With Lauren Swanson about to join the Duggar family, the clan now has birthdays on May 17th, 18th, and 19th, as well as May 23rd and 26th. Wishing Lauren a happy 19th!
Photo courtesy duggarfamily.com/Josiah Duggar
Josiah Duggar and Lauren Swanson (soon to be Lauren Duggar)
She’s so young 😓 what’s with the obsession with teen brides lately? The three last wedding have had them
ReplyDeleteI don't understand where her parents are. At 19 she should be in some type of higher education, or at least working. Enjoying life with her friends. There's lots of time to get married and popping out babies. Sorry, just how I feel.
DeleteI find it sad. I would've had a very hard time getting excited about any of my own kids getting married and having children so young.
DeleteThey are always in such a hurry and court for a few months because they have to wait until after they are married to have more intimate relationships!
DeleteThat is what happens when you raise your daughters to believe their sole purpose in life is to be a mother.
DeleteI married at 18 yrs old. Celebrating 42 years this summer. My objection is having babies so quickly! Being married didn't stop me from attending college and having a job. Saved starting a family for our 20s. We wanted to enjoy just being with each other for awhile.
DeleteOr "May 21, 2018 at 6:45AM" maybe this is what happens when you raise your children to value family and children instead of valuing Selfishness and Pettiness. 😉 Mind your own business and keep your Rudeness to yourself! The fact that this is how you spend your time, trolling, shows a lot about you.
DeleteI agree. I feel sorry for this young woman. I cared enough for my daughters that I ensured that they had educations and were able to pick their spouses from a place of strength. They did not marry the first guy who came arpund.
DeleteHave to have babies before the insides age. Although she has til 35 so..
DeleteThe "royal" bride is 36. Gonna be hard to have babies.
Delete9:18- I hope you are not accusing those who do not wish to have children as being selfish and petty. Quite the contrary, they may be giving back to society in any number of unselfish ways. I've always thought it an inherently selfish thing to bring children into this bizarre world. Certainly, none of us had any choice in having been born. Truth be told, children fill a need for the parents in some way, whether it's to fill a void of lonliness, satisfy a need for completeness, as a test of virility, to pass on a family name, or simply produce someone who looks like them. Whether a person has children or not does not make them more or less selfish.
DeleteMay 22 at 9:36 am. It won't be hard haveing babies at that age my mom was 36,37,39 when she had me and my sisters.
DeleteMay 22@3:27. Funny,I had children to love them, teach them to love God, and hopefully to someday see the face of God in heaven. I don't think we all have children to fulfill selfish desires. Raising children right takes a lot of time, effort and sacrifice. Definitely NOT a job for the selfish!
DeleteGetting married at 19 is preferable to many of the alternatives. They're adults.
DeleteHappy birthday Lauren. When is the wedding?
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday Lauren!!🎂🎍
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday To You, Lauren! ❤����������
ReplyDeleteSo tomorrow would be a perfect day for a wedding!
ReplyDeleteOr at least a dress fitting. Something is going on......
Nope!
DeleteBet they had a shower.
DeleteHappy Brithaday mine is the 29th
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Lauren!!
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday Lauren!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Lauren! God bless you 💜
ReplyDeleteBeautiful couple! He looks SO proud to be with her! Excited to see her as a bride. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteI would never encourage a daughter of mine to marry at such a young age. If it's the real thing, the relationship will survive a few more years. If it's not, you can move on without being stuck in a covenant marriage.
ReplyDeleteWhat’s a covenant marriage?
DeleteThe Duggars believe in marrying young. Ben narrowly avoided being a "teenage father". Jana is having a difficult time because she's so "old" by Duggar standards.
Delete@7:44 No, of course you wouldn't & shouldn't because you see covenant marriage as "being stuck"! Billy Graham spoke about the "brevity of life" & he lived into his nineties! God tells us to use our time wisely. Love is a decision, marriage meant to thrive not just "survive"!
