cmr2014

I found it on Zillow (thanks), and it looks fine to me. The neighborhood looks like a normal neighborhood for a young family, and they are only blocks from a public elementary school. It's not as nice as the house they were "renting," but that's hardly surprising. That place was a pretty amazing grift for those two. I think the owner of the "rental" made some agreement like "You can live there while you're a student" and then when Jeremy decided to go on to the "PhD program," the owner said "hey, wait, that's not what I meant" and they needed to find a new place. I think it's a big come-down for both of them. Santa Clarita is not LA. The other house was definitely nicer and, I think, a shorter commute for Jeremy. Jinger has a lot of experience, though, in pretending to be excited about things she's not excited about, so she was able to perform for the video. I noticed that in the listing, one of the downstairs bedrooms was staged as a workout room, and immediately thought of Jinger's insipid comment about "we're thinking of using this as a workout room." It really is just very sad that they all have no imagination or original thoughts -- ever.

I simply can't wrap my head around any of this math -- AT ALL. Even if they have a 200K downpayment (100K from the Laredo house deposit + 100K profit from the sale), they would need a mortgage of 630K at a payment of close to 3K per month. Who would give that kind of mortgage to a student with a part time job and a SAHM? Who would give them ANY kind of a mortgage? I don't even think most landlords would want to rent to them. MacArthur must have arranged some sort of financing for them. That's the only explanation that I can think of unless Jeremy's family is MUCH more wealthy than they appear to be. As far as the house goes -- perfect for them? Five bedrooms for a family of four? A workout room?

I'm going to call bs on this photo, too, unless Jessa literally walks around the house all day with her phone plastered to her face (possible). I think it's far more likely that she found the kids doing something like this and re-staged the event to show them trying to reach their school supplies -- that would explain Spurgeon's bored posture. If they were actually going for the school supplies, Spurgeon is tall enough to reach them. All of Jessa's parenting fails are attributed to "kids!!!! amiright!" while everyone else's are attributable to "secular parenting." As @andromeda331 pointed out, Jessa is a SAHM by choice and does nothing associated with that life choice: no cleaning, no cooking, and no child supervision. Her house is filthy, her kids are poorly put together (unless it's "photo-in-the-weeds day"), and they forage for food. She's got nothing to crow about, and she should look at her own photos and get a clue, and work on herself.

I'm going to call bs on "Biblical" child rearing. There is very little in the Bible relating to children and virtually nothing about child rearing -- and virtually nothing in the New Testament. There are a few mentions in the Old Testament regarding the importance of discipline and, of course, the various situations where parents are allowed to kill their children. Jessa needs to stop talking. It would be a good idea for her to actually parent the (too many) children that she already has and not presume to give "advice" to anyone.

I agree. She wouldn't take them to church like that, and she knew enough to dress up herself.

I checked the Duggar family blog (so you don't have to). The baby still hasn't arrived. There was a notation that Octobers birthdays are already up, and they expect the baby to be born in September, but will update October if necessary.

I think it's close, but I don't think the role suits her. I don't think she wants to be part of a group of right-thinking Christians, or even a leader of a group of right thinking Christians, she wants to be the only one with the "truth" and to talk down to everyone else. It's not just Jessa, either. The Duggars all seem to prefer to tell others what to do, rather than being students themselves. Remember Joe was "ministering" to other students at Clown College; Jill's earlier SM posts that were constantly providing "instruction" on various things that she knew nothing about. I think Jessa's too rigid, too judgemental, and too preachy to be a good preacher's wife. Ben is an insufferable bore who thinks he knows every imaginable thing about Jesus and wants to talk about it all the time. I think to be successful, she'd have to balance him and be the one who shows compassion and concern about the day-to-day earthly problems of the flock. I can see some people -- maybe new converts -- wanting to spend time with Ben talking about the exact bits of scripture that prove that they are better, and more in-the-know about Jesus than other people. I can't imagine, however, people wanting to spend time with know-it-all Ben, and rigid, unsmiling Jessa over time.

I think that's probably what's going on. She wants to give the impression that they have lots of "sweet friends" with lots of kids who are dropping by all the time and everyone is having a BLAST in the new house. I think it's probably the same nothing in a new space. She doesn't even seem to socialize with any of her siblings (or Ben's siblings), and neither of them has any outside hobbies or interests; their kids don't go to school or have any activities of their own, so it's not other parents -- so who would they know?

