Alyssa Bates and John Webster are courting

[Kira]

Any fundie royal family that has watched their behavior on their show are probably scared away! What would be the attraction to marrying into such a family? Baby crazed Mom-a dufus sex-maniac Father, ignorant oldest son, stuck up older daughters (except Jana-maybe)-out of control young children. That leaves Mary, JD, Joseph Joy and Josiah. No one has a specific talent or intellect (except Jill-maybe). And, no one seems overly impressed with their reality show fame-except a bunch of tween leg-humpers! Perhaps, that is why Jessa is marrying an 18 year old!

And there are no other fundie families with baby crazed mothers, "sex crazed" dads, etc. Most fundie royalty are experiencing the same problems the Duggars are having when it come to courtship. Have you seen the long list of unmarried fundies? I also don't think having a t.v. show has hurt the Duggars. There are quite a few fundie leaders who would love that kind of exposure.

[VaSportsMom]

Aww, I wanted to see the picture.

I missed the pic too but there are some beautiful ones on the blog with the announcement.

blog.thebatesfamily.com/2013/11/07/courting-news/

[love2scrap]

Alyssa's outfit is pretty snug for a fundie girl! Lots of hugging going on.

They look happy.

[pudding]

Alyssa's outfit is pretty snug for a fundie girl! Lots of hugging going on.

They look happy.

And I can spot knees!

And wow, frontal hugging?? Bet that got her pregnant!!1

Good to see that they are not robots!

[Curious]

I don't follow the Bateses (is that right?) religiously, so can someone explain what "special friends" means, please?

[VincentvanGoGo]

Weird, her boobs are really showing and even touching him :o

blog.thebatesfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/03980172.jpg

Plus that guy looks like a Frankenteen...

[sheltonLE]

Wow, frontal hugging and hand holding! I am impressed. They almost seem like a normal young couple.

[Daenerys]

Do the Bates kids have more freedom than the Duggar kids, or is it just because they don't have a TV show that they are all courting? It seems like the three of them have managed to find someone themselves who they want to marry, whereas I get the impression with Ben he was just brought in and took his pick.

[gypsygirl22]

Nice pictures of the courtship announcement. I wonder when the wedding will be?

[Guest LilaFowler]

Alyssa looks so cute. I'm glad they don't do the 6 inches apart thing.

[Burpies]

Wow! Tight shirt, short skirt (by fundie standards), and a lot of touching-hands, sides, his front to her back! They look like they could be any normal young couple!

If it wasn't for their shitty life views, I'd totally be rooting for them!

[MissBitters]

Her outfit is cute but those open toed shoes look a bit chilly for fall weather! I'm glad they are doing full frontal hugs! While I doubt Chad and Erin will escape from ATI, I would not be surprised if Alyssa becomes more fundie-lite. I can even see her only having 2-3 kids. Gonna keep my fingers crossed :)

[twinmama]

They do look so normal!! I like that even though obviously they weren't alone (since there are pictures), they don't harp on the fact that they had a chaperone. You know the Duggars would have said 100 times that a sibling or parent went along so they were never alone.

[sunshine]

And I can spot knees!

And wow, frontal hugging?? Bet that got her pregnant!!1

Good to see that they are not robots!

Kelly has said their courtship rituals are different from others which seem to result from Zach's courtship with Sarah. Basically, they relaxed the rules a bit or allow the daughters to choose. Maybe JB could learn a lesson or two about it.

[sunshine]

They do look so normal!! I like that even though obviously they weren't alone (since there are pictures), they don't harp on the fact that they had a chaperone. You know the Duggars would have said 100 times that a sibling or parent went along so they were never alone.

I think because they are in the public eye and there are people who worship them.

[twinmama]

Kelly has said their courtship rituals are different from others which seem to result from Zach's courtship with Sarah. Basically, they relaxed the rules a bit or allow the daughters to choose. Maybe JB could learn a lesson or two about it.

Are they just too stuck up to call it dating? Because if the daughters are in charge of choosing now, how is this any different than dating? Is it just dating that leads to an engagement?

[MissBitters]

Twinmama, I think Kelly has used the phrase "dating with a purpose." It was mentioned when Erin started courting and Kelly explained their new system in either the comments or a blog post.

[anjulibai]

She's been asked for several times but she/and or Gil has always turned them down. I don't know why

That's very interesting. I would have thought she'd want to get married right away - they've always mentioned how much she loves kids, sewing and cooking, so it seems like she'd want to start her own family. Either she's just been picky or something else is going on.

As for Alyssa, I hope she's happy and I hope they wait another year to get married.

[Cone]

That's very interesting. I would have thought she'd want to get married right away - they've always mentioned how much she loves kids, sewing and cooking, so it seems like she'd want to start her own family. Either she's just been picky or something else is going on.

As for Alyssa, I hope she's happy and I hope they wait another year to get married.

If Michael is really as shy as people say, maybe she's waiting for her family's psuedo-fame to cool down more. Then she could have a small wedding and whatnot without being in the public eye.

[Mela99]

They do look lovely and happy.

What do we know about John other than who his papa is? Does he work, school, anything?

[Ridiculous]

"Lover's Leap?" Is that a suicide reference? I know lots of cliffs in various places have legends of star-crossed lovers jumping together, so that was my first though when I saw that sign. If that's it, it's a bit morbid and also just kind of a bizarre place to take pseudo-engagement photos, I think.

Anyway! Alyssa is a very pretty girl, and they do look very happy and easy with each other. Best wishes to them.

[Guest LilaFowler]

I like Alyssa. She seems really confident and outgoing and seems to go for what she wants.

[singsingsing]

That's very interesting. I would have thought she'd want to get married right away - they've always mentioned how much she loves kids, sewing and cooking, so it seems like she'd want to start her own family. Either she's just been picky or something else is going on.

I don't know. She's in her early 20s. It's not like she's 35 and she's turned down every man who's ever approached her. To be honest I can empathize because I'm also someone who really wants marriage and children, but so far I've turned down every guy who's been interested in me. It's not because I'm too picky or secretly a lesbian, it's just because the right one hasn't come along yet. Maybe Michael feels the same way. Or who knows, maybe she was really hung up on a certain guy. Or it could be any number of things, but she's still so young that I don't think it's unusual (and really, good for her for having standards).

[xReems]

Alyssa and John look so cute together. From the pictures, you can't even tell that they're both in a "courtship". According to poster wutwuzdat, she claimed that Alyssa might be on the fence of leaving IBLP/ATI, along with Zach and Lawson. I just hope that they don't jump the marriage boat too quickly, especially since she's so young. Then again, the only way for her to escape a fundie lifestyle is if she gets married, so I wouldn't blame her if an engagement happens in the next 6 months.

[ljohnson2006]

Congrats Alyssa! Please do not let the Duggars upstage you on your big day.