lucille66

What type of parents would send that kind of pic to their newly married daughter and son-in-law? These two are beyond self-absorption and narcissism. With all these kissing pics the Duggars keep posting, I think they might be causing some folks out there to have impure thoughts. I mean, what if there are some fundy/gothardite engaged couples who follow the duggars and are also waiting on their first kiss. All these close-up kissing pics and posts could be very tempting to them. For a family that preaches modesty and purity and godliness I find this very hypocritical of them. Really! What is the purpose. There is absolutely nothing wrong with kissing, but why would these people splatter it all across social media? Especially JimPerv and MEchelle. They are sex-crazed lunatics!

On the episode "All About Jill", I thought is was comical how Jill was describing the girls' perming phase. She said the perms weren't just for added body, but they were full perms. Then she made a disgusted look like, "Yuck!". I wonder if Michelle got the hint. The time the girls surprised her with a makeover at the salon where her friend worked, it was quite obvious she didn't like the outcome. I think she made a comment about how she looked like she just came out of the shower. How insulting to the salon workers and her friend. But mush-minded Michelle couldn't see that it looked tons better than the rat's nest she had. She immediately went back to the tight-permed look, and she couldn't wait for her hair grow back because they cut off sooo much. This woman is so set in her gothardite ways. When she's in her eighties and her hair is gray, will she be sporting the same hairstyle? Or will she have any hair left from the decades of chemicals being squirted on her scalp?

I know several homeschoolers (former) who have excelled at higher math. Many have gone to universities and have landed well-paying jobs such as economists, engineering and actuaries. Most homeschoolers do study science, literature, art, etc. Duggars and Seewalds might not include these in their curriculum, but they're kind of in a bubble of their own making.

Everything has to come back to MEchelle. She's spouting off her mouth about how she's into sparkly bling and colorful, exciting styles. Hmmm. Not buying that. Her only style is the fundie gothard style. I wouldn't call long denim skirts with dark hose and flats stylish. Maybe she's talking about all her different button up blouses that have to match whatever JB is wearing. And I won't even get started on her hair.....stylish, NOT!

About the back muscle issue... in recent years, she went waterskiing, skydiving with jessa, horseback riding with johanna. I'm not buying this crock of crap. Maybe she ought to just shut her mouth...her jaw muscles might give out too.

I don't have proof, but I do know several families and family members that were deeply involved in the Gothard lifestyle, having been in that circle for a brief time in my life. yet not wholeheartedly. I personally don't know of any that have had health issues. But I know of some whose family lives and spiritual lives have ended up "destitute" after giving up on Gothard living realizing that it didn't work out for them. It is very sad to see. It's usually the kids, who were born and raised in this lifestyle, who suffer through confusion, doubt, insecurity, rebellion, etc. They (the parents) put their "faith" in the teachings of Gothard, believing that if they follow all the principles that he taught and do everything that he instructed, then they would be the perfect spiritual example. They took pride in being "different" and always encouraged others to join them. The main focus was the "outward" appearance, but inwardly they were prideful, opinionated and self-righteous, When they realized that these robotic, "cookie-cutter" types of teachings didn't work out for them like it had for all of Gothard's poster families (Duggars, Bates, and others), then they eventually threw in the towel. Their lifestyles went from one extreme to the other. Divorce, living on welfare, estrangement from family members, turning their backs on God altogether...these are the facts that I have witnessed. It is very interesting, yet very sad to see the two extremes. I do realize that not all gothard families end up like this.

Gothardism causes people to live in a way that puffs themselves up spiritually. Gothardites are careful to follow every Gothard principle and rule verbatim, mixing in some Bible verses, and they begin to think they are superior to all the other Christians. I have known several individuals/families that have fallen into the Gothard trap. They lived every aspect of their lives according to all the teachings they learned at Gothard seminars, buying every book, workbook, pamphlet, joining ati , etc. They dressed the same, behaved the same, used the same wordings and phrases....just like the Duggars. But there's this thing called individuality. We all come from different family lives, backgrounds, cultures. We all have different personalities, talents, gifts, ideas. I've always thought that Gothardism taught a cookie cutter type of lifestyle.....if you follow all these steps, then this will happen....But that is impossible. Just because certain things work out for the Duggars doesn't mean it will work out for another family. I know a couple of people who were living such "righteous" lives.... they married, had large families, homeschooled, home-churched, all the Gothard stuff....but ended up in failure. Their family lives are completely destroyed and broken. These individuals puffed themselves up so much or for so long that when the balloon burst they fell fast and hard. The pendulum swung to the extreme opposite side and nothing but disaster was the outcome. The children of these families are the ones that suffer the most.

