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  • Summary provided by: Sister Mozz

     

     

    Young Ladies Christian Fellowship (YLCF.org, renamed in 2013 to Kindred Grace) was a website started in 1998 by Gretchen Glaser. Originally an off-shoot of a print newsletter, it eventually moved completely online and became one of the first and most well-known sites dedicated to Christian young ladies. It focused on the innocence and purity of girlhood and was the home of what they titled THE Index of Courtship Stories (http://web.archive.org/web/200607102122 ... p-stories/).

     

    Early in the 2000's, Gretchen's YLCF Team Members grew to include her best friend Natalie Nyquist. The girls addressed each other as "sissy" and pictures of their occasional in-person meetings were highlighted all over the site. Natalie wrote and published "Quest for the High Places: Encouragement for the Waiting Heart" (http://web.archive.org/web/200607102122 ... tthoughts/) in 2005.

     

    Gretchen was married in 2006 to Merritt Acheson, and their wedding was The Event for YLCF that year (http://web.archive.org/web/201205220316 ... n-wedding/)! Gretchen handed over the reigns of YLCF to Natalie, and she began her own blog (The Little Pink House gretchenlouise.com/little-pink-house/, now GretchenLouise.com). At the time of this writing Gretchen has three children and writes on glorious topics such as laundry, rhapsodizing on the joys of wife- and motherhood, while dropping hints that life may not be quite as glorious as she paints it to be.

     

    The Event for YLCF in 2007 was Natalie's marriage to Rick Klein (http://web.archive.org/web/200712242156 ... /klein.htm). Their wedding was in October (http://web.archive.org/web/200710071258 ... .ylcf.org/). Natalie's father officiated their wedding and said that giving his only daughter in marriage was akin to "handing a Stradivarius to a gorilla". Rick seems to have been more of a gorilla than ever imagined, as the couple were separated by January and divorced a few months later.

     

    Natalie spiraled after the divorce. Gretchen took back over at YLCF, commenting on the failure of Natalie's marriage by saying she believed that one day Natalie would find someone else, and she looked forward to dancing at their wedding. Natalie almost completely dropped offline, dealing with depression from the shattering of her much-dreamed-of marriage, and it has been hinted that she dealt with a mental illness even beyond depression during this time.

     

    In late 2008 or early 2009, Natalie met James Ference (jamesferenceisaliar.blogspot.com/) at their church. After romancing her in whirlwind fashion, and not bothering to tell her he was still married to Wife #3, they made vows to each other and were "married" in April 2009, without telling any of Natalie's family or abundance of friends. Once his divorce was final from Wife #3 that summer, James and Natalie procured their marriage license in July.

     

    Almost without explanation, in April 2009 most of Natalie's writings for YLCF had been scrubbed off the site. In May Natalie posted a statement in response (a link to which can be seen in the comments of this post: everlypleasant.com/2009/05/24/lost-or-just-misplaced/). Questioners have wondered how much about James Ference Gretchen knew to have pulled the plug so quickly, or if their scrubbing of Natalie had to do with the fact that Natalie married James without a courtship and without permission or even knowledge of her family. All ties between Gretchen and Natalie seem to have been severed at the time of Natalie's second marriage.

     

    Natalie and James started their own blog at pursuethebeauty.com, which Natalie still maintains. FreeJinger caught wind that things were fishy with their marriage as early as April 2010 (http://freejinger.yuku.com/topic/1589/L ... yle?page=1). Natalie turned a blind eye to anyone who contacted her about what was being posted online about James. The couple welcomed a son in December 2010. In January 2011 Natalie finally had enough suspicions to check out what people were saying, and confronted James about what she read online. They separated that month and divorced later that year through publication, as scumbag James was nowhere to be located.

     

    Natalie came to FreeJinger to answer questions in this long thread: http://freejinger.yuku.com/reply/137292 ... ip-stories. She now occasionally posts on the raptured FJ as well.

     

    After leaving James, Natalie moved to Chicago with her infant son to be near her parents. Her father is currently president of Moody Bible Institute (moody.edu/edu_MainPage.aspx?id=956). She has since converted to Orthodoxy, is taking classes to begin a career, and has taken a pen name under which she plans to eventually publish books.

