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.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxvukt8cbcF
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOdnaSYrcx5
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbitbtFW0vu
“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.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfEwyP9E8zZ
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIC1irnUgsJ
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDmLqVGoM99
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzMEpCiHqLm
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.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNIsnv7AYeB
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.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9K5kr9T1c3
She had to report every penny.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN89euAQ5D4
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNMB116egcP
They didn’t do it because it was easy.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlUX2mYulUF
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSBQL5cQ4aC
I had a home.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsCboKv6sUo
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9IKoSKErod
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkrdmVkK7yT
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTagFX0gwNm
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLAt6hwkFA8
The outside looked decent—almost classy.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI1TimhO2WC
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojb2eWCxyM
The bed sheets had holes in them.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmHkP6f6YDb
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcn4tqHPBmk
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?67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7rZqlGItDz
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIBU5zkvx5R
I had my stuffed animals.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2jmLkVJaY3
And for the first time in a long while...67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn3sy8NpkDu
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.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwKMM34EzOH
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,67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbRYVucJJug
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhuRYP7kkRi
But bitter?67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoMBHh0QamU
Twisted by anger?67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaH54sYFLBv
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.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqcgv8xa3a
I don’t wonder. I understand.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡztnl8fcmFk
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbY683FzfPt
God saw me in my Egypt.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSlKYtzyt2H
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoEf7FdRbuo
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFnD4QTZlG1
Before I ever called His name.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojiLxH1DLl
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCzmr5a1K8P
And that’s why I’m telling this story.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFw7LDS7ezW
Because I want someone reading this to realize:67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi25yBo0awr
He sees you too.67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9HnJ6bCjtW
67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeK4SdNTlU3
67Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsha4bU1ngZ
然後按「加至主畫面」