I was a 17 year old junior in high school. I was a popular guy, a starter on the football and baseball team, dating a freshman in college. We were the perfect couple. She was getting good grades and fitting into the University of Miami Ohio nicely, and my grades were on the rise as well. Our families got along; in fact they always made me feel quite welcome. We enjoyed her visits back home from college a lot. We would hang out with her parents, go to dinner, see movies and spend a lot of time together. As you can imagine, our reunions were much like other long distance relationships. And one night when her parents had left for the evening, we engaged in an act that would change the course of our (my) entire lives. What we did, two teenage kids, was engage in something that God intended for married adults. We thought we were adults, I know I did.

Until one night when she had been at school for approximately 6 weeks after our reunion and she called me on the phone. Except this time when I answered the phone “hello” I could hear her crying in the background. I said, “Julie what’s wrong?” She proceeded to tell me that she had missed her period and that she had taken a home pregnancy test. Julie was pregnant. My life that seemed to be on “cruise control” was a wreck in a 5 minute phone call. I felt like my childhood, the one I had worked so hard to move past as fast as I could make it happen, was gone without any chance of getting it back, ever again...

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On the 18th of August I found out that I was 4 weeks pregnant, after that I immediately told my parents.  My dad was angry and my mom was sad.  They hadn’t even met the guy I was dating yet.  He had an earring and I knew my father wouldn’t like him.  I thought my life was over.

After a few days, my parents calmed down and wanted to meet my boyfriend, Joe.  Joe and I met at university and lived in separate towns.  We made arrangements for him to come to my parents' house for a weekend visit.  I was very nervous about his arrival, I was certain that it would be the most awkward weekend ever.

When Joe arrived, I was so surprised by how kind my parents were to him. My father and Joe found that they had a mutual obsession with hunting and the outdoors. The two of them spent most of the weekend in my dad’s garage talking about their hunting adventures.  I discovered that a new life was about to begin for Joe and I.

Joe began spending more and more time visiting my family and me. One month before our son was born, Joe and I got married.  My father helped Joe find a job and my mother helped me find and decorate our new little home. I am currently working on finishing college and I know that there is a bright future ahead for our new family.

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