Laura Jane

Ah yes. I can tell you having grown upp in the 60's when the produce department of the grocery store was strickly seasonal, this is exactly the recipe my mother made for Thanksgiving. And we liked it! Amazing how tastes have changed. Now my turkey is much more flavorful then that old sawdust my mother served and my green beans are freshly steamed with butter and almond slivers. I haven't eaten canned Cream of Mushroom soup in probably 20 years.

This rumor keeps popping up but it isn't true. Either person can break off the courtship. I wonder if there is some confusion with the old Victorian standards of courting when a man could be sued for breaking an engagement? P.G. Wodehouse, for one, wrote several comedies based around a man writing letters to an unsuitable woman (i.e. a chorus girl) and then being blackmailed.

I completely agree with you wanderwoman. I cannot imagine how they would be surviving on JB's income without the TLC checks. They would not be living like middle class people for sure with all the new clothes and electronics and SUVs, etc. I also wonder if all of the boys over 12 would have been encouraged to earn some sort of paycheck to help out the family. Perhaps even the girls would have been told to make things at home for sale like quilts, jam, soap, etc. I really think they would have been living hand-to-mouth, forgoing dental visits, relying on one broken down old bus, still wearing used shoes, maybe even doing without heating or air-conditioning. It is insane to raise 19 kids in this day and age and econimically suicidal without having millions in the bank.

The main reason arranged marriages work in other cultures is because that is what expected and supported by that culture. If your grandparents, parents, siblings, neighbors, friends all have arranged marriages, then it is what you expect. Stories, history, and gossip would all promote this and support this and you would not think it anything special. However, this first generation of Duggars being led into arranged marriages don't have that background and more importantly the outside world is not going to be supportive. If the Duggar girls marry whom they are told to marry and then never meet anyone else, then maybe they will be fine. But what happens if Jessa marries Ben thinking that she is in love with him and that he is "the one" without having any other experiences but then later meets a man with whom there is unquestionable chemistry? I worry for these girls that they realy don't know what they are getting into. Your 45 year old self is very different from your 15 year old self and your needs and outlook usually change, and lets face it-- these girls are more like 15 year olds than grown women.

That's a question I have asked many times: How are they supposed to openly discuss the future of their relationship and possible marriage if they cannot be honest with each other? This is even more shocking in my mind than the "no touching rule." Jill is what? 23 and Derick 25? And they are not allowed to talk or skype without having every word monitored? Shades of Big Brother and North Korea. This should be the time when they talk about things like how large a family they want, where they want to live, how they see their future, but if JB and Michelle are hanging on every word then, no, they cannot be completely honest because they have to be in 100% coompliance with whatever JB and Michelle have decided their opinions should be. How creepy. Stepford Children indeed.

Auntie Thesis you make a lot of good points. I've been assuming that a "heart for ministry" is their shorthand version of "Ben gives up his Saturdays to protest against Pro Choice." I know the Duggars rally against Pro Choice once in awhile and I'm guessing they admire someone who is more dedicated than themselves. Of course those of us in the non-KoolAid-drinking world wonder what on earth is going on in Ben's brain that he has nothing better to do with his Saturdays. I can see the occasional big public demonstration but every Saturday in a small local protest group? It is very strange and more than a bit weird that an 18 year old boy is so caught up in this. I agree that Jessa would have been a natural to hand over to as a prize to a Republican political family or wealthy conservative family. Since they make the point over and over that "Daddy" gets to choose the suitor you would have thought that JB would pull off some major deal. Instead of pulling a rabbit out of his hat he pulled out a drip; Ben is no prize in any way, shape or form. I'm guessing it is a lot harder to find a fundamentalist Christian with an impeccable background, source of income, and good family connections who is willing to sign onto TLC.

I'm ready for the new season to start, not because I'm going to watch it-- it is too dull for that!-- but because we will have new snark material.