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Michael Bates Courting!


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Go Michael!! I hope she's happy. After watching her younger sisters get into courtships I worried that she would be a SAHD forever.

Bates Family: 2 weddings, 2 courtships

Duggars: 1 wedding, 1 courtship.

Time to catch up!

I think Jessa maybe in engaged due to outting to a resort and Jana maybe seeing someone due to the possible mother one day overtone.

But, let's hear it for the new couple.

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He looks very sweet, hot and handsome is streaching it I think.

I feel weird being this happy for a young woman I don't know at all, but I seriously am. It might be her own choice but she never seemd to be the "featured child", but always in the background making sure everything was running smoothly, so that everyone else was free to go on trips, dabble in music, etc.

Anyway, this was happy news, congrats Michael!

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Wow! What a surprise.

Someone speculated that they were from the Frankenmuth area, but DeWitt / St Johns are near Lansing. St Johns in particular is very rural, with a relatively low cost of living. I wish the best for them!

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Chad was cute in some of the earlier pictures, but after seeing lots of pictures, I agree. Brandon is much better looking and a couple of his brothers and sisters are stunning.

I think Chad is a good looking guy. He just looks better w/a tan. (jinger?) Brandon looks like a fun loving guy w/some of the expressions on his face in the pics. Hope he can bring Michael out of herself and show her some fun! Did anyone notice on the front of the journal he addressed her as "Michaela"?

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Very surprised - I've still been rooting for a courtship with JD.

But also very happy for her - she seems very sweet and deserves happiness.

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The Bates visited the Keilens back in 2011, so they have known each other for a while: blog.thebatesfamily.com/2011/08/08/visiting-friends/

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BTW, I agree that having a bunch of teenage girls around still probably makes marrying off the oldest girls easier. Assuming Michael and Alyssa marry this year (probably by the summer would be my guess), they still have Tori (18), Carlin (15), Josie (14) and Katie (13).

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Dang Kelly Bates! Your headship needs to give you permission to become a fundie matchmaker. You got skills!

And, uh, Craig Keilen...how you doin'?

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Interesting-- Ron Keilen's mother was Catholic:

Lansing State Journal (Michigan)

April 8, 2012 Sunday

Hildegard T. Keilen

SECTION: OBITUARIES

Hildegard T. (Simon) Keilen St. Johns Hildegard T. (Simon) Keilen, age 81, passed away on April 1, 2012 in St. Johns, Michigan. Hildegard was born April 12, 1930 in Pewamo, Michigan, the daughter of William and Julia (Smith) Simon.

She was a member of St. Joseph Catholic Church and the Ladies Altar Society. She managed the Min-A-Mart store in St. Johns for 22 years. She married Francis J. Keilen on June 1, 1949 and he preceded her in death on September 1, 2007. She is survived by her children, Joe (Janean) Keilen of St. Johns, Mike (Cindy) Keilen of Elk Rapids, Ron (Jill) Keilen of Dewitt, Sharon (Ed) Moinet of St. Johns, Ellen (Chris) Halfmann of Grandville, Steve (Lori) Keilen of Sudbury, MA, Gary Keilen of Austin, TX, and Julie Keilen of St. Louis; twenty eight grandchildren and fourteen great grandchildren...

AND--according to multiple Michigan papers, a "Angela Keilen" of Dewitt finished the Boston Marathon this April. See the pictures of Angie Keilen above--she certainly looks like a runner!

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Wow, this came out of nowhere! I was expecting the next courtship news would probably be Lawson.

I feel bad for Michael though - we know she doesn't like the limelight at all to the point that she didn't want to be a bridesmaid in her sister's wedding, and now she has a whole lot of attention coming her way! I was anxious about all the attention myself on my own wedding day, I can't even imagine how scary it'll be for her to have hundreds of people watching her and getting to see her first kiss and all those other moments she probably wishes were private.

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Very surprised - I've still been rooting for a courtship with JD.

But also very happy for her - she seems very sweet and deserves happiness.

I'd also hoped Michael and JD would court, but...WOW...she did much better than a Duggar!

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I wonder if all the courtship/engagement/wedding news on the Bates blog has created a "run on the market"... If you want a Bates girl, ya better come and get 'em before it's too late.

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Wow ! I did NOT see this one coming ! Maybe it's because the elder daughters in these mega families (Jana and Michael) always seem so humble and hardworking in the background... I thought they would continue their life of drudgery keeping the home going while their younger sisters got married. So I guess I'm happy that Michael gets a chance at a life of her own. (It makes me feel even more sorry for Jana though... She seems really miserable, and to me she is the only Duggar daughter who seems like she would like to settle down and be a mother. Knowing Jim Bob though he is oblivious and cares only about his own interests. I wonder how long Jana will have to wait...)

