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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnRaHRO8Nt
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbAw9dmeqCX
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCOl7X2CN0S
“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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQyfaKOS0tF
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfH8kzb0p8u
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB57VoXJHTg
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbWygwmMZx
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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡc4KXBOKIIL
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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ78NFxtpBEn
She had to report every penny.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxGoGlDnGtC
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwT3QeFk8Q6
They didn’t do it because it was easy.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡivevcahNIO
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbrdLxkiaGa
I had a home.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyx6NyZIOZO
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC3dlYRDOPe
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBd0elD1XWa
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡawwRX9tmvA
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV9I67JwdXx
The outside looked decent—almost classy.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLLMhO9fU7Q
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwt2BFTpsxY
The bed sheets had holes in them.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhygVs6QBnP
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHI29tBUbN
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?113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsByZYPREOJ
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCzXrbaAyzq
I had my stuffed animals.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQFoRL0GHwn
And for the first time in a long while...113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTc3tZubMck
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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8aiH53mdyL
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,113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ8lSWp6SOv
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGtkDt6z4Iw
But bitter?113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBkZGvd216A
Twisted by anger?113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡewazIPHs63
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.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3aXzaHDCob
I don’t wonder. I understand.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZUqG3qabzJ
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSQLVafGwBR
God saw me in my Egypt.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡckR0n1seWj
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEcFYMGa0Gl
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCOhaM56kcd
Before I ever called His name.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfLLYnrbQKK
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ45vRooqLm
And that’s why I’m telling this story.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzTI6bei2cq
Because I want someone reading this to realize:113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh2mSwl5TfW
He sees you too.113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRotpexmqrM
113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2x5VqZVRrl
113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZf0BFavJ3W
and then Add to home screen.