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.60Please respect copyright.PENANA9m61eCWzfr
“Ma’am,” he said, “if you don’t come get him... that boy’s going to die in an orphanage.”60Please respect copyright.PENANAd1UdpklQ16
No sugarcoating. Just the truth.60Please respect copyright.PENANAbUtmFkYczy
“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.60Please respect copyright.PENANAyYzmrLnMQ8
And that’s when something in her heart said, Go.
She turned to my grandpa and asked what they should do.60Please respect copyright.PENANAS0YvuF2Q4E
Grandpa Ron—calm as ever—just said,60Please respect copyright.PENANAN0sGUboLbb
“Let’s go get that little boy.”
Now here’s the thing: they were 39 at the time.60Please respect copyright.PENANAdX0ADWUYSD
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.60Please respect copyright.PENANAQSfdlTRMln
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.60Please respect copyright.PENANAK1nqaUH3KL
She had to report every penny.60Please respect copyright.PENANAtCMbMBFeZl
But she never made me feel like I had a price tag.
They didn’t rescue me for applause.60Please respect copyright.PENANAvkxQgi8Z6n
They didn’t do it because it was easy.60Please respect copyright.PENANAbyDGk1t4Oq
They did it because it was right.
And from that moment on, I had something I hadn’t known before:60Please respect copyright.PENANAJG5hS6YhwU
I had a home.60Please respect copyright.PENANAkNbY1h88K0
We made it as far as Kentucky before we stopped for the night.60Please respect copyright.PENANATIlFu1NewB
The hotel was called The Prince and the Pauper.
Sounds like a fairy tale, right?60Please respect copyright.PENANAMIEqW6l4W6
It wasn’t.
That name wasn’t just a nod to some storybook.60Please respect copyright.PENANAa3XVtBSS68
It was a warning dressed up in royal-sounding words.60Please respect copyright.PENANARt9bcyn5QU
The outside looked decent—almost classy.60Please respect copyright.PENANAg9PC3uklY8
But the inside? Whew.
The rooms looked like they hadn’t been cleaned since the actual Mark Twain walked the Earth.60Please respect copyright.PENANA2TvBaWOjAX
The bed sheets had holes in them.60Please respect copyright.PENANAOPGl8niqV2
The mattresses were flat, scratchy, and probably held together with bad decisions and duct tape.60Please respect copyright.PENANAzfljPk5ITe
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?60Please respect copyright.PENANAOfpYhRio16
It didn’t matter.
I had a full belly.60Please respect copyright.PENANAYcclKuo2Zs
I had my stuffed animals.60Please respect copyright.PENANA3nLMqd7Fih
And for the first time in a long while...60Please respect copyright.PENANAAPZx9Xs5aq
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.60Please respect copyright.PENANAjDmf4Miib0
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,60Please respect copyright.PENANAhHnVrgjU1Y
I could’ve turned out… real different.
Not in the anime supervillain kind of way—no powers, no glowing eyes, no final boss music.60Please respect copyright.PENANAzZcf1o8yfp
But bitter?60Please respect copyright.PENANAqyMR7I9zaI
Twisted by anger?60Please respect copyright.PENANApjCw50gy9g
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.60Please respect copyright.PENANACcAZgkFeaP
I don’t wonder. I understand.60Please respect copyright.PENANAkX33tJpSWZ
Because I was standing at that crossroads once.
But God.60Please respect copyright.PENANAAY1GNx2fjt
God saw me in my Egypt.60Please respect copyright.PENANA4dEUrxZGOZ
A place of chains, of silence, of loneliness and shadows.60Please respect copyright.PENANArIrwk1VkFd
And He brought me out.
Before I ever prayed.60Please respect copyright.PENANATOGSzJvFQ9
Before I ever called His name.60Please respect copyright.PENANAWkwHe4NFAe
He was already moving.
That’s the kind of God He is.60Please respect copyright.PENANAX6jBzguoDc
And that’s why I’m telling this story.60Please respect copyright.PENANAbdYWqOUszR
Because I want someone reading this to realize:60Please respect copyright.PENANAfJvnN7Qsnv
He sees you too.60Please respect copyright.PENANAZAz3teFO9u
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