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.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7pWQDjbZj1
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3hKGMIDwqd
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEtws3Iz0rc
“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.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7xzTCzoZhf
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbpHCpq0vid
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFBWXQT7CDK
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc6o8KkrrAM
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.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GZo1nDQF6
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.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ05fDiVS7Af
She had to report every penny.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7PcjYGgv8x
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWhsRwT77ZA
They didn’t do it because it was easy.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtXR8cI8wfZ
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVpLviOMjbJ
I had a home.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ95XBLbSeWX
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7xjynzaQB4
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6EFEzThgFy
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcrgBDEWh7s
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcMQa0DWRh8
The outside looked decent—almost classy.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn7CFncPD8E
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2EvGTtzHgx
The bed sheets had holes in them.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1pkVYYf10c
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnHUElyscUa
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?93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUeTk075ri0
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjsTd5EdwGt
I had my stuffed animals.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvNCfOfGTJD
And for the first time in a long while...93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnGB1srypah
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.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUxzdLeIRyD
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,93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27JXjWfS0Q
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfjt7QckBaV
But bitter?93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqsWgwwPTMz
Twisted by anger?93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTHoGPRQB2m
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.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkJIXUqdNmS
I don’t wonder. I understand.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTKk9p2NWAI
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBInWLUFRHx
God saw me in my Egypt.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRdQ7fMPzrN
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt7zbsMDu2Y
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlHTtXA4Fc
Before I ever called His name.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfT5CCI7RH5
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAhoOChZMQ6
And that’s why I’m telling this story.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmjOWxvdTU
Because I want someone reading this to realize:93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27SylpMNsX
He sees you too.93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp4uowLiMtU
93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKzQcJ65qwi
93Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ71gOWWs9fI
and then Add to home screen.