Another Duggar Courtship: Joseph and Kendra

[SamiKatz]

35 minutes ago, HarleyQuinn said:

I'm tall and I feel awkward in heels because then I feel like I tower over people  

I wish I was like 5'2. That would be perfect. 

I'm 5'2", and unfortunately it's kind of armpit height for a lot of people.

Not good on a crowded subway during the summer.  Especially a subway without a/c (thank you, TTC)

[TeamDefraudinSquad]

Its so weird to think that someone born in 1998, ten years after me, will (very likely) have a couple of children before I have just one.  I have vivid memories of  the year Kendra was born, including watching VHI in the morning before school in 5th grade, and seeing the "Real World" (Matchbox 20) music video come on while I was eating my cereal. Its weird to think someone who was an infant in 1998 is going to be procreating in 2017/2018. 

[singsingsing]

I'm still in denial that people who were born after 9/11 are older now than I was on 9/11.

[Carm_88]

I'm 5'3 and a half. I wish that I were a little taller. Grocery stores mean a lot of climbing. 

[Scrabblemaster]

Okay, next time I am on holiday I will make some suggestions about what will happen during these days. Even while I was no freejinger member, the most exciting things happened while I was offline / sick/ on holiday. Next time I will warn you and I will make some bets on potential courtships/engagements/pregnancies/births/joshy scandals

[onekidanddone]

I wonder how they will explain away the fact that Joshly is missing from the groomsmen.  Maybe they TLC will have a bouncing blue pixelated  blob to cover him up.

[trustworthy]

22 hours ago, unicorncastle said:

All this judgey "they're just babies" stuff makes me a little uncomfortable because it's actually historically the norm for people to get married and have babies young, not in their mid to late 30s. I'm glad I had my kids young, I can't imagine being 45 with an 8 year old.

 

I think it's less about the fact that they are young than it is that they have been so sheltered and uneducated that they probably don't have a grasp of what they're getting into -- what a life commitment relationship is all about, what the responsibilities are, the consequences, etc.  Also, they haven't really been given a chance to meet a lot of other people.  It always seems like the first person of the opposite sex you "like" you end up marrying, even if that's not a right idea for you.  There are some very saavy, already pretty well educated and knowledgeable 18 year-olds out there who could definitely handle marriage and kids, but most of these kids don't fall in that category.  The problem is once Kendra agrees to "courting" she's stuck with a marriage.  Even if she started to get intuitions that something didn't feel right, it might be really hard for her to say that to her parents or not be afraid to back away, especially when her face has been all over the magazines and in front of the cameras. A number of sources have said that Princess Diana had misgivings right before her wedding and a relative told her, "It's too late -- you're already on the tea towels."  If she hadn't been a relatively naïve 19 year-old, she might have been able to say, "Tough. This isn't right."  And she was way more saavy than these kids seem to be.

[TuringMachine]

I'm 5'2". My brother, about 6'1", likes to use my head as an armrest.

[Pasta]

You all are lucky. I'm under 5 feet. 

[Kira]

This is the Duggar courtship timeline I mentioned a couple of days ago:

[Gillyweed]

7 minutes ago, Pasta said:

You all are lucky. I'm under 5 feet. 

Me too! If it weren't for my boobs, I would forever be mistaken for a 12 year old. 

[Scrabblemaster]

There are so many cuts in their announcement video. And Kendra never seems to smile. She looks sad sometimes. As if she or Joseph said something wrong - cut - they were told what to say - next try. Looking forward for side-hugs and texting is so sad in my eyes. She should look forward to kisses, front-hugs , chaperone-free spy-free dates... that's a debate on priciples and does not belong in this thread. When she said the last sentence she seemed to have gained some confidence and her smile seemed the most genuine. 

