Daniel Brooker engaged

[JermajestyDuggar]

8 hours ago, Milly-Molly-Mandy said:

Thoughts on the wedding which I watched live (I have no life ha!)

* Brittany is very lucky to have Daniel, a man who adored his first wife through thick and thin. Who has shown he can love children who aren't biologically his (his 2 are adopted) & I don't think will treat her 3 boys any differently to his 2

* She seems a strong personality while he seems more laid back. Hopefully a good match as Lyndsie was a gentle quiet personality from all accounts 

* a gorgeous wedding. Wish them all the best for their blended family 

I admit that in the back of my mind I really hope that Brittany can be accepting of his adopted children. Who knows how she feels about adoption. She's never said and I just hope that she doesn't treat them differently since they aren't biologically related. I'm not assuming she will treat them differently. I'm just hoping they can have an overall happy family life since I personally know how hard it can be to blend families. 

[Milly-Molly-Mandy]

34 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I admit that in the back of my mind I really hope that Brittany can be accepting of his adopted children. Who knows how she feels about adoption. She's never said and I just hope that she doesn't treat them differently since they aren't biologically related. I'm not assuming she will treat them differently. I'm just hoping they can have an overall happy family life since I personally know how hard it can be to blend families. 

I agree with you. Ethan seems like a handful (no judgement, my son is too!) & it can be annoying enough for the parents to put up with. 

Aubrey seems a sweetie and I think being the only girl she will do fine 

anyone want bets on how long till Brittany's pregnant? I think by Xmas. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

6 minutes ago, Milly-Molly-Mandy said:

I agree with you. Ethan seems like a handful (no judgement, my son is too!) & it can be annoying enough for the parents to put up with. 

Aubrey seems a sweetie and I think being the only girl she will do fine 

anyone want bets on how long till Brittany's pregnant? I think by Xmas. 

Very quickly! That's another thing about blended families. There are "her kids" and "his kids" and "their kids." That's difficult for any family to blend and I hope the kids do ok with all the change in their lives. 

[Palimpsest]

9 hours ago, Milly-Molly-Mandy said:

Thoughts on the wedding which I watched live (I have no life ha!)

* Brittany is very lucky to have Daniel, a man who adored his first wife through thick and thin. Who has shown he can love children who aren't biologically his (his 2 are adopted) & I don't think will treat her 3 boys any differently to his 2

* She seems a strong personality while he seems more laid back. Hopefully a good match as Lyndsie was a gentle quiet personality from all accounts 

* a gorgeous wedding. Wish them all the best for their blended family 

I wish them the best for their blended family too.  I truly hope they make a success of it - for their sakes and for the sakes of all the children.  At the moment everything looks lovely and hopeful.  Power to them.

@Milly-Molly-Mandy, I know you were very invested in Lyndsie and Daniel.  I respect you for standing up for Lyndsie here.  And I have defended you for doing so, if you remember.  

I truly like you, but let us not white-wash all of this.  I don't mean to be harsh, but I do mean to provide a reality check.

Daniel and Lyndsie adopted two children when they already knew that Lyndsie's cancer could (and almost certainly would) recur.  I do not praise him (or her) for that. I still wonder what they told the bio-mom (or moms) about Lyndsie's condition when they adopted.  Daniel and Lyndsie KNEW her time was limited.  I still find their decision selfish.  Sorry.

Nor do I praise Daniel for the incredible feat (apparently in your eyes) of loving children that are not biologically his.  Many of us can muster up love for children who are not biologically ours.  Just ask all our adoptive parents here on Free Jinger.

That said, again I think this marriage is great.  I hope Daniel and Britanny have found love and healing together.  I hope they extend that love to their existing children (bio or not) and I hope they make every attempt to make those existing children who have experienced enormous loss happy before breeding more.

And I couldn't care less about her wedding dress.  She looked very pretty.  

I do find it profoundly weird that her father found it necessary to "give her away."  

 

[Milly-Molly-Mandy]

@Palimpsest I'm mortified you've taken my comments about him loving his children who are adopted that way. 

The most dangerous place for a child is in a home with a non biological man. I was trying (clearly clumsily) to make the point that Brittany could be comforted that Daniel has a proved ability to be a great father to his 2 children who aren't biologically his  

I apologize unreservedly if I've upset anyone, I hope others did not also take it that way. 

I've always had a soft spot for Lyndsie and I appreciated you standing up for me. 

[Palimpsest]

@Milly-Molly-Mandy, you always seem to think the best of everyone and I love you for it.