Delete11:26- Covenant marriage is no guarantee of a happy relationship. And yes, either spouse may end up feeling "stuck". I've seen it happen.
DeleteHappy Birthday Lauren
DeleteA covenant marriage in the state of AK means divorce is only permitted for certain reasons, as opposed to no-fault divorce that allows for divorce for any reason. Adultery, for example, would still be grounds for divorce. Or if a spouse was abusive, a drug addict, or abandoned the family.
DeleteSo someone in a covenant marriage isn't totally "stuck" but the ideal is that marriage is for life and divorce only as a last resort for egregious reasons.
Happy Birthday Lauren!
ReplyDeleteI can’t help but think their wedding must be coming soon if they follow in the steps of his siblings. They make a nice looking couple. Happy Birthday Lauren!
ReplyDeleteTime 5:36AM Sat 5/19/18
ReplyDeleteHappy late Bday to Lauren Swanson who soon will be Mrs Duggar.
She's so pretty. Was this pic taken during the Australia/New Zealand trip?
ReplyDeleteI can't wait for their wedding! I hope it's actually today! Same day as the royal wedding! That would be fun!
ReplyDeleteLauren will make a beautiful Bride. I'm ready for the Wedding.
ReplyDeleteHandsome couple!
ReplyDeleteonly 19this time next year she will either have a baby or be in the late stages of pregnancy what is it with these irls do they not want to enjoy the world a bit before they settle down
ReplyDeleteWhy are there only teen brides and teen moms? Why not mature and enjoy life together?
ReplyDeleteShe is to young to sit at home and be a wife.
ReplyDeleteShe's old enough to have children and that's her role in life according to the Duggar beliefs.
DeleteTime 2:20pm Tues 5/22
DeleteFirst off that comment is pretty mean according to the Duggar Beliefs? No any woman can be a housewife they are part of a movement that starts with the letter Q.
Anon @5:58. Kind if an insult to moms and housewives everywhere. I certainly don't "sit at home". That's an immature assessment of what it is to be a wife and mother.
DeleteIn all fairness to Anonymous @ 5:58, Jessa did complain on the show when she first got married about sitting around and waiting for Ben to get home (like she was bored). I'm not sure what her expectations were for married life. I had to laugh at the comment though. As a wife, mother, and homeschooling mom, I definitely don't sit at home all day every day. I'm far busier now than when I worked full-time and when I was single, on my own, and working 2 jobs prior to marriage. When we're not doing household chores and schooling, we're running errands,helping our aging parents recoup from an accident, and trying to squeeze in some family free time in the evening (after grading and lesson planning). It's more hectic than we'd like at times, but we're doing what's important to us and our family members know we love them and we know what's going on in each other's lives (joys, worries, challenges, interests, issues, etc.).
DeleteJill didn't want to sit around - she had to go have lunch with Derick - she couldn't let him out of her sight for a single work day. I found that fairly immature of her. Unless she was with Derick, there wasn't anything else for her to do when they were first married. It must have been a shock to have a house all to yourself. I don't think she could handle it.
DeleteAnonymous @4:01- I have to say having watched the Duggar family, we've been careful to raise our daughter not to be clingy. When these girls are courting, they become very clingy and seem to have no interests outside of the young man (far beyond the normal "we love each other and want to spend time together and we're excited we're getting married"). It's a bad example that both Michelle and the kids themselves have repeatedly said that "the one courting has only one responsibility-that's all she can handle". That's so empty-headed, shallow, and immature for young people who are supposed to be so responsible and mature. My parents would never have allowed that mindset, much less encouraged it. I don't see that when I read about the Proverbs 31 Woman- I can't see her acting that way, nor encouraging it in her daughters. We're raising our daughter to be complete in the Lord and if God sends a godly man to be her husband, the man will have found a good thing...not an immature, clingy, insecure girl needing constant reassurance. Maybe they're laboring under the false delusion that that kind of behavior activates a guy's protective (white knight)nature. The vast majority of men find that stressful and annoying after a few years (cue Derick rebuking Jill on camera for crying and honestly discussing how afraid she was being in Central America-"We don't talk about that.").