BUT she seems to like Joseph. Well, I hope she is head over heels in love with him, because I am not sure if the Duggar brand would accept another failed son-courtship. I hope that if she had doubts entering an official courtship she would have told Joseph and asked to wait with the courtship. Maybe his promise ring means exactly this... that he knows she is too young for now and he promises he will not push her into engagement/wedding until she is ready.  Hopefully she is only shy and will get used to cameras and Duggar-approved speeches. She is only 18 years old. At this age I would not have been able to make an announcement video for a huge internet audience, knowingly there would be criticism about it.

[snickers34]

1 hour ago, onekidanddone said:

I wonder how they will explain away the fact that Joshly is missing from the groomsmen.  Maybe they TLC will have a bouncing blue pixelated  blob to cover him up.

If you look at Jinger's wedding episode, the more recent one from a few weeks ago, it seems like they did a decent job of editing him out of the parts where they were all on stage together taking pictures. Just guessing. If it means saving the show & keeping the money train going, they'll make it work.

[nausicaa]

2 hours ago, Carm_88 said:

I'm 5'3 and a half. I wish that I were a little taller. Grocery stores mean a lot of climbing. 

I'm nearly 6'. I'm the one all the little old ladies demand do the climbing for them

It's gotten to the point where if I hear an older woman's voice saying "Excuse me miss?" I just start scanning top shelves and ask "Which item did you need?"

[Jilli]

2 hours ago, TeamDefraudinSquad said:

Its so weird to think that someone born in 1998, ten years after me, will (very likely) have a couple of children before I have just one.  I have vivid memories of  the year Kendra was born, including watching VHI in the morning before school in 5th grade, and seeing the "Real World" (Matchbox 20) music video come on while I was eating my cereal. Its weird to think someone who was an infant in 1998 is going to be procreating in 2017/2018. 

I relate to this so much. Watching Matchbox 20 on VH1 was my favorite thing in the late 90s. My parents didn't have many rules, but not watching MTV was one of them.

[quiversR4hunting]

53 minutes ago, Kira said:

This is the Duggar courtship timeline I mentioned a couple of days ago:

3 month engagement. (2 1/2 for Bessa) So about June 2nd for Joy & Austin for a wedding.

Courting to engaged is kind of all over the board. Joy 3 1/2 months, Jinger 2 months, Jessa 11 months, Jill 4 or 5 months depending on when in November. Josh 3 months.

On a sad note, I just realized if I had gotten married right out of HS I could have had Joseph down as my own children! (I could be a mom to Jinger too but she would have been a prom baby.) YIKES!

For kids Jinger through Joy-Anna I was in college (Sorority too! Phi Mu)  Jedidiah/Jeremiah- I was switching from one crappy first job out of college to crappy job #2.  I "finally" got married the year Jason was born but my first didn't come until Jackson was born. I am happy with my time line verses Me'chelle.

[HereticHick]

1 hour ago, Kira said:

This is the Duggar courtship timeline I mentioned a couple of days ago:

We've always been at war with EastAsia. The entire US population can live and thrive within the Jacksonville city limits. The Josiah and Marjorie relationship never happened.

[Tim-Tom Biblethumper]

1 hour ago, nausicaa said:

I'm nearly 6'. I'm the one all the little old ladies demand do the climbing for them

It's gotten to the point where if I hear an older woman's voice saying "Excuse me miss?" I just start scanning top shelves and ask "Which item did you need?"

Why are you never at the grocery store when I am?   I stand there, look around, stand there some more, waiting for anyone over 5' 8" to come along, then end up scaling the shelves like a monkey.  Surprised I haven't broken my neck.

[JillyO]

22 hours ago, trustworthy said:

 Even if she started to get intuitions that something didn't feel right, it might be really hard for her to say that to her parents or not be afraid to back away, especially when her face has been all over the magazines and in front of the cameras. A number of sources have said that Princess Diana had misgivings right before her wedding and a relative told her, "It's too late -- you're already on the tea towels."  If she hadn't been a relatively naïve 19 year-old, she might have been able to say, "Tough. This isn't right."  And she was way more saavy than these kids seem to be.