I'm sorry if I took your post wrong.  It just got me on a sensitive spot.

We all wish the best for these kids.  We really agree on that! 

 

 

[lilwriter85]

2 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

Daniel and Lyndsie adopted two children when they already knew that Lyndsie's cancer could (and almost certainly would) recur.  I do not praise him (or her) for that. I still wonder what they told the bio-mom (or moms) about Lyndsie's condition when they adopted.  Daniel and Lyndsie KNEW her time was limited.  I still find their decision selfish.  Sorry

This is why I was and still am mixed on Lyndsie and Daniel. I first got into their blog when I first joined FJ. during the yuku days I got sucked in when I read  read the part about them having an adoption fund. Like other FJers, Lynsdie did piss me off because she could have at least worked part time to contribute to the fund. At the same time, I felt bad for her because she had a more loving attitude towards vs some of the other fundie women discussed on FJ.  On Lyndsie's first  blog she admitted that she still had cancer cells in her body. There was a poster on FJ yuku named DocSharon who was either a GP or OB/GYN. She said that Lyndsie having cancer cells was not a good thing.  Sometime after that Lyndise and Daniel adopted Ethan. I still find them to selfish. Daniel doesn't piss me off that much these days. There are  much worse fundie or fundie lite men.

2 hours ago, Milly-Molly-Mandy said:

anyone want bets on how long till Brittany's pregnant? I think by Xmas. 

I wouldn't be surprised if she's pregnan by then or gets pregnant sometime next year. I know this sounds dumb but I do hope if they have a child it's girl so Aubrey won't be the only girl.

[Rachel333]

I notice that Brittany is going by Brittany Price Brooker now.

 

[Milly-Molly-Mandy]

I wonder if they will both adopt each other's children? And and share the same last name?

[JermajestyDuggar]

23 hours ago, Milly-Molly-Mandy said:

I wonder if they will both adopt each other's children? And and share the same last name?

I suppose it's possible Brittany and her children could change their last name to Price-Brooker. 

[Milly-Molly-Mandy]

12 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I suppose it's possible Brittany and her children could change their last name to Price-Brooker. 

Brittany has already changed her name to Brooker and using Price as her middle name. They refer to the family as 'the brooker bunch' which made me wonder if they will all change their names and yes boys might be Price-Brooker?

[Rachel333]

Daniel has a long post up on his instagram about Ethan and his first day of school. It's kind of personal for a social media post about a kid and I felt a little weird reading it. I'm sure Ethan has had a lot of pain in his life already, but it seems a little weird to talk about it so publicly since it's not like he's the one choosing to share his own story.

[ophelia]

I totally understand you, @Rachel333 and that is a feeling I often get whenever I read one of these lifestyle/fashion/family blogs, no matter if there is a connection to religion or not. The kids really don't have a choice what gets shared and what not. They just have to look cute.

I am feeling quite glad to have grown up without having every milestone of my childhood or every drama shared with the whole wide world.

[lilwriter85]

I noticed a few days back that she was going by Price-Brooker. I'm curious if Daniel will adopt her sons and if there will be a name change.

There is a chance that the boys' names might not change or be adopted by Daniel  if Brittany doesn't want possible issues with Patrick's parents. My parents have a friend who married a widow whose husband died when her two daughters were quite young.  They started calling him dad right away and he adopted them a couple of years later. The girls' paternal grandparents were upset about the adoption and the name change. After that, there were always rude to my dad's friend at events for the daughters.

Maybe Patrick's parents would be fine if there was name change and adoption. Sometimes you have tread cautiously.

[Rachel333]

This has got to be really hard for both Lyndsie's and Patrick's parents, but Patrick's parents sent Brittany a really nice note, which she shared on instagram.

Changing the boys' names would be a tricky issue. Since Brittany is still keeping Price in her name she's clearly not trying to erase Patrick, and maybe that means she's not going to change the boys' names.

[moochies]

15 hours ago, Rachel333 said:

Daniel has a long post up on his instagram about Ethan and his first day of school. It's kind of personal for a social media post about a kid and I felt a little weird reading it. I'm sure Ethan has had a lot of pain in his life already, but it seems a little weird to talk about it so publicly since it's not like he's the one choosing to share his own story.

I know there has been talk about what type of education the kids will receive-looks like at least Ethan is going to public school (many of the schools around started yesterday and today.)

[Rachel333]

Daniel has a new series of posts up on his blog. He confirmed something I've longed thought, which is that he never really believed Lyndsie was going to die until it actually happened. That's something I've seen in a lot of Christians who believe in healing, including in my own family, and I would imagine that it has got to make the grieving process worse.