Brandon is quite handsome, more than Chad imo. I too wonder if they will let Michael get married before Alyssa... I'm curious as to how all this will play out, the Bateses are one busy family ! They have definitely supplanted the Duggars as family to watch in my book. The Duggars have never been more boring, they really need to up their game if they want to stay relevant.

I think Michelle is even too lazy to properly prepare Joy and Johannah for their future tasks. They just rely on the system that has been working for 15+ years, but that is going to be a problem once Jessa and maybe one more J-slave move out. When Jana was a year and a half older than Hannie, she was already caring for the younger ones full time. There are no babies left now, but Josie, Jordyn, Jennifer and Jackson still would need a lot of attention, at least to prevent another accident like Jason's. Jackson doesn't seem to be the smartest..

Totally agree with this, I've been thinking the same for a while... In the fundie world, (not saying it's the right thing to do) Michelle shows an amazing lack of foresight by letting her younger daughters run wild. She has to have known that one day her J'slaves would get married. They won't be there to run the house forever, so anyone with a few brain cells would have started to prepare the next girls in line. But no, Michelle just sits back, pats herself on the back for training the first batch of girls and lets them run the house. When they are gone she will be in for quite the awakening.

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So it seems from the pics and the "I love you" that they are essentially engaged already. What fundies call "engagement" might more accurately be described as "the part where he finally gives her the ring she has been expecting for some time." Props to Kelly for posting lots of pics and info! :)

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The rose thing reminds me of Beauty and the Beast. By waiting, she most likely has cut down her "quiver" size. She's 24. So with a courtship, engagement, wedding, that could put her to 26 or even 27 before she has her first child. If they're careful, they could have a smaller "quiver" of 10 kids or so.... :think:

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This was a surprise! I hope she's happy

Now it's the turn for Lawson to run away as fast as possible and not be forced to pay for 2 weddings

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Wow! What a surprise.

Someone speculated that they were from the Frankenmuth area, but DeWitt / St Johns are near Lansing. St Johns in particular is very rural, with a relatively low cost of living. I wish the best for them!

I noticed that. I speculated they were from Frankenmuth because they visited there both times Michael was in town. I was surprised when I found out they were from Dewitt. Why would one take two trips to Frankenmuth in six months if it wasn't right down the street? Lol! I enjoy the place, but it isn't that exciting...

By the way, by their Facebook pages, a lot of the siblings seem to be Spartan fans. I wonder if any of them went to school there.

Someone asked about the Keilen's ages. Brandon is 24, and he's #8, so the rest must be quite a bit older. I'd guess that Becky is 26 (close to Priscilla's age), and the married brother's children seem to be tweens, so that puts him probably in his 30s.

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I wonder if all the courtship/engagement/wedding news on the Bates blog has created a "run on the market"... If you want a Bates girl, ya better come and get 'em before it's too late.

I really think this is true. It's probably a combination of, 'Hey, these people let their daughters court' and, 'I better get one before they're gone'. We'll see if something similar happens with the Duggars now that Jessa's courting. I doubt it would be as fast and furious as the Bates situation, but we may see one or two more Duggar courtships happen in the next year or so.

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IM happy for Michael. As a mother of more children then Kelly. I didn't rely on my oldest girls for help all the time. Just normal chores that all my kids did. I think Kelly is more like that. Her older daughters are happier and less stressed then Duggar girls. I feel JB and Michelle it's more a brand then family. Plus Michelle is lazy mother.

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Thank you, ArteJo.

Also, thanks from me. I know the Bates come off to many as being more open and likeable than the Duggars and the fact that they are "allowing" their adult children to court and marry, many think that they aren't as bad. Perhaps in those respects they are but it's superficial. Both families rely on their daughters to raise the younger kids that the parents have no time for yet insist on bringing more children into the family, tasking them with adult responsibilities long before they should really have them. Neither family sees anything wrong with this and expect same daughters to be totally ok with it. Both families have woefully undereducated all their children, forget about the so-called "college" programs the older kids have taken, the "degree" will not be worth the paper it's printed on. The Bates take from their working adult son repeatedly, there's nothing laudable about that, in fact that's plain wrong.

Hopefully, by getting married the Bates kids will have happier lives than what they had under their parents' roofs. Because I don't believe for a moment that life is all fine and dandy in either household, both families put a good spin on how great their lives are.

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I noticed on the very first picture of the wrapped book/journal, he has spelled her name "Michaela." How long has it been since Gil & Kelly dropped the "a"?

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This is courtship #4 for the Bateses (if you don't count Zach's first failed courtship). It went Erin & Chad, Zach & Whitney, Alyssa & John, now Michael & Brandon. I suspect others will be quick to follow.

I believe Kelly said that Michael goes by both Michael and Michaela.

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