Bontrager/Bowers 7: Thanking the Lord for all the Matchmaking

[samurai_sarah 12,129]

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[Bluebirdbluebell 3,310]

New blog post up on the Bontrager blog! It's basically the Bontrager version of the Maxwell's Random Life posts (photo dump). 

[VBOY9977 12,727]

Praise is next to Denver in a picture of the family at the dining table. I wonder when they’ll go public? It’s going to be when they get engaged like the rest of the Bons. My guess is it will happen before the year ends. 

Edited October 21 by VBOY9977

[fundiefan 25,217]

3 minutes ago, VBOY9977 said:

Praise is next to Denver in a picture of the family in the dining table. I wonder when they’ll go public? It’s going to be when they get engaged like the rest of the Bons. My guess is it will happen before the year ends. 

I came to say just that. And, I agree. As soon as there is an engagement they'll tell the world that they're Marrying. Their. Best. Friend. By Christmas at the latest. I'm guessing Thanksgiving though. For no reason other than being my guess. 

[JermajestyDuggar 182,305]

I was thinking a Christmas engagement. It’s such a common time to get engaged. And fundies usually spend time with their boyfriend/girlfriend during Christmas even if it’s a long distance relationship. Although I suppose it’s possible the couple might get together during thanksgiving. It’s probably made easier because Allison is married to Praise’s brother. Then if they travel to the Bons for thanksgiving, they can bring Praise with them.

Edited October 21 by JermajestyDuggar

[petrushka 2,567]

1 hour ago, VBOY9977 said:

Praise is next to Denver in a picture of the family in the dining table. I wonder when they’ll go public? It’s going to be when they get engaged like the rest of the Bons. My guess is it will happen before the year ends. 

Predicting an announcement after the Bons figure out where the new couple will live.  I figure Denver will be like his brothers and live somewhere on/near his parents' property.  They didn't have the same concerns with Chelsy and Allison.  OTOH, if Allison is currently living with HER in-laws, I suppose Denver and Praise could stay with Marlin and Becky for a while.  Not that I would wish that on Praise.

[JermajestyDuggar 182,305]

If Bryn and Mitch are no longer living at the Inn while running it, Denver and Praise could live there. I don’t remember if Bryn and Mitch have moved out for a bigger place since their family is growing.

Edited October 21 by JermajestyDuggar

[HereticHick 42,119]

11 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

If Bryn and Mitch are no longer living at the Inn while running it, Denver and Praise could live there. I don’t remember if Bryn and Mitch have moved out for a bigger place since their family is growing.

Do we know that they aren't living there? Because I noticed that one of the pics in the post--an outdoor grilling party for mom--seemed be in the backyard of the Inn.

[JermajestyDuggar 182,305]

3 minutes ago, HereticHick said:

Do we know that they aren't living there? Because I noticed that one of the pics in the post--an outdoor grilling party for mom--seemed be in the backyard of the Inn.

They must still be living there. Maybe they will move out when the next baby comes. I wonder how big the apartment is. It can’t be that big. 

[HereticHick 42,119]

4 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

They must still be living there. Maybe they will move out when the next baby comes. I wonder how big the apartment is. It can’t be that big. 

I'm actually surprised it could be bigger than 1 bedroom. But this is small town Iowa, so land is cheap.

[NancyDrewFan1989 4,110]

For Mitchell and Bryn living at the inn, it wouldn't surprise me if they are looking to move out. After all their family is growing and they may be finding that they don't have as much space with a child and with one on the way it could become cramped. If they do or have moved out, it wouldn't surprise me if they still work their full time. They could have found a place very close to the inn giving them an easy commute to and from in the event they needed to get their quickly. 

As for Denver's relationship status, the Bontragers don't announce couples until engagement. So, we shall see what the rest of the year has to hold for Denver and Praise, whether it is an engagement or not. 

[Florita 3,467]

On 10/21/2020 at 4:49 AM, VBOY9977 said:

Praise is next to Denver in a picture of the family at the dining table. I wonder when they’ll go public? It’s going to be when they get engaged like the rest of the Bons. My guess is it will happen before the year ends. 

Isn't it strange that Allison & Jeremiah was a total surprise yet we have enough Denver & Praise pictures to fill a scrapbook.