DeleteWishing you a year of happiness and blessings. God Bless.
ReplyDeleteHAPPY BIRTHDAY LAUREN
Joan,Marion and Marilyn
Happt Birthday to Lauren - Best wishes for a lovely wedding and happy ever after for Josiah and Lauren.
ReplyDeleteHappy Belated to her!
ReplyDeleteHow or why is there a cross on the beach?
ReplyDeleteFor tv
DeleteIt is a Christian beach
DeleteA Christian beach? Never heard of such a thing.
DeleteHappy Birthday Lauren! Hope you had a wonderful birthday with Josiah and your family...Jane
ReplyDeleteI see Josiah and Lauren did their wedding registry at Bed, Bath and Beyond today. The wedding date on the registry is Dec. 31, 2018!
ReplyDeleteOK. Somehow I don't see them waiting until December 31 to marry. It might be a ruse to throw off their over eager fans.
Delete
DeleteNone of the registry dates have ever been correct.
They always set a date for later than it really is. I’m guessing a summer wedding will be happening
DeleteTheir wedding is probably this weekend. No Duggars are engaged for 8 months.
DeleteI’m in agreement with a lot of comments above. Why a teen bride? The truth of the matter is that the rational part of the brain does not reach full maturity until 25. I am not saying you can’t marry before 25, but 19 is just too young. I still wish them all the best though.
ReplyDeleteSo did you have the same reaction to teen groom Ben Seewald? Ben was also 19 at marriage, is now a father of two, still only 23. I don't remember that much agita over his young age at marriage.
DeleteYes I had the same exact reaction.
Delete8:14, I think your maturity level is more important than your actual age. There are 30 year olds I know who I’d never advise to marry! And while I don’t think most 19 year olds are mature enough to get married, I’ve met a few who have, and definitely were ready, so you really have to take it case by case.
DeleteI was surprised Jim Bob allowed Ben to court Jessa. Ben was barely 18 when he and Jessa started their relationship and still earning his associates degree. Jim Bob provided the couple with economic security - Jessa and Ben with a place to live and Ben with a job. Ben is still finding his footing as he is still a student and supposedly working for Jim Bob. They earn money from the show but Jessa's family has been doing that since she was a child.
DeleteBen is a wonderful father and he treats Jessa well, but was not ready for marriage based on Jim Bob's normal courtship standards.
Yes I did think Ben was too young and still do.
DeleteJim Bob wasn't completely happy with the relationship between Jessa and Ben particularly because of his age and lack of establishment. This is why Jessa and Ben's courtship lasted significantly longer than the other siblings before engagement and marriage. It is also why Ben's father - who took advantage of his newfound Duggar-related fame and started his own family blog after Ben and Jessa went public - wrote about "overprotective fathers" of daughters having unfair and too high standards for young men in their lives. It was his rebuttal to Jim Bob's objections about Ben.
DeleteI've known 18 year old couples and 23 year old couples who thought they were so mature, who are now in their forties and act like middle schoolers on social media ...all the while telling the world via their Instagram posts and Pinterest Pins how much more mature they are than someone else. It's laughable on one hand and horribly sad on the other. If you have to tell someone how mature you are, you're not. That's one of the issues I have with 18-23 year-olds getting married. The vast majority are still in the immature "trying to prove something" stage. By the time their brain fully matures physiologically, they begin realizing that they're neither as all-wise, all-knowing, or mature as they thought they were. It's the irony of human nature: we can crawl some, so we're think we're ready to walk. We can walk a little and we think we're ready to run. We have a little knowledge under our belt and we think we're so much smarter/wiser/more intelligent/more mature than those with years of life experience on us.
Delete19 is an adult. Nothing wrong with marriage at that age.
