Bringing Up Bates star Josie Bates and her husband, Kelton Balka, welcomed their first child on Friday. The couple named their daughter Willow Kristy Balka, reports Us Weekly. The young couple tied the knot in October 2018, with members of the Bates family taking part in the ceremony.
In February, Bates, 19, revealed she and Balka, 23, were expecting their first child together, just four months after their wedding.
Videos by PopCulture.com
“We can hardly believe it,” the two told InTouch Weekly in February. “We are already so in love with our little one and so very thankful to God for his blessing on our life as we start our little family.”
When the couple married, the ceremony was a family affair, with Pastor Gil Bates officiating and Bates’ sisters Erin Paine and Tori Bates playing piano and violin. Brother Lawson Bates also performed a song.
As Us Weekly reported at the time, the matron of honor was Bates’ sister Alyssa Webster, while sisters Katie Bates and Carlin Bates were bridesmaids. The other bridesmaids were sister-in-law Whitney Bates, friend Makayla Landrum and Balka’s older sister Ariana Balka.
Tori’s husband Bobby Smith was Balka’s best man. The groomsmen were Bakla’s brother Grant Balka, Bates’ brother Trace Bates, Carlin’s now-husband Evan Stewart and friends John Whitney and Jayman Yant.
“I never could have dreamed the love story that God would write for us, or the merging paths He would lead us on,” Balka wrote on Instagram after the wedding. “I can truly say there was no better feeling than being with the love of my life, surrounded by loving family and friends, who worked tirelessly to bring everything together, there for the sole purpose of cheering us on as we started our life together.”
“All I can say is I’m thankful. Thankful and undeserving of the opportunities and blessing that God has put in my life through the lives of those around me,” Balka added. “And now I’m thankful for the biggest blessing of all, my wife and soul mate, Josie Kellyn Balka.”
The Bates family is not finished growing. Erin Bates Paine is expecting her fourth child with Chad Paine, while Zach and Whitney Bates are expecting their third.
The Bates family, like the Duggar family, are fundamentalist Christians. Bates is one of Gil and Kelly Bates’ 19 children and members of the family appeared alongside the Duggars on 19 Kids and Counting.They now star in their own series, Bringing Up Bates, which debuted on UPtv in 2015.
Photo credit: Instagram/Josie Bates
