When Joseph Duggar married Kendra Caldwell back in 2017, two of the most prominent families in the Arkansas Evangelical community were joined together.
Obviously, the Duggars are a big deal in that very insular world, but the Caldwells are also highly regarded for different reasons.
Kendra’s father, Paul Caldwell, is a highly esteemed pastor who has served as a friend and spiritual mentor to Jim Bob Duggar.
It’s for this reason that many fans are convinced that Joseph and Kendra’s marriage was arranged by their fathers.
While we have yet to see any conculsive evidence to that effect, the latest rumor out of Duggarville has some folks convinced that Jim Bob and Pastor Paul are at it again.
For several months now, we’ve been hearing reports that James Duggar and Lauren Caldwell are courting.
Lauren is Kendra’s younger sister, and 19-year-old James is … somewhere in the middle of the Duggar brood.
There were several signs that Lauren and James had entered a courtship — or at maybe fans who really want the relationship to happen took random developments in these kids’ lives and attached a bunch of importance to them.
First, James and Lauren were spotted conversing, and even — gasp! — standing close to one another on an episode of Counting On.
Shortly thereafter, James got an Instagram page.
That may not sound like a signifcant milestone, but Duggar kids are typically forbidden to join social media until after they begin a serious courtship.
So when James joined the ‘Gram shortly ater being spotted with Lauren, fans quickly put two and two together.
Then, in October of last year, Lauren threw everyone for a loop when she got engaged to a man named Titus Hall.
Fans were stunned by the news, and not only because Lauren was “supposed” to be in a courtship with James.
Prior to her engagement announcement no one even knew what Lauren was in a relationship.
She had made no previous mention of Titus, and it seemed as though she rushed right into an engagement, possibly to put an end to the rumors about her and James.
Whatever the case, Titus wasn’t in the picture for very long.
About six weeks after he and Lauren announced their courtship, they parted ways under mysterious circumstances.
One day in December of 2020, fans noticed that Titus’ pics had been deleted from Lauren’s page, and that was that.
He was never heard from again.
(In the Duggar community, that is. We’re sure Jim Bob and Pastor Paul didn’t have him “disappeared.”)
For obvious reasons, the James and Lauren rumors started up again immediately afterward, but we still haven’t seen anything in the way of conclusive evidence.
Some fans are convinced that Lauren was caught in a love triangle involving Titus and James, and that she eventually decided to follow her heart and go after James.
While, we love the soap opera interpretation, it sounds a little dramatic for the Duggars.
We’ll continue to monitor the situation and keep you aprised of any new developments.