Even when those kinds of Christians do admit that grief is hard, they still have to show that their grief isn't like others' grief because they believe in heaven. "You do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope." (1 Thess 4:13) That pressure to not be too sad can really complicate grief, in my experience.

As an aside, I don't think I've ever seen Christians acknowledge that the flip side--believing in Hell--can make grief so much worse than it is for people who don't believe in an afterlife at all. If you believe in Hell and you lose a loved one who wasn't Christian then not only do you have to cope with the idea of never seeing that person again--just like non-believers do--you have to live with the belief that your love done is suffering unimaginable torture for eternity. That's a lot to deal with emotionally.

Anyway, back to Daniel, I know a common (and deserved) FJ criticism of him and Lyndsie has been that they adopted children despite knowing Lyndsie's diagnosis. I really believe though that they were in denial about the whole thing and really did not believe Lyndsie could die young. I'm not sure that makes it any better, though, and either way those poor kids have already lost three parents at such a young age.

[Hane]

Regarding the possibility of adoption: My neighbor, a Navy wife, was pregnant when her husband was killed in WWII. When she remarried a few years later, she and her new husband decided against his adopting her child, out of respect for her late husband's parents, who had been a tremendous help and comfort to her and her little boy. The new husband was very much a dad to him--in fact, I was surprised when I learned that Tommy didn't have Burt's last name and wasn't his biological son.

Like most of us here, I didn't much like the circumstances under which Lyndsie and Daniel adopted their two children. However, I'm glad that everyone involved has found happiness. I'm reminded of a woman I know who was widowed very young, shortly after her wedding, when her husband contracted a swift and virulent form of cancer. (It was horrible for her--she was maybe 23 and there were no support groups back then.)  When she remarried, her late husband's family was overjoyed for her, and a few of them were actually in her wedding party. Their wedding was one of the most beautiful and heartfelt things I'd ever seen. 

[Flossie]

My step mother had two very young children when her first husband died of cancer.  She was pregnant with the youngest child when the cancer was found, and her husband fought it for two years.  Her oldest child claims to have some memory of his father, who died when he was three, but the youngest one wasn't even two at the time so he has only the pictures and stories to look back on.

Stepmom married my dad less than a year after her first husband passed.  She admitted that a lot of people thought that was unseemly, but as she said, she and her first husband knew that his chances of survival were poor from the start.  She said they had the rare opportunity to grieve together before he died, and he wanted her to marry again when she felt ready.  His only request was that she stay in their religion and that the man she married would accept the boys as his own.

Mission accomplished.  Stepmom and Dad married after a whirlwind courtship, and my step brothers always called him Dad.  He never adopted the boys out of respect for their original father, and got along well with his new sons paternal grandparents.  It worked out pretty good for them.

[Mudgie]

Way off topic and totally petty of me, but I'm going to say it anyway.

I really, really, really, really, really, hate his penchant for skinny jeans. 

That is all. 

[RoseWilder]

4 hours ago, Mudgie said:

Way off topic and totally petty of me, but I'm going to say it anyway.

I really, really, really, really, really, hate his penchant for skinny jeans. 

That is all. 

I wish I could upvote your post 100 times. 

[Rachel333]

His hair bugs me, and Ethan has the same hair cut. It's really going to date their wedding photos!

[Carm_88]

8 hours ago, Rachel333 said:

His hair bugs me, and Ethan has the same hair cut. It's really going to date their wedding photos!

Oh thank god! I thought I was the only one thinking that! 

[lilwriter85]

I agree about Daniel's hair. Britany's two older sons appear to have gotten similar hair cuts to match Daniel and Ethan. I wouldn't be surprised if Brittany's boys start wearing skinny jeans too.

[Escapefromfundiedom]

SOoooo glad I'm not the only one who is twitching about those skinny jeans. TBH I have hated this trend for men in general...but on Daniel I find it especially unattractive because it highlights that he has rather...pencil-y legs (not hating, it's just not a body type I find attractive) and then he compounds it by wearing those pointy toed shoes...Okay honestly I hate most of the fashion trends these days, so I'll shut up now. My sense of fashion fossilized around 2002-2004. I have a little boy (2) who has the beefiest beefcake thighs - finding pants for him right now is impossible because they're all skinny.

But...I have to say, I love these two together, they seem to genuinely care for each other and embrace each other's kids and scars and family history...I think they're pretty sweet together and I have appreciated some of Brittany's posts on IG lately.