> There are a lot of things that can make the situation you're in now a gray area. It gets complicated, because in God's eyes, sex is marriage. God respects legal marriage as well and wants us to be legally married before we become physically married, but going the other way puts you in a sort of weird half-married state, the exact ramifications of which possibly depend on a lot of different things, such as whether the sex was treated as a marriage commitment, whether both persons involved are Christians, and so forth. A child on the way complicates things too.

I do believe that you are the first person who has presented it to me in that way before. And I can't say that I don't agree. As a matter of fact, when the "mistake", as I'll call it here, first happened I considered it a marriage between the two of us. From that point I considered us to be married. The thing that changed my mind at that time was wondering why fornication could even be applied to the situation. I knew what we were doing was wrong, and if I we were married then it would be very much right. If having sex was a form of marriage, why does God oppose sex before marriage(which I believe firmly that he does)? Wouldn't the sex itself be marriage and thus all sexual partners from that point would be adultery, not just fornication? But considering sex as a "half-marriage" makes more sense. I don't know how biblical it is, and would appreciate it if you could point out some scripture to substantiate your view, unless it is just your way of viewing the situation from a logical standpoint. Feel free to email me if you don't want to post about it.

>
> You're fortunate to have such an understanding family and, more so, such understanding in-laws-to-be.

You're very right. It makes me even more confident and comfortable in my decision to marry her.

>
> I'll keep you in my prayers.

And for this more than all else, I must thank you.

Shan-It is so nice to be prayed for-dar