[Oceans]

I bet she is beautiful!! Congrats!!!

Here is my opinion about parenting – not necessarily your situation – just parenting a child as teen in general. Many times it is said that adoption is a “selfless” act. I won’t get into how I feel about that right now but IMO, choosing to parent a child as a teenager MUST be a “selfless” act. And that commitment, must renewed everyday.

By parenting a child, teens will lose the life they have today. They lose many of the freedoms that come with being a young adult and those freedoms are replaced with a great amount of responsibility. There are definitely rewards in parenting but in order to reap those rewards, there are sacrifices and parents need to commit to making those sacrifices daily – not for themselves, so they can know the joy of loving a baby – but for their child.

Are you willing to evaluate all the choices in your life going forward with her best interests in mind? This is in terms of your:

Education - it will be harder but you must complete school
Your friends - are you willing to lose most of them because your life will be so different
Working - most likely you will have to work and go to school. Every dime will go to her first.
Dating - you wont have time and you will have to be picky
All the other freedoms that come with being 17, 18, 19 20 etc.

If you want to parent your daughter and are willing to make the commitment then you can ABSOLUTELY do this. Talk to your caseworker, take parenting classes and get a plan together.

If you are unsure, I still encourage you to talk to someone about your options - parenting and adoption. This is one of the biggest (if not the biggest) decision you will ever make in your life. Learn everything you can in the next few weeks – there is no need to rush yourself.

Just my 2 cents.. My thoughts are with you too!!

I hope you stay here and continue to ask questions ((((hugs)))