Recap: "Michaella and Brandon"

Bringing Up Bates, "Michaella and Brandon"

• Brandon comes to Rocky Top, Tennessee, for a two-week visit with the Bates family. His relationship with Michaella has been long-distance since the two started courting on December 30th, 2013, so Gil and Kelly suggested he come for an extended stay to bond with the rest of the family.
• "I have been counting down the days since I first found out he was coming," says Michaella. "I have been so excited about having this time to spend with him and seeing him interact with my siblings."
• When he arrives, Brandon surprises the kids with candy. "It was the bestest!" says Judson. "He's my favorite."
• "Brandon was smart to bring candy in one way, but he would have been smarter to bring earplugs," jokes Zach, who admits he is enjoying the quietness of married life with only one kid.
• As the third youngest of ten kids, Brandon's upbringing was busy, but definitely not as chaotic as Michaella's. "It's kind of overwhelming at times, but it's also kind of fun, just to be able to be in the atmosphere," he says, smiling. "They are all very loving people."
• Michaella and Brandon met at a homeschool conference about five years ago. "The more I get to know her, the more I realize how honored I am to be in this relationship with her," says Brandon.
• Gil and Kelly share one rule with the couple: they cannot be alone in a room together.
• While Michaella works her day job as a nanny, Brandon, born and raised in Michigan, accompanies Gil and the boys on a tree job. "He might be a Yankee, but he works," says Tori.
• The future Bates son-in-law is cautious at first, but by the end of the day, he is pulling his own weight. "Brandon was working so hard that he was making me start to look bad," says Trace.
• Later, Gil and Kelly take the courting couple on a walk in the woods. They give Michaella and Brandon some privacy by stepping back and allowing their daughter and her boyfriend to go on ahead. 
• "When you have chaperones, sometimes it's awkward to carry on really in-depth conversations together," explains Kelly. "So we like for all the courting couples to have opportunity to have all the conversations they need to have..."
• Gil and Kelly pray with Michaella and Brandon and give them a book, which is also used by the Duggar family. The "Getting Ready for Marriage Workbook is available on the Store page of the Duggar Family Blog.
• Michaella and Tori take the little kids to an indoor bounce house, and Brandon comes along. Tori tries to force Brandon to go bouncing and go down the slides with her. At one point, she grabs his arm, and Michaella, in fun, shouts, "Tori, hands off!"
• "If I'm not going to touch him, then she can't either," says Michaella, laughing. Tori shares her side of the story: "It wasn't like I was trying to hug the guy for crying out loud. I was just trying to get him to come have fun with me."
• Next, Brandon goes bowling with the Bates boys. "When do you think you're going to get engaged, man?" asks Nathan. "It's hard to say," responds Brandon, who admits that he is thinking about proposing but that he wants to keep the details a secret.
• At the end of the evening, Michaella's brothers put their stamp of approval on Brandon.
• To get a feel for Michaella's style, Brandon takes Tori, Carlin, and Josie ring shopping. Each sister has a slightly different idea about which ring Michaella would like best. In the end, everyone knows that Brandon will make the final decision.
• "Brandon handled all the connections with the kids in a great way, and I think he's really a star player," says Gil sincerely.

Recap: "The Purity Ring"

Tonight on Bringing Up Bates, "The Purity Ring"...

• Lawson Bates prepares to sing the National Anthem for 15,000 people at a University of Tennessee men's basketball game. When he first mentioned the idea to his parents, they thought it wouldn't be possible, but Lawson made it happen. "He doesn't give up," says Kelly. "He kept pursuing, and that's encouraging as a parent."
• The rest of the Bates clan attends the game to support Lawson. This is the first major sporting event they have attended as a family.
• Before the performance, Lawson admits he is extremely nervous, but he ends up doing very well. Lawson's parents and siblings are proud of his accomplishment. Gil tears up as he listens to his son sing.
• "It was absolutely awesome," says Carlin. "The crowd loved it," says Nathan.
• Later, Carlin is shocked when she receives a special delivery: a bouquet of flowers, a fancy dress, and an invite to a dinner date with Mom and Dad.
• Carlin is all smiles as she and her parents enjoy a meal at an expensive restaurant, just the three of them.
• Gil starts to cry as presents her with a purity ring. "This is a little gift that we got you," says the father of 19. "It's valuable, but what you are is way more valuable than any gift we could give you, and what God's given you is a wholesome, pure life. And I want you to keep it until the day that I hand you off to some fine young man that loves God, and then he will begin to take care of you."
• Kelly says that she expects Carlin to start forming friendships with guys and to enter into a courtship when she finds a guy she really likes.
• "For us, a purity ring is something we have given our girls, just as a symbol for them and a reminder for them to keep their heart pure and to put God first in their life and to save themselves for marriage," says the mom of 19.
• At Zach and Whitney's house, the couple shares how they are adjusting to life with a new baby. "Whitney is an amazing mom," says Zach. "I'm just blown away. The way her and Bradley bond, you'd think she'd had 20 or 30 kids of her own already." Whitney says her husband is an excellent father.
• The Bates brings a pile of frozen pizzas over to Zach and Whitney's for some family bonding time. Kelly comes up with the idea of getting together every other Friday night, and everyone agrees.

Recap: "Organized Chaos"

Tonight on Bringing Up Bates, "Organized Chaos"...

• Gil and Kelly and the kids go through the lengthy process of pulling out winter clothes and packing away summer clothes. "It takes us all day to go through clothes," says Josie. "And sometimes another day," adds Katie.
• "That's mine!" is one of the most common phrases heard as the family sorts through clothes.
• Kelly decides to donate her maternity clothes. "I'm getting old, and there's not been a baby in a long time, and so I thought, we're just keeping clutter," says the mom of 19, who would still love to have another kid, as would the rest of the family.
• Kelly adds: "Somebody said, 'If you get rid of all your clothes, watch what will happen, you'll get pregnant.' So I said, 'Good idea!'"
• The Bates family prepares to sing at the Museum of Appalachia's Tennessee Fall Homecoming festival. To get the little kids in the mood to sing, Carlin and Kelly lead them in a round of "The Poochie Lip Disease."
• The evening before the festival, the whole family, minus Alyssa and John, gather to rehearse "In This House," the song they will be singing at the event. It doesn't go as well as they had hoped. 
• On the day of the performance, Kelly says she is most nervous about the older girls giggling and the little kids not being attentive.
• The performance turns out well, and the whole family is relieved. Carlin also showcases her yodeling skills, and Lawson sings one of his original songs, "Freedom Sure Ain't Free."
• When the Duggars helped the Bates add an addition onto their house back in spring 2008, the old part of the house became a storage room. Chad and Erin come over to help the family organize the space so it can be used.
• "We are great project starters, but Chad is a good project finisher," says Nathan.
• In the middle of the project, Michaella receives a text from her boyfriend, Brandon. "Brandon is my greatest distraction, and I love being distracted," says Michaella.
• "When Brandon texts, [Michaella] is no help around here," laughs Gil.
• The Bates boys pause the cleanup project to do home haircuts. Chad is a self-taught expert at trimming men's hair. "My brothers, they are very, very, very particular about their haircut," says Erin.
• "You are definitely the best guy that Erin has ever married," Gil tells Chad jokingly. The dad of 19 makes a point to reward his son-in-law for helping with haircuts.