     

    Other YLCF Team Members back in the Natalie years were Ashleigh Baker (ashleighbaker.net/), who has since had her own world shaken and is unsure about her faith. In one of the FreeJinger threads Ashleigh makes an unwise appearance, accusing Natalie's mental illnesses of skewing her view. Also Lanier Ivester (laniersbooks.com/), Natalie's former "mentor," a childless wife who runs a small farm in her suburban Georgia home. Lanier's writing is wordy but nearly unreadable with its vagueness.

  • Update 5/30/2014:

     

    Since Feb. 2013 there have been some significant updates in Natalie's life:

     

    Natalie has left the Orthodox church (http://www.prodigalmagazine.com/i-dont-like-church/). The type of church she currently attends, if she attends anywhere, is unknown.

     

    In April 2013 Natalie revealed that she suffers from both retrograde and anterograde amnesia (http://pursuethebeauty.com/2013/04/21/amnesia-life/).

     

    She graduated with a degree from the University of Chicago and now works as a proofreader for Moody Publishers. Her father is still president of Moody Bible Institute.

     

    While one can no longer find any traces online of the pen name (Natalie Jacobs) she had chosen under which to pursue writing, except for archived snark discussions about it, Natalie is currently active in the process or writing and pitching her book to publishers under her real name. Presumably the book will be titled "Pursue the Beauty," the same as her website, and will focus on young Christian women overcoming life difficulties.

     

    In April 2014 Natalie was published in HuffPo in an article called What It's Like To Be A Twice-Divorced Mom at 28 (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/3 ... ir=Divorce). Free Jinger readers felt the article was inherently dishonest because it failed to mention how courtship and the purity culture played a major part in both of her marriages (viewtopic.php?f=8&t=21723&hilit=natalie).

     

    Natalie keeps very quiet on the subject of her son (3.5 years old as of this update) and does not publish pictures of him online, which is probably smart considering who is father is.

     

    Speaking of James Ference, he appears to still be living with Wife #5, whom he "married" in a fake ceremony on Oct. 31, 2011 (http://jamesferenceisaliar.blogspot.com ... hhhhh.html), and then legally married in June 2013 (http://jamesferenceisaliar.blogspot.com ... up-we.html). The two seem to have had a son around the same time as their legal marriage (viewtopic.php?f=134&t=19607).

     

    Free Jinger's Discussion

  • Posts

    • JDuggs

      Posted

      On 12/22/2023 at 11:51 PM, JDuggs said:

      It looks like Micah is in a relationship, or very good friends, with this Florida realtor Veronica Peters. I’ve seen photos of them together on Micah’s IG, but I always thought she kind of looked too old for him. Maybe not.

      This was on Moriah’s IG:

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      And this was on Veronica’s personal IG and professional IG:

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        Hide contentsimage.thumb.png.bfaa9a4a2ac77388067acef5c5afb81c.png

       

      Quoting myself from six months ago. I think this really is Micah’s girlfriend. She doesn’t seem quite as public about their relationship as she did back then.

    • WatchingTheTireFireBurn

      Posted

      Holy F.  is Vance horrid. He's apparently trying to explain away the cat lady remarks by saying it's "nothing against cats" and "nothing against dogs"

      and also that he's not attacking "people who *cant* have children" - you've misunderstood him! He's attacking people who chose to not have children......so...that's better.....

      What a fucking asshole. 

      I think this guy is possibly more sleazy than trump. trump stumbled into all this cuz he wants fame. This ass sack 1st priority wants to control women.

      trump has said a lot of dumb shit but he's not actually said a significant portion of the country doesn't deserve to vote because they chose to not have kids.

      wow. that's just so offensive.

      • I Agree 2
    • AnywhereButHere

      Posted

    • JermajestyDuggar

      Posted

      There was a post on social media talking about this recent interview with Ballerina Farm and asking what people think about some of the things in it. So many commenters were like, “it’s her business! It’s not your life so why do you care?” This is the type of thing that bugs me to no end. Ballerina Farm posts their lives willingly! They post their children’s lives! Of course people will speculate and care! If they didn’t put their lives all over social media none of us would know anything about them. 

