Zella

Aimee Semple for a girl? ;)

If they wanted to celebrate Charles Spurgeon, why couldn't they have just used the name Charles Spurgeon? I would love to know what the rest of the family thinks of this name.

I can't get the video to work, but I was unfortunately eating dessert when you guys started posting the name. Ben and Jessa's terrible baby naming nearly caused me to choke to death on a piece of pie. If they were dead set on Spurgeon, why couldn't they have made it a middle name? That poor innocent baby. I don't even think Dickens would have saddled a character with the name spurgeon seewald. :(

I'm still able to access it. I don't have an Instagram account, so I don't think she has changed anything. Google "Jessica Seewald instagram" and the photo is still there. https://instagram.com/p/9uVB1NGKrj/?taken-by=jessicaseewald Ben's sister.

He's definitely looking for cues! I laughed so hard at the way he nodded his head after he noted, "Your due date was on our anniversary." It's like he's so proud of himself for remembering that one. One thing that never fails to baffle me about the Duggars and their retainers is how tone deaf they continue to be when they post videos. That birthday video is awful--it reminds me of the first going away video for Jill and Derick, which was also super awkward and bizarre--but they still post it. I don't understand how anyone, especially people who were on television for years, could look at that and not realize "Hmm this should not see the light of day."

Eww. On another note: It cracks me up that Jill makes sure you can see her wedding ring while they swap spit.

Their hypocrisy and complete lack of self-awareness are psychologically fascinating. I was living in Fayetteville when Michelle did the robocalls about how transgender people shouldn't be allowed in bathrooms because they might molest children--I didn't get one because yay for not having a landline, but I talked to people who did get them. One of the first things I thought of when the molestation scandal broke was "Did it honestly never occur to these people NOT to call other people child molesters when you are sitting on top of a decades old child molestation scandal involving your own children."

One of the things that really confused me when the initial molestation scandal broke was the number of people I personally know who I had assumed were fairly normal people who just automatically defended the Duggars. None of them watched the show, but as soon as they heard about it, they just believed the Duggars were being persecuted for being conservative and/or Christian. That floored me. And then after I explained the Duggars and what the police reports said to each of these people, they were like "Oh yeah that's horrible," but it disturbed me that their automatic response to hearing about a teenager touching his younger sisters against their will was that it was no big deal.

Thanks for all the feedback on the ancestry tests! The information on police using the databases freaked me out enough that I probably won't do it because I have privacy paranoia issues, but I do find the results fascinating! I never encountered Razing Ruth online, but I've spent some time reading some of her stuff after she was mentioned here. Her library hiring story is definitely bullshit. I work part-time at a small public library and have done so for several years while in school. At one point, I considered going to grad school and becoming a librarian and did a bit of research on the job market, but I decided to go a different route when I saw how difficult it is to get a job with an MLS.

Okay thanks! That's good to know! Ancestry.com keeps emailing me about their test, so I'm a little more familiar with information on that one. But I think if I end up trying one, I'll probably go with 23 and Me.

That's wonderful news!

Is your sister-in-law doing better? What's creepy about the cancer faker is that, as I said, she gave quite a few interviews to local media. On first glance, when everyone accepted her story, the accompanying pictures looked like photos of an inspiring young woman overcoming struggles. But then when the truth came it, I came across copies of the articles and everything about it just looked so fake. The look on her face was pretty much "I'm famous! Look at me!" I think the reporter even said something about "You'd never think she had cancer!" Indeed.

This is my first time posting on the Small Talk thread, though I have posted on a few other forums the past few weeks. I figured while a bunch of other newbies were introducing themselves, I might as well jump in. :) Regarding the DNA tests, has anyone here taken the one available on ancestry.com? I was curious about it but also hesitant to shell out that much money. As someone who only lurked, I must confess I was completely taken by WW's story. I saw the GoFundMe link and had planned to donate but ended up not getting around to it. I only caught the updates on WW the past couple of weeks, so I only knew about Maisie's "health." I hadn't realized WW was also allegedly sick herself. This sort of happened a few months ago at the college I attended (after I had graduated). In the case of the school, it was a girl a couple of years behind me who claimed to have a rare form of cancer. I had left by then and didn't really know her personally, but I knew who she was because she had been in all the school plays. There were all sorts of fundraisers for her, updates on her condition, and inspirational news stories about her. I remember thinking it was a little bit bullshitty because she was still carrying a full academic load, working part-time, performing in plays, and maintaining an active social life, in addition to undergoing treatments. But then I immediately felt like a terrible, lazy person for thinking that and just assumed it was true. When it came out that she had just been pretending to have cancer all along, everyone was initially so shocked, but I talked to a few other friends who admitted that they also thought something was odd, but again they didn't want to seem insensitive by calling foul.