Some observations I had in this episode: -Why the heck is Jana holding baby Marcus at the ladies' brunch instead of Michelle. She's the grandma who doesn't get to see her "grandbabies" very often because of distance. I see no loving connection or grandmotherly excitement from this woman. -Also, the other two grandkids are stuck in the corner of the room instead of at the table. They probably had their own little table set up, I understand that. But Grandma Duggar has her back to them in most of this scene. -At the bridal gown shoppe...The sisters had meaningful and sisterly words for Jill. You could really sense the closeness JoyAnna has towards Jill, and I was glad she wanted to let Jill read her words instead of say them. That was a emotional and touching moment. -Then...last, but definitely not least, it was Mama's turn. Ok, I'm sure she meant every word she read to Jill, I have no doubt. But attempting to squeeeze out those tears....I wasn't buying that. I didn't see any actual tears from her like I did from all the others. She'll do anything to puff herself up and prolong her time in the spotlight. - When Jill was modeling the wedding gowns, Michelle went into "modesty patrol" mode. She said all the ooo's and ah's but the look on her face was more like, "She won't be defrauding anyone with this dress, will she?" Her face actually looked robotic in some of the scenes. - Anna, who was holding Marcus, was sitting next to Michelle. At one point Marcus was reaching for Michelle's hair, and she looked a bit perturbed about it because it was throwing her off her groove of wedding dress "approving". Instead of just taking him and setting him in her lap, you eventually see him standing in front of her on the floor. I understand that she was looking at Jill and the dresses, but you can give your baby grandson a little bit of attention. It looked to me the Mechelle wanted that kid away from her. I'm surprised she didn't grab him and plop in Jana's lap to get him away from her. I wonder if she got around to reminding Anna about blanket training.

I remember her mentioning the ATI booklets and Wisdom booklets in past episodes. There's another page/blog, "Michelle's Blog", that advertises Big Sandy Conferences, Alert and other Gothard programs. I think they are still completely drenched in Gothard teachings. In a recent video excerpt i saw, JB or Mechelle mentioned reading the Proverbs in correlation to the days of the month....Gothard taught that. Certain phrases and terms they use spells out G-O-T-H-A-R-D. They live life according to the gospel of Bill Gothard. Sickening!

Maybe this has been mentioned before, but I can't stand the opening to their show. Hearing Michelle's voice is like listening to someone run their fingernails down a chalkboard. Then the "That's me, I'm Michelle! And there's Jimbob, my WONderful husband" makes me want to rip my hair out. Then JB grabs her and engulfs her in a big smooch. Why do we have to see them do this all the time? And, yes, Michelle, we know that it's a grand total of 19 and that YOU delivered every one of them. :P

We only see a fraction of their lives being displayed on their tv show. The majority of their everyday family life is obviously behind the scenes. This idea that Michelle doesn't show affection for her kids is interesting. I get the same impression from the bits and pieces that we see. You'd think if that was an important part of her life then she would give us viewers a chance to see her motherly affection, love, and attention. Instead, we get talking heads of M (in her squeaky, raspy, sweet voice) giving advice and experiences on parenting. There were even a couple episodes where they highlighted M spending one-on-one time with a couple of the sons (playing chess, sling shots) as if that was such an odd thing. Instead, we see the older daughters tending to the younger kids' needs. It seems JB and M are constantly speaking at conferences, giving interviews, going to book signings, traveling, filming a tv show...does she even have time to be a mother? We never see glimpses of her cooking, cleaning, homeschooling like we used to on the show. All she does is "talk" about it. I think she has become such a celebrity by having so many kids and this attention, this spotlight seems to be the priority. IDK.

I've always had the impression that Michelle just loves attention, which is why she says that stupid statement in their intro. It all points to HER. Having 19 kids has brought her the ultimate attention. She always has something to say and advice to give because SHE has had 19 kids.