Interesting. My mom got married for the first time at 19. She says for the last few weeks before the wedding, she already knew she shouldn't be getting married to the guy. But they had already sent out invitations and planned and paid for the whole wedding, so she thought she had to just go through with it. She was divorced a year and a half later, at which point she was 7 months pregnant with another guy's (my father's) baby. She married my dad while 34 weeks pregnant mith my brother.

ETA: My mom is one really tough cookie who doesn't GAF. I can't even imagine her going through with a wedding she no longer wants because of what other people might think. Which just goes to show that she was way too young to be getting married.

[QuiverFullofBooks]

Duggar Family Official FB has a new congratulations video up from Michelle and Jana. Michelle of course says that Kendra is sweet. Jana's contribution is "Congratulations, y'all. So excited for you." She doesn't look that excited.

[Million Children For Jesus]

6 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I'm a tall female and plenty of men wouldn't give me the time of day due to my height. The majority of men I know wouldn't date a woman taller than them

Depends on where you live. In Los Angeles, I see tall women with short men every single day. If you look at celebrities, you see it a lot. I think very successful and/or confident short men love tall women, and confident tall women go after who they want regardless of height. Nicole Kidman, Gigi Hadid, Cameron Diaz are examples of tall women with short partners. When you're on top in business or a public figure, it's more important to find someone like minded than similar sized. You probably would have had the short guys lining up for you in L.A. 

[twinmama]

On 3/9/2017 at 8:42 AM, justmy2cents said:

According to http://duggarbatesfan.tumblr.com/post/158168160884/joseph-duggars-girlfriend Kendra was born on 8/11/98 which means she'll be turning 19 this summer.  At least they waited to 'get to know eachother' til after she turned 18.  

Whoooooaaaaa, her mom is my age and I had just graduated from high school in 97! Shit.

On 3/9/2017 at 11:22 AM, JemimaPuddle-Duck said:

Sooo, I had my first child young. I had prepared myself for the possibility of being a grandma in my thirties. Thankfully, I don't think that will happen since oldest child does not feel ready/plan on being ready for marriage for some time. I do, however, worry about having children at the same time as grandchildren. It's just weird And I'd like to be available to go be my child's slave when they have a child, which isn't so easy when you have your own baby. When FJ expresses general disapproval over the young grandparents/simultaneous babies and grandbabies thing, it just brings up all those feelings for me. I'm still young enough that high school friends are just having first babies and I'm over here thinking about grandchildren.  Sorry for the ramble, sleepy morning thoughts being expressed to my FJ therapists. ;-)

 

also, @VeganCupcake. Seriously. Say what you will about Guinn Seeeald's personality, she is a beautiful lady. She doesn't look "rough". 

I think it's only creepy when you play it up Duggar style. Like the Josh/Anna, JB/M kissing over Mac's crib photo. Really, your grandchild getting to grow up with an aunt or uncle around their age is fun. Since first grandbabies don't have cousins usually, it's a same age relative to play with. 

22 hours ago, grandmadugger said:

On 3/9/2017 at 8:42 AM, justmy2cents said:

 

If mom took the traditional amount of time to graduate high school she was 6 months pregnant when she graduated.  I'm 37, I graduated in May of 1998.

I'm 37 and graduated in May 1997. So depends on the birthday and when you started school.

[Bethella]

22 hours ago, grandmadugger said:

If mom took the traditional amount of time to graduate high school she was 6 months pregnant when she graduated.  I'm 37, I graduated in May of 1998.  That's mind blowing to me.

The Caldwells got married in January 1998, so I'm thinking she graduated in 1997, didn't graduate or was home schooled.

[Percy]

I remember seeing a photo of a house being moved on to Duggan land.  What was that for?

[Dandruff]

5 hours ago, Carm_88 said:

I'm 5'3 and a half. I wish that I were a little taller. Grocery stores mean a lot of climbing. 

I'm almost the same height.  There's also standing on one's toes at the bank counter, feet not quite reaching the floor on public transportation, and test driving cars to make sure you can see over the dash.