Bontragers/Bowers/Helferich 9: Oh Nos! Chelsey Married a Maxwell!

[fundiefan]

13 minutes ago, sleepygirl1 said:

Here is the link to the pictures of the wedding.

 

https://bontragerfamilysingers.com/denverpraises-wedding-pics

Doh! It would have been helpful if I had supplied the link when I said it was in my feed. 

I blame it on being Saturday morning. As good a reason as any for doing stupid sh*t.

[Jigsaw3]

(Argh, I had a whole long reply typed out and lost it!)

Anyways, @fundiefan and @sleepygirl1, nice catch! The confusion is because the Bontragers have updated their website.

They've moved their blog from blogspot to wordpress and integrated it into their website. They've moved over the tour posts from January and February to the new blog, but not the family life type posts. The old blog is still available via a link, but I wonder if it's time for the Wayback Machine, in case they decide to do more drastic editing?

The website itself has been updated with new pictures; the band now includes Rebecca, Liz, Taylor, Hudson, and Joe Xiques, but no Denver or Praise; I'm glad they're escaping the travelling circus. The Bontragers better not marry Liz off too fast or they'll be short on women's voices. The bios and such haven't been updated recently but I would guess that's next; wonder which kid got this website update assignment? The only tour date listed for the summer is their usual Lake Itasca Music Festival. Family Camp is on for this fall, but of course no mention of any COVID precautions.

The wedding pictures are gorgeous. Denver and Praise are clearly very happy and comfortable physically; they can't keep their hands off each other (tastefully, thankfully.) One of the bridesmaids' dresses doesn't match. Maybe she's gotten a different dress on purpose, but I don't think she's maid of honour? I can't tell, but I'm afraid it doesn't work for me and it was probably an accidental dress mismatch. Chelsy is clearly pregnant in the family pictures.

Not a mask in sight.

[Sops2]

There are some great photos and the happy pair are very much into each other.

I think I would have left out the squashed noses photo !!

[JermajestyDuggar]

11 minutes ago, Sops2 said:

There are some great photos and the happy pair are very much into each other.

I think I would have left out the squashed noses photo !!

It looks like they are a couple of vacuums that accidentally got stuck to each other. This is one of the many reasons why I say no one should wait until their wedding day for their first kiss. First kisses can be awkward as hell.

[JermajestyDuggar]

The Bontragers posted their singing tour schedule and they will be stopping by the church of Gil Bates on The 20th. 

[HereticHick]

17 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

The Bontragers posted their singing tour schedule and they will be stopping by the church of Gil Bates on The 20th. 

and then playing the Crown College church (Temple Baptist) that evening

[JermajestyDuggar]

Just now, HereticHick said:

and then playing the Crown College church (Temple Baptist) that evening

Imagine all the single fundie girls Lincoln Taylor can meet there. ?

[HereticHick]

I wonder if  the oh-so-happy-to-be-married Mrs. Allison Helferich is having her baby before the tour begins June 18.

[JermajestyDuggar]

8 minutes ago, HereticHick said:

I wonder if  the oh-so-happy-to-be-married Mrs. Allison Helferich is having her baby before the tour begins June 18.

We know that if her family is on tour, they won’t go see the new baby until the tour is over. Even if it’s two months later. I get the feeling that if the Bontrager daughters want their babies to see their grandparents, they will have to travel to pa and ma Bontrager. I’m amazed at how much Chelsy has traveled 5 hours with babies by herself. I bet Allison will have to do the same thing.

I want to say, my children screamed their heads off until they barfed in the car so I might be a bit traumatized at the thought of two babies in a car for 5 hours.

[Bluebirdbluebell]

16 hours ago, HereticHick said:

I wonder if  the oh-so-happy-to-be-married Mrs. Allison Helferich is having her baby before the tour begins June 18.

Well she said she was due "late spring". The first of summer is June 21st so the baby will be here by then. It looks a girl based on clothes she had on her Instagram. 

[LurkerOverThePond]

17 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I get the feeling that if the Bontrager daughters want their babies to see their grandparents, they will have to travel to pa and ma Bontrager. I’m amazed at how much Chelsy has traveled 5 hours with babies by herself. I bet Allison will have to do the same thing.

Any idea how many hours is it from Mrs. Jeremiah Helferich's house bedroom to the Bontrager farm? More than five? 

Every time I look at distances between places on US map, I'm flabbergasted how vast the country is. I hate traveling long distances in a car (give me a train anyday over car!) and couldn't face five hour trips regularly. Years ago on holiday, when Mr Lurker and I took a coach from Seattle to Portland, OR, I looked at the map and thought "that doesn't look too bad". Well, I was wrong!

[JermajestyDuggar]

Just now, LurkerOverThePond said:

Any idea how many hours is it from Mrs. Jeremiah Helferich's house bedroom to the Bontrager farm? More than five? 

Every time I look at distances between places on US map, I'm flabbergasted how vast the country is. I hate traveling long distances in a car (give me a train anyday over car!) and couldn't face five hour trips regularly. Years ago on holiday, when Mr Lurker and I took a coach from Seattle to Portland, OR, I looked at the map and thought "that doesn't look too bad". Well, I was wrong!

I think it’s around 4-5 hours too. I remember thinking that if Allison and Chelsy want to see one another, they will always have to meet at their parents’ house. I wonder how Allison will handle traveling with a baby. 

