A girl from church is pregnant. She's barely 17. Very smart and talented. Beautiful. A year ahead of her peers in school, going into her senior year when the other kids her age are all juniors. A cheerleader. Until a month ago the world was at her feet.

Now she's restricted to four options. Adoption, abortion, raising the child herself as a single mother, or marrying the baby's father.

I remember how I felt my senior year of high school. I was so excited. I was graduating a year early too (not because I was smart, but because I started first grade a year early - long story.) I felt beautiful, I felt smart, I felt daring and strong and bold. The world was right there, for the taking. All I had to do was decide what I wanted, then reach out and take it. I knew I could have whatever I wanted, because I was up to the challenge, whatever it was. I was so confident it was nearly arrogance.

There were seven pregnant girls in my graduating class. I didn't date, (too shy) so it wasn't like I'd had any opportunity to get pregnant, but it was still frightening to think about them. Even then I could see how drastically their lives had changed, how all their opportunities had been stripped from them. Oh, sure, some were still open, but they had a bottleneck to get through first and some things were going to be gone forever, no matter how hard they worked.

Whatever this girl decides, her life is going to be a lot more complicated from here on out. Nor is she the only one. The baby's father's life is changed too, whether he steps up to his responsibilities or not. The baby is also going to be affected. This was the sort of situation my husband was born into. Believe me, even now, it has an impact on his life.

The baby is due in March. She's going to be working to graduate before then. She's going to have to give up being a cheerleader, her mother told me. I don't know if that's school policy, or just a matter of her health. (Considering how pregnancy throws off your balance, I can't see her doing many leaps and flips, so I'd guess it was about health.) She'll need a lot of support from the school, from us at church, from her family and from the baby's father. Whatever she decides, I hope it works out well for all of them.

If anyone out there is dealing with this kind of situation, I would highly recommend AGK's One Young Parent site. She had her first baby when she was 14 (I think? Correct me if I'm wrong, AGK) so she understands what it's like. Her site is jam packed full of great articles and resources.