[Melissa1977 23,037]

58 minutes ago, Florita said:

Isn't it strange that Allison & Jeremiah was a total surprise yet we have enough Denver & Praise pictures to fill a scrapbook.

If, as some posters suspect, Allison had a prior broken courtship, I understand her hiding Jeremiah until the engagement. Another theory is that the relationship was as dull as him and Allison had doubts about the success of it. 

[becky_m2001 367]

9 minutes ago, Melissa1977 said:

If, as some posters suspect, Allison had a prior broken courtship, I understand her hiding Jeremiah until the engagement. Another theory is that the relationship was as dull as him and Allison had doubts about the success of it. 

Allison had a broken courtship? I did not know that. I know Chelsy ended a relationship right before meeting John. How odd is it that of the two sisters Chelsy clearly made the better choice, even though she married into the Maxwell family? It's like some sort of alternate universe or something. Weird...

[JermajestyDuggar 182,305]

I believe there was one picture of the single Maxwells visiting the the Bontragers. And then the single Maxwells went to family camp as well. But those were the only two clues about Chelsy and John. Which weren’t even great clues because they never showed Chelsy and John near each other. The Bowers and Bontragers posted group pictures of Josh, Cass, Lina, and Carson all together. But others were around. They were just small hints because the Bowers and Bontrager families seemed to hang out a lot at that time and we didn’t know their parents were fervently praying for them to get together. We heard zip about Mitchell and Bryn. We hadn’t even heard of Bryn until the engagement announcement. The Bontragers who were the quietest about relationships were Mitch and Allison. Those two seem to come out of nowhere.

[ophelia 13,838]

10 hours ago, becky_m2001 said:

Allison had a broken courtship? I did not know that. I know Chelsy ended a relationship right before meeting John. How odd is it that of the two sisters Chelsy clearly made the better choice, even though she married into the Maxwell family? It's like some sort of alternate universe or something. Weird...

I don't think we know that for sure, but we've suspected it for some time now.

[Melissa1977 23,037]

12 hours ago, becky_m2001 said:

Allison had a broken courtship? I did not know that. I know Chelsy ended a relationship right before meeting John. How odd is it that of the two sisters Chelsy clearly made the better choice, even though she married into the Maxwell family? It's like some sort of alternate universe or something. Weird...

It' s just a suspiction. She has been desperately single for years and her parents prayed to marry her. She's pretty, her family is well-known... Difficult to believe she didn't find a boyfriend before. 

Maxwells are very weird and incredibly dull, but the more fundie families I "meet", the better Maxwells look in comparison. I can't believe I'm saying that!

[JermajestyDuggar 182,305]

There was a time when Allison’s writing on her blog sounded depressed. My guess is that there was a broken courtship during that time. She started sounding much better last year. We knew she was probably in some sort of relationship since she sounded much happier on her blog. But she gave no hint as to who. So Jeremiah was a surprise. 

Edited October 23 by JermajestyDuggar

[ophelia 13,838]

3 hours ago, Melissa1977 said:

Maxwells are very weird and incredibly dull, but the more fundie families I "meet", the better Maxwells look in comparison. I can't believe I'm saying that!

I totally know what you mean. There seems to be some common sense left in Maxhell and they don't seem to be attracted to conspirancy theories. On the other hand... the bar is really low so it isn't like their is real competition.

[fundiefan 25,217]

37 minutes ago, ophelia said:

I totally know what you mean. There seems to be some common sense left in Maxhell and they don't seem to be attracted to conspirancy theories. On the other hand... the bar is really low so it isn't like their is real competition.

We don't really know this. The Maxwells are adept at image making. They refrain from most political or social conversation. With the exception of being anti-choice and supporting a random political candidate for office, they do not discuss the world at large very much. Steve knows how to craft an image  - even all these years after the dog & pony show ended - they carefully craft every word they say and everything that is public. That is one of the main reasons their blog is so god-awful boring. They very intentionally keep themselves at arms length from their "followers" being very careful what they say. 

I don't doubt for a minute, really, that they are totally on board with all the fundie crazy we see in families like the Bontragers. They do social distancing slightly more, but it's because Anna has cancer. Cancer patients are immunosuppressed in non-COVID times. Considering Chelsy & John hop about the country with her family and attend "camp", they go to a church with no distancing and no masks...I am totally of the mind that any mention of COVID is because they have to cope & say "something" - they already live in their own bubble, they can't keep fans and followers if they don't mention facts about the world outside their bubble. 

