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.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaYdCiEfJ7D
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjJNJZR6dEN
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSCs25xhwpK
“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.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0inE3faLA1
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKqEniGVz6a
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf1XLUl57DI
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmcqkrvl9Ub
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.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZOkf1Wh5Q3
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.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDqmDwIbppK
She had to report every penny.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHoGb6o0Y1p
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbgV4WJ9W7a
They didn’t do it because it was easy.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYcDRljcwy
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZAiaT6z7g
I had a home.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSjEoSO2HhF
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCf4ZNJdsV3
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx0oIRchgRI
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSydbrYWOAB
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPOuDsouquf
The outside looked decent—almost classy.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS4VBtpOSKt
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbS5v3izfzh
The bed sheets had holes in them.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWik6Ev9d7o
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDMwW9GkFDu
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?149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzz1mOafT5f
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡch1owOjzy5
I had my stuffed animals.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhuHXmmKxUW
And for the first time in a long while...149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHjO9wPw5NO
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.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbu5uwzhxRU
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,149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu51QOs47gW
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡspyjUw8jFV
But bitter?149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7x4w2IwoyR
Twisted by anger?149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmLFYD9Za2s
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.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡljM1LvWF8M
I don’t wonder. I understand.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbi7JznxEl
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT1v7p7KSVb
God saw me in my Egypt.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqRGZ4JISXX
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8O8UC4NZNI
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡygwBx2DE9W
Before I ever called His name.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrBdgzX7YKd
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNHUtEEvFcg
And that’s why I’m telling this story.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrbatVyeUYf
Because I want someone reading this to realize:149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnS3jzHDSjF
He sees you too.149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡr3jXs01GEH
149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXW6TegwRTc
149Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSKzq2zsdEv
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