DeleteI didn't really feel mature until my 50's, when my kids were grown and my parents were gone. I finally had the wisdom and maturity that comes from that many years of experiencing life's ups and downs. 9:25 is right...until you hit 50 or 60 and have that perspective, you can merely be going through the motions in the maturity department. But you can't tell that to someone in their 20's or 30's who thinks they have it all together. Or to the teen brides and grooms. But they'll see. We all age, with everything that brings. They'll see...
DeletePretty sure I've reached maturity at 46. I have 3 children in their 20's, 5 teenagers, and 5 younger than that, the youngest being 1 1/2. I've buried both my parents and my only sibling along with oneof my husband's sisters. We've also suffered through cancer several times. I think life experiences and how you deal with them helos you mature. It's not a certain age, but rather your personal growth as a person.
Delete@ Sunnysideup- I'm sorry you've had to deal with so much. You're right, going through those heavy life experiences does mature you more quickly. Most teens and twenty-somethings though aren't having to deal with those things, much less many of them. I think many posters are concerned that the Duggars have engineered a sort of artificial environment for their children and the young marrieds and set themselves up as a public example for impressionable young people who do not live in that world and don't have all the advantages that a television show income can buy.
Deletedid they put the cross up if not thats really cool
ReplyDeleteI somehow doubt they did that.
DeleteHappy belated 19th birthday Lauren. I can't wait to see Josiah and your wedding and the honeymoon trip on TV. I love the show and look forward to each new season.
ReplyDeleteJust my opinion, but I see a few problems with the family friends, courting, short engagement, married young trajectory. First of all, it only works in a "closed society", where one surrounds themselves with people practicing the same. Secondly, there's a lack of realization that you're not marrying the family; you're marrying the person. Thirdly, if there are serious issues in the marriage, the couple involved are generally counseled by the same "closed society"- so there's a great deal of unspoken (and sometimes spoken) pressure to conform to the society's standard at one's personal expense, rather than actually dealing with the actual problem(s) or any dysfunction. Fourth, because the marriage actually involves whole extended families ("knit together"), there's inherent pressure not to "disappoint" everyone involved or "rip families apart". Because the society model hinges on family and family-involvement, the couple rarely actually leave and cleave, developing their own unique identity and establishing their own independent household. Each spouse's identity is bound up in their family of origin, with the couple's identity tied to both their families. They do very little independent of their families, as a rule. They fail to establish unique family traditions as a couple and with/for their own children. In short, they generally fail to thrive outside of their "family" environment. They technically leave to marry, but they boomerang back to their parents household for their social and emotional needs.
ReplyDeleteVery well said.
DeleteI think all of what you mentioned are seen as features, not bugs, in their system. It's all intentional.
DeleteTime 3:52AM Sat 5/26/18
ReplyDeleteAnonymous comment on Sun 5/20 Time 4:57AM the comment was like this that what happens when you raise your daughter's to believe their sole purpose in life is to be a mom. First off I find that comment rude. Women being housewives for years Without Susan B & Elizabeth Cady Staton Women would not be independent and vote own their own property without these women fighting for what they believe in. If You must know Catherine of Aragon married 7 years after Arthur's death King Henry Viii s older brother. She was 23 he was 18. Even Queens of the royal family got married young. What you said was their solo purpose in life is to be a mother. No some women wanted to be housewives & Moms. Keep your rude comments to yourself please.
Queens got married young because there was much pressure to produce (preferably male) heirs to the throne and continue the family line and power. With infant death rates high and lifespans short, it could take quite awhile to produce a viable heir, so best to start early. That is not a system we need to use in this day and age, though.
DeleteTime 11:25PM Mon 5/28
ReplyDeleteWhat system? Women being mother's is no system reason why Queens was pressured to have male heirs because kings was the boss of their marriage. Women could not divorce in those days. Their is no system you don't make sense by saying that is not a system we need to use in this day & age though. Their is no such thing as a system to being a mom.