In other words, they 100% manipulate their image to show what they want you to see. There is nothing about them or their history to convince me they actually take COVID precautions seriously, outside Anna's frail medical condition - and again, even without COVID, she would be at risk and precautions would have to be taken. 

[JermajestyDuggar 182,305]

12 minutes ago, fundiefan said:

We don't really know this. The Maxwells are adept at image making. They refrain from most political or social conversation. With the exception of being anti-choice and supporting a random political candidate for office, they do not discuss the world at large very much. Steve knows how to craft an image  - even all these years after the dog & pony show ended - they carefully craft every word they say and everything that is public. That is one of the main reasons their blog is so god-awful boring. They very intentionally keep themselves at arms length from their "followers" being very careful what they say. 

I don't doubt for a minute, really, that they are totally on board with all the fundie crazy we see in families like the Bontragers. They do social distancing slightly more, but it's because Anna has cancer. Cancer patients are immunosuppressed in non-COVID times. Considering Chelsy & John hop about the country with her family and attend "camp", they go to a church with no distancing and no masks...I am totally of the mind that any mention of COVID is because they have to cope & say "something" - they already live in their own bubble, they can't keep fans and followers if they don't mention facts about the world outside their bubble. 

In other words, they 100% manipulate their image to show what they want you to see. There is nothing about them or their history to convince me they actually take COVID precautions seriously, outside Anna's frail medical condition - and again, even without COVID, she would be at risk and precautions would have to be taken. 

If we are just talking about Steve, Teri, and their now quite small household, they have slightly more common sense than say, the Bontragers. Chelsy is definitely into the Woo and likely buys into some of the conspiracy theories her father buys into. But Steve and Teri seem to listen to some actual doctors and medical advice. Steve and Teri seem to take the pandemic more seriously than a lot of fundie families. Probably not as seriously than a lot of us on FJ though. 

[Florita 3,467]

From Family Camp 2019. Looks like the H sisters are arm & arm with the Bon sisters and Jer is only one sister length away from Alli. According to Allison's timeline they started dating around this time. Perhaps the only public clue!?!

 

Spoiler

 

4 hours ago, Melissa1977 said:

Maxwells are very weird and incredibly dull, but the more fundie families I "meet", the better Maxwells look in comparison. I can't believe I'm saying that!

Of all the fundies I've "met", I think I am the most like Teri Maxwell. And that makes me cringe. A lot.

[Melissa1977 23,037]

1 hour ago, Florita said:

Of all the fundies I've "met", I think I am the most like Teri Maxwell. And that makes me cringe. A lot.

I'm sure there is a huge difference between you and Teri! But it's normal to find similarities with fundies.  We can have similar personalities but with different beliefs or life decisions, and that's what counts. 

Zsu reminds me of my (atheist) mom. And I'm happy that my mom never had the bunch of kids she wished to have. Looking at Zsu I can see how crazy/bitter my mom would have gone with a "quiver". 

 

[browngrl 4,972]

7 hours ago, Florita said:

Of all the fundies I've "met", I think I am the most like Teri Maxwell. And that makes me cringe. A lot.

I can empathize. I often look at what the Maxwell's do and note that my husband and I have done something similar. I have turned our similarities into kind of a game. For example: the Maxwell's make bean burritos and I try and make BETTER bean burritos.  However, I have a deep seated fear that despite my efforts I am turning into Teri. At least I haven't made an epic about forgetting a cheese wrapper and I am quick to tell my husband he's forgotten to order pizza (do not get in the way of my pizza!) so there is still that.

[JermajestyDuggar 182,305]

1 hour ago, browngrl said:

I can empathize. I often look at what the Maxwell's do and note that my husband and I have done something similar. I have turned our similarities into kind of a game. For example: the Maxwell's make bean burritos and I try and make BETTER bean burritos.  However, I have a deep seated fear that despite my efforts I am turning into Teri. At least I haven't made an epic about forgetting a cheese wrapper and I am quick to tell my husband he's forgotten to order pizza (do not get in the way of my pizza!) so there is still that.

Once when we had a bbq, an old friend of mine accidentally left the paper on the cheese for his hamburger and it was pretty funny. In his defense, the paper was almost the same color as the cheese (it might’ve been Havarti).