I'm not sure why this idea is getting so much traction. Jill just had a baby and two surgeries. She has a newborn at home, and historically has had a rough time with caring for a newborn. They just moved and Derick has a new job and is out of the house all day, every day. That's going to be an adjustment for her -- maybe not as big an adjustment as when he was at WalMart, but an adjustment. I just don't see this as the time that Jill decides to start homeschooling. If she had been homeschooling, then it would probably be easier for her to just sit Izzy and Sam in front of some DVDs and toss them some workbooks, but Izzy is used to school and it would be another big adjustment for him. Sam has probably been looking forward to going to school like his big brother, and is probably feeling some jealousy over the new baby, and it would be difficult to settle him into a homeschooling routine. If they were homeschooling, it would probably be something they had talked about and planned and Jill would have posted stuff about different curriculums, etc. She's posted tons of stuff about the move, the new house, etc. I don't think she'd suddenly go silent about this. I don't even think that Jill has finally gotten a clue that plastering her kids and their schedule all over social media is a bad idea, I think she's just overwhelmed and doesn't have time for all of the posts she's done in the past. Plus, Derick is getting a paycheck now, and they may not need that extra click-cash to get by.

While I'm really glad that they let the kids dance, this has to be the worst imaginable pre-bedtime ritual imaginable. Get the kids all wound up, and then off to bed!

She says they are doing "school from home" not "home-schooling." It may mean nothing, but I think it's possible that he's in a regular pre-k class, but they are doing it remotely. That would be a huge step in the right direction. Personally, I think that Austin and Joy are very steeped in the kool-aide and would be very reluctant to step away from home-schooling, but I also don't think that Joy is interested in home-schooling at all. Obviously, I hope that they eventually decide that public school is okay, and Gideon can wear his backpack to real school for kindergarden next year.

They had already been "courting" for quite a while at that time. JB could have put a stop to a 17 year old stalker "courting" his daughter long before that.

I think we should all take a moment to be grateful that it's not in the dry grass in front of a decaying barn with them both in shades of beige and him making a little heart shape with his hands over her belly.

He was 17. I'm glad I didn't get everything I wanted when I was 17. Where were his parents? He was literally stalking Jessa, and his parents didn't sit him down and have a conversation explaining that "girls are 3-dimensional people, not simply hosts for your fantsy projections" and "you 'know' this girl from a television show; you have literally no idea what she is really like." Instead they drove him 3 hours to the Duggar "church" so that he could ratchet up his stalking. I don't give his mother a pass, either. They may be in a patriarchal cult, but they chose to be in that cult. She's his mother, and there's no excuse for her not opening her mouth and saying "no." Where were the Duggars. Remember how they've told us 1 million times about how they control every aspect of their children's lives, and how much their children love them (and thank them) for it? JB clearly didn't think this was a good idea -- why didn't he shut it down? Ben was certainly a dim bulb at 17 -- I don't know much about him now. I would have more compassion for Jessa if I didn't find her so unpleasant, but I think that she's very damaged -- beyond the sexual abuse. Her childhood was effectively stolen from her, and that's not something you just shake off. I think they could probably get things back on track with some intensive counseling, but I also think that's a non-starter for Jessa.

And they don't even look back. It may have just been for the cameras, but I don't think so. They produce children, they don't care for them. The prairie dress (with petticoat, apron, and bonnet!) was just so very sad. Going to the grocery store was the highlight of James's day. He got to get out of the house and got some tiny bit of attention.

OMG, they are so boring! The narrative was like two 12 year olds who were being forced to give a house tour to their mother's church friends. They chose to do that video, and they couldn't have been less prepared or less interested. Most people WITH JOBS can't afford a 4 BR 3 BA home in southern California, but these two asshats are just soooo unimpressed by their big, free house. I believe -- 100% -- that it's free. Virtually anyone else in their situation would be struggling to pay for a 2BR 1BA apartment.

She took a break while Derek was in law school. She was pregnant immediately after he graduated and had a miscarriage. I wish that I could believe that she doesn't plan to spend the next 10-15 years pregnant, but I can't.

