In the two months since the world learned of John David Duggar and Abbie Burnett’s courtship, the couple has received far more scrutiny than the average Duggar couple.
This is partially due to the fact that at 28, John David is much older than the average first-relationship fundie.
But there are also much more intriguing reasons that fans are so fixated on JD and Abbie.
Throughout his time in the spotlight, John David has been regarded as one of the most conservative Duggars … which is really saying something.
The accepted narrative pertaining to John David has always been that he’s as much of a go-getter as his workaholic dad, and his lifestyle prevented him from finding the right partner.
In addition to pitching in with the family businesses, John David is a volunteer firefighter, a deputy with his local sheriff’s department, and a licensed pilot.
And it’s that last vocation that’s really caught the attention of Duggar Nation this week.
The photo above shows John David flying the friendly skies with Abbie as his trusty co-pilot.
Throughout their relationship, John David and Abbie have broken Duggar courtship rules on multiple occasions, and this latest pic seems to show the couple once again being more physical than his family generally allows.
As usual, some of the more prudish Counting On fans have given John David flak for violating his family’s code of conduct … and those folks really freaked out after laying eyes on the photo below:
Yes, since the photos were posted so close together that at first glance it seems that John David was allowing his fiance to get handsy (by Duggar standards) right in front of his sisters.
The youngest Duggar daughters have formed a singing group called The Duggar Girls, and they’re currently on tour promoting their debut album.
“The girls were flying with John-David while they were working on #HappyHeart,” the above pic is captioned on the Duggars Facebook page.
Some fans were incensed … until they learned the pics were actually taken several weeks apart.
Thankfully, for the most part, Duggar obsessives were effusive with praise, applauding John David for taking his sisters on tour.
“What can’t that guy do? Those kids are all so diversified,” one fan commented, according to In Touch Weekly.
“I have read so much criticism about this family. How many of you have a plane and can fly it?” wrote another.
“Hope none of the Duggars got motion sickness! I know they are all prone to it.”
Yeah, heathen! Where’s your plane?!
So it turns out all the fuss about John David tossing the rulebook out the window in front of his sisters was a whole lot of nothing.
But you can bet all eyes will still be on JDD and Abbie.
There have been rumors that the courtship rules don’t apply to John David at all, and for reasons we can’t quite understand, people have a big problem with that.
Let us know if you figure it out.