[Melissa1977]

1 hour ago, Bluebirdbluebell said:

Well she said she was due "late spring". The first of summer is June 21st so the baby will be here by then. It looks a girl based on clothes she had on her Instagram. 

She said it wasn't a gender reveal. I assume she doesn't know the sex of the baby, so she is accepting all kind of hand-me-downs. There are a lot of Hellferich granddaughters.

[HereticHick]

5 hours ago, LurkerOverThePond said:

Every time I look at distances between places on US map, I'm flabbergasted how vast the country is. I hate traveling long distances in a car (give me a train anyday over car!) and couldn't face five hour trips regularly. Years ago on holiday, when Mr Lurker and I took a coach from Seattle to Portland, OR, I looked at the map and thought "that doesn't look too bad". Well, I was wrong!

Ha! Back in college in the southern US, I always had international student friends who would say they wanted to spend their (1-week) spring break holiday visiting "the Grand Canyon, New York, New Orleans and Las Vegas," By bus. : )

When Mr. Possum and I planned our first trip to Australia, one of  our guidebooks very helpfully superimposed a map of Australia on a map of the continental US--that really put things in perspective!

[ophelia]

22 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I think it’s around 4-5 hours too. I remember thinking that if Allison and Chelsy want to see one another, they will always have to meet at their parents’ house. I wonder how Allison will handle traveling with a baby. 

Do we know were exactly Allison lives? Or at least which county?

[JermajestyDuggar]

4 hours ago, ophelia said:

Do we know were exactly Allison lives? Or at least which county?

I believe I knew the approximate area back when they first announced getting together and that’s when I figured out how long it was back to the Bontrager home. I have forgotten since then but I’m sure it can be looked up online. 

[ophelia]

Okay, so I tried figuring out where they might live and came across the following stuff:
Isaiah Helferich works at Quad Brothers Construction and they are located in Mountain Lake MN. It's a 5h drive from there to Kalona. So that might be a shot.
I'm not one of the seasoned FJ sleuths so feel free to correct me!

[HereticHick]

Ahem: https://www.fastpeoplesearch.com/address/37891-600th-ave_mountain-lake-mn-56159

[Jigsaw3]

Well, I do feel like a stalker, but thank you for that, @HereticHick .

Some interesting information: Lisa Marie, Kevin, and Lydia Helferich (mother, father, sister) and a Christy Helferich are all listed as living at that location. However, that doesn't mean that they're all living together! Lydia is now married so the search engine is out of date in at least one listing, and just because they're listed does not mean that Marie and Kevin are still living there. Or else Allison and Jeremiah could be living in a different house on the same property.  But this supports the theory that Allison moved into a family house/compound when she married Jeremiah instead of the two of them finding housing entirely independent of the Helferich in-laws.

Speaking of Allison, she has an interesting "love story" post up on her from allison blog. I'm not convinced that a young man should ask a young lady's father for permission to get into a relationship before he asks the lady in question, but Allison clearly disagrees with me.

[Notjean]

There's at least one Beachy Amish lady who agrees with you.    http://dorcassmucker.blogspot.com/2020/05/ask-aunt-dorcas-trains-rant-on-dating.html

 

[JermajestyDuggar]

10 hours ago, Notjean said:

There's at least one Beachy Amish lady who agrees with you.    http://dorcassmucker.blogspot.com/2020/05/ask-aunt-dorcas-trains-rant-on-dating.html

 

I hope other beach Amish listen to her advice. I hate how convoluted and ridiculous some fundie relationships are. Just say what you think and get on with it. No playing games or confusing talks. Adding in the father is just ridiculous. It unnecessarily adds confusion to a situation. Is the father going to take part in the marriage? No? Then why is he involved in the courtship? 

[HereticHick]

14 hours ago, Jigsaw3 said:

Well, I do feel like a stalker, but thank you for that, @HereticHick .

Some interesting information: Lisa Marie, Kevin, and Lydia Helferich (mother, father, sister) and a Christy Helferich are all listed as living at that location. However, that doesn't mean that they're all living together! Lydia is now married so the search engine is out of date in at least one listing, and just because they're listed does not mean that Marie and Kevin are still living there. Or else Allison and Jeremiah could be living in a different house on the same property.  But this supports the theory that Allison moved into a family house/compound when she married Jeremiah instead of the two of them finding housing entirely independent of the Helferich in-laws.

 

If you look at the property on Google streetview or earth, you can see there are multiple buildings (and grain silos) on the property--some look commercial, and some look like houses.

[petrushka]

Don't want to be a stalker either, but Whitepages has a Kevin Helferich living in Douglas AZ.  Looks to be the right age and related to the Helferiches in MN.

[JillyO]

Really? Not a single comment about the handrail in the groomsman's crotch? Come on, fellow snarkers, I'm disappointed.

In all seriousness, that's pretty poor imagine composition. Hopefully those photos were a wedding present and they didn't pay a lot of money for them.

[JermajestyDuggar]

10 minutes ago, JillyO said:

Really? Not a single comment about the handrail in the groomsman's crotch? Come on, fellow snarkers, I'm disappointed.

In all seriousness, that's pretty poor imagine composition. Hopefully those photos were a wedding present and they didn't pay a lot of money for them.

The one pink dress that is the wrong pink is bugging me more than the railing crotch.