I'm not 100% sure about Washington County, but I live in a neighboring Arkansas county and our constables are not paid. Almost all of the constables I know are retired and do it because it gives them something to occasionally occupy their time. I doubt our local constable responds to more than ten to twenty calls a year, but in his defense, he can and does show up much faster than the local sheriff's department when he is summoned.

Agreed! I've lived in Arkansas since I was a child, and Razorbacks love is pretty strong state-wide. (Where I live, it is not uncommon for every single local business that has its own sign to have messages urging the Razorbacks to victory every week during college football season. I know for a fact a lot of these people never attended the school or sent all of their kids to Arkansas Tech or Arkansas State or some other university that was not the U of A. In fact, when I finally went to the U of A for grad school, my relatives were excited that they had a reason to wear Razorbacks stuff beyond just being fans.) I can't stand Ben, but I don't fault him for doing what a lot of other people in the state who have never and will never attend the U of A do. One thing that does irritate me about the whole thing is didn't he recently post a blog or Instagram that was being judgmental of people who put sports before religion? Or something like that? I find it hilarious that he is apparently incapable of wearing anything but Razorbacks gear since for him it isn't a matter of school spirit but rather being a fan of their sports teams.

Agreed! One tip off for me too is the family tried to minimize the molestation incidents by pointing to things that in no way minimized what he did ("It was over clothing!" "They were asleep!"). I think if his straying had been limited to just porn, they would have tried with all of their might to use that to minimize his actions, regardless of their own attitudes toward the evils of porn. Of course one could argue that they didn't offer excuses because of the criticism their post-molestation interviews received, but I don't think the Duggars are that self-aware or have learned anything about being more PR savvy, as multiple incidents have demonstrated.

LOL Me too!

I had a former college roommate, who I usually liked, who did this at her wedding reception. She was explaining her reception ideas to me--potluck where she doesn't provide anything because she couldn't afford it--and I pointed out that it was really tacky to do that, especially since she was already getting gifts. I also suggested that maybe she should just pick a wedding time where she could get away with serving cake (or maybe wait until she and hubby were a little more mature and financially stable), but she told me this was a "church tradition." I was hoping enough friends would tell her that it was tacky that she would reconsider, but when I finally got her invitation, she not only had the potluck requirement on there, but it also included a list of all of her and his food allergies and preferences. So you had to bring a dish that did not contain shellfish, dairy, eggs, nuts, alcohol, wheat, and several other ingredients. It eliminated pretty much any food item most people would bring to a potluck. I refused to go but wondered what the spread ended up looking like. She did mention to me the turnout ended up being spotty. Now I am imagining the reception as being pretty similar to Jill and Derrick's "going away but not going away" party. I don't think many people are motivated to go when you don't have the decency to act like a host and the ones who do go aren't very motivated to cook for you. I don't think the Duggars realize the difference between hosting an appreciation party and other people actually throwing a going-away party for you. Does anybody know off-hand how many people were invited to this party? Because the attendance does look pretty sparse.

Haha True!

Agreed! I truly don't think he or she realizes he needs more to get into an actual accredited seminary. I also am confused as to why they are unsure of whether it will require them to move. Unless Jessa was just trying to be intentionally vague, the college's location is set. When I was looking at colleges, it didn't take a lot of effort to see the distance from my home and realize whether I could commute or would need to look into housing.

http://www.intouchweekly.com/posts/jessa-duggar-husband-ben-seewald-considering-move-away-from-family-72648 I would love to know what seminary they are looking into and why they're not sure if it will require them to move. Are they hoping for an all online program?

I've also wondered if he would attend John Brown. It's well within commuting distance for them. But it might be a little too liberal for their tastes, though it's certainly no U of A. I didn't attend there, but I had a couple of friends who did a few years ago. One had a nose ring, which didn't seem to be a problem, and the other was an atheist, though the latter still had fond memories of the polite, relatively open-minded discussions her philosophy classes had about other viewpoints. I don't know how representative their experiences were, but those were not my experiences at another private Christian college.

So true!

My thoughts exactly. I was certain it was going to be a pregnancy announcement. Glad it wasn't because I just really don't believe they need to be adding another child to their family this soon, for medical and psychological reasons, but I don't think Jill is remotely ready to be a midwife.

Wow. That was . . . interesting. I've sat through a couple of versions of the "Everything" skit. (I went to a very Christian evangelical school, even though I'm Jewish.) In the versions I've seen, the "vices" get a little more into it. LOL Derick's crew is just lazy! Thank you for posting!