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
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