respect copyright.PENANAcKwiCrzxic
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.44Please respect copyright.PENANAo5E0Faoutp
And that’s why I’m telling this story.44Please respect copyright.PENANAAL2itrTtKo
Because I want someone reading this to realize:44Please respect copyright.PENANAWZMZSgRvwN
He sees you too.44Please respect copyright.PENANAs7PB1mReMR
44Please respect copyright.PENANAXad3Y5QJTh
44Please respect copyright.PENANAmLORmVbeSi