    • LongTimeLurkerOG

      Posted

      On 7/25/2024 at 6:47 PM, LilMissMetaphor said:

      Just FYI in case someone missed it the first time round, this is what Art wrote on Reddit a year ago addressing some of the concerns that were brought up.  It's very telling if you read between some of the lines.

      "I don’t lie or make fraudulent claims to get money. That’s what a grifter is. I’ve closed all previous fundraisers and not all of them were successfully funded – for instance my legal name change and wedding fund did not get funded, so I still haven’t had a chance to do those things.

      I’m unable to work for a variety of medically supported reasons. It’s not okay to ask disabled people for proof of their disability simply because it’s medical information. To entertain the question is to concede that it’s okay to go ask other disabled people for their private medical history. It’s a common misconception that people pretend to be disabled for benefits or monetary gain, but it’s rare and doesn’t really make sense to do because benefits and fundraising add up to so little.

      I have been going to Seattle to look at possible places to live because it’s literally unavoidable, and I’ve been in severe pain because of it. That doesn’t mean I could do manual labor on a consistent basis. I don’t even drive, so I’ve had to cover gas and ask friends for help with rides.

      Have you ever tried working at a call center? I have. They’re severely strict and demanding, and incredibly demoralizing without paying much. They’re not an accessible alternative for people who can’t do more demanding manual labor. “Get a job like the rest of us” is ableist and is a fundamental misunderstanding of how accessible jobs are. It’s no better than yelling it at someone panhandling on the street. The supposedly “easy” or “low-skill” jobs are still difficult to do.

      I do use what resources I can, but it’s a total myth that there’s a robust social welfare system anywhere in the United States. If there was, we wouldn’t have so many hundreds of thousands of homeless people here, with millions more just a few missed paychecks away from joining them.

      The toxic mold was confirmed. My partner is literally terminally ill from it. If you read the actual updates, the name of the illness and the research surrounding it have been detailed. We have a letter from the pulmonologist that we sent to the landlord explaining that the environment my partner was in was causing the illness. Again, you’re demanding medical proof that you have no reason to ask about. Some things can’t just be washed out.

      I am as clear as I can possibly be about specific needs so that people know what they’re helping to support. I have said again and again that people shouldn’t give unless they can spare it and want to help. I even said that in the post linked to in this comment thread. My patreon is explicitly to support my writing.

      So why am I still fundraising and making money off telling my story? Because I literally have no other real options. I’ve been formally diagnosed with PTSD, it’s not “alleged trauma.” If it was working all that well, I wouldn’t have to keep detailing my needs.

      The real grifters in our society are billionaires, not poor disabled people. You sound like you just hate us for trying to exist."

      I remember reading this before. Well, they can take all their reasons and Stop. Grifting. Plenty of people with disabilities work and /or receive assistance (as I mentioned previously, my exPOS, who has disabilities so I'm familiar with a number of options and money). Some family, have / had disabilities. I've been an advocate for services and staff training (and provided training) for Years with previous positions - because it matters to me. So, yea, Artemis get. a. job. 

      57 minutes ago, Ozlsn said:

      Art lists manual labour and call centres. And that's it. Not any jobs they could look at involving writing, from editing to writing student essays for money (yes it's dodgy but people do it). Not even playing video games for money (get character to a level where they have cool stuff for someone.)  Nothing about remote work, which there is more of now, and not even entry level white collar work.

      On the one hand I agree with them that the social support is inadequate, and that detailing your medical needs shouldn't have to happen - but they just grifted nearly $5000 to move and for a holiday, and with the amount of effort that took they probably could have held down employment of some description and to be honest would probably be better off.

      So many WFH/remote legit jobs now. Hell, you can play games on your phone and earn gift cards; donate blood and get gift cards. I knew a homeless couple that donated plasma for higher amount g.c.

      Absolutely! The amount of money; it's disgusting. And that amount of effort... At some point, even we don't want to or circumstances we don't want to deal with and adult, because... We're adults! Plenty of things I want to ignore or not deal with, just have go away but persevere because the alternative... not an option.

      2 hours ago, Bookworm1564 said:

      My all-time favourite Art post is the one where they say “Just for today, you can double the impact of your support with this opportunity” as if this was the moment we were all waiting for.

      Like a sale for limited-time-only 🤣

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