I agree that she looks very happy, and that makes me sad. I had really hoped that Jill had found some peace with her little family and wasn't going to go back to her earlier plans for a mega-brood. I hope that I'm overreacting . . .

I could be 100% wrong, but I don't buy this for one minute. It's possible that Lauren is pregnant, but I doubt that she's given birth and there's been no announcement. JB is all about the numbers, and one more grandchild in his quiver is a big deal. Unless Josiah has had a complete personality transplant and is now working in some capacity other than as a peon in Duggar Enterprises, his job is to do whatever JB tells him to do. It's not up to Josiah and Lauren whether or not their personal business becomes public, and I doubt that it would cross their minds that it actually is their decision. All of the male Duggars have little/no social media presence, but we know all about their offspring.

I don't know how much reading she's done. Jill seems to have done some, and Jinger has at least opened a few for photo ops, I don't know if she's read them. I agree with @Gemma Violet that they've probably read the Bible a lot, and I think that there's at least one Gothard approved concordance. People who read only the Bible often have a number of two bit words at their disposal without having much of an overall vocabulary.

Reading is like anything else -- you have to practice to become proficient. We know that the Duggars did not -- to put it mildly -- encourage their children to read. While I don't think they're illiterate, I doubt that any of them reads at much more than a 5th or 6th grade level.

I think he's probably scared. He's never been outside of the Duggar bubble -- not for one day. Even in the local jail, he got regular calls from Anna, and saw his family occassionally. This is also all he knows. I doubt it would even cross his mind to read a book, or watch a movie on television with the other inmates. He certainly isn't going to engage in any athletic activity. If he was moved to a better room, I don't think that's a good sign. Either he's leapfrogged over others on the waiting list -- which won't make him popular -- or he's already so disliked that he's been moved away from at least one group. Also, as far as we know, he's also still planning an appeal. He's going to do nothing but suck up to the chaplain, and "minister" to other inmates, and be as "Christian-y" as he knows how to be until his appeals are exhausted.

I'm not a huge fan of "open concept" houses. They're pretty, and they photograph nicely, but I just can't see how this would work. How is Ben going to be able to entertain a group from the church when there is no private space and the kids are riding their bikes through the living room? For that matter, how are parishoners going to feel about children riding their bikes indoors in a house owned by the church? Jessa mentioned having a bench on one side of their dining room table because "you can stuff a lot of kids on a bench." I'm sure you can, but that doesn't mean that they'll stay there. I can see the Seewald kids crawling under the table to "get more milk" or whatever on a pretty regular basis and Jessa's response being something like "haha, kids! Am I right?" I'm not sure guests are going to be thrilled to have small Seewalds crawling past them at dinner . . . Ben and Jessa have four kids -- that's not a lot of kids (it's four too many for Ben and Jessa, but not an insane number of kids). Jessa already parents like there are 12+ kids and there's just not much she can do to control the situation. I don't see any of this going over well with parishoners who might well have four kids at home without the chaos of the Seewald household. It's possible the Ben and Jessa will be buying this house from the church, and the church community will have no more interest in the chaotic Seewald household than normal church busybodies, but -- as we've discussed over and over -- that doesn't really make any sense.

I watched it, and it was just as dull as all the others. A couple of thoughts. She mentions "artwork" a couple of times. She has huge, blown-up photos of the kids, and Bible quotes hanging on the walls. That's fine, I guess, but she doesn't have any "art" on the walls. I'm not sure that she even knows what the word "art" means. She spends an enormous amount of time talking about the appliances and entertaining space. She's having a huge table custom made so that there will be enough space to entertain another family of six. As far as I know, she never cooks, the kids forage for food, and they never entertain. Maybe she's thinking that they'll entertain more with the extra space, but I just don't think she's the type of person who enjoys entertaining.

No. That -- very specifically -- is not possible. It's a big Gothard thing to pit the children against each other so that they don't form a close bond and "band against" their parents. Children are encouraged, and even required, to tattle on each other about every imaginable infraction of the rules. They are required to "keep sweet" with each other, and only engage in the most superficial way possible. They're home schooled and they play indoors within earshot of their parents -- there's no privacy or autonomy, and there never will be. It's possible that Jessa will lighten up a bit on the Gothard-dictated rules for the kids, but I doubt it. She's the most invested in insisting that she was raised the best-est possible way.