sleepysuzy

Jill's rant about families is very weird. I'm a married mother of four, and I teach at a Christian school. I'm often out with the kids without my husband because my hours are essentially the same as theirs, while their dad's work varies and right now he's on a two-week business trip. I was raised by a widowed mom of four, as well - who is also a very conservative Christian. By Jill's standard, we aren't the right kind of families? It reminds me a bit of a time I was at the mall with my in-laws. I was very visibly pregnant with my second child and pushing my toddler in his stroller. My mother-in-law got a table for us in the food court while my father-in-law and I got food and drinks. Apparently, she heard some older ladies making snide remarks because they thought he and I were a couple, until they saw us join my son and her (mother-in-law) at the table and heard us referring to my in-laws and "grandma" and "grandpa". It was all pretty ridiculous, because I was in my 30s and they were in their 50s, so even if the judgmental ladies had been right about who was with whom, there wouldn't have been anything wrong with it.

Bella looks like Siah, so this picture indicates she will grow up to be a pretty girl. It's interesting how many of the Duggar offspring seem to favor the opposite gender parent.

My suspicion is that Ben works somewhere in a not-public-facing capacity, but they keep it quiet for two reasons: to keep people from launching a campaign to get him fired, and because they don't want to admit that their self-employed/working for family only paradigm isn't sustainable. He could be working in a warehouse or factory and remain somewhat anonymous. If he works part-time or rotating shifts, it wouldn't be hard to schedule around filming, since most of what we see is heavily edited, scripted, and aired far after it happens. Don't they really only have like 10 hours if actual new footage each season, shared among like 35 people? My family who work blue collar jobs often have 4 or 5 days off in a row each time they switch shifts (like going from 1st to 3rd). They often know those schedules months in advance, too. All speculation, but that's what makes sense to me.

I used to get the opposite response: I had a boy, then a girl, and was pregnant with my third baby. People would tell us we "ruined the perfect millionaire family" because we already had one of each. Ugh. I hope people refrain from those kinds of comments with Joy amd Austin, since they also lost a daughter, which makesnot even worse to comment about in my opinion.

I went to a chiropractor as a kid, and I have taken my own children as well. I also take them to regular pediatricians and various specialists (pulmonologist, psychiatrist, gastroenterologist) and get all of their vaccinations. I think chiropractic care gets a bad rap because it is popular among the antivax/essential-oils-cure-everything set, but it has a valid place, too, much like midwifery.

That is a pretty weird thing to be sad about. My husband is his parents' youngest child, and we were in our 30s when we had our kids. Our youngest is four. My in-laws are in their late 60s. It's very possible that she won't have kids until she is in her 30s, like us, so they would have to live well into their 90s if that happens. It has never occured to me to anticipate that and be sad about it. My own dad died when I was a kid and my kids only met one of my grandparents, amd my husbands grandparents had all died by the time our third child was born, so maybe I have a different perspective, but I think it is fairly common to not know your great grandparents.

Really, it is a stretch to have the Rodrigues family on here at all. They have never had a TLC show or special, I don't think they have ever been a guest on anyone else's show. No network has featured them, as far as I know. Every detail on here is from social media, not from any show. Now that Nathan and Nurie are married, there is a slight connection, but I still doubt that they will ever be mentioned or shown on Counting On, considering that Anna and the M-kids are barely acknowledged. As a group, we pretty much collectively cyberstalk this random whacko family to mock and judge. If you weren't actively seeking information about them, there is no way they would be on your radar because they have zero influence or clout outside of Jill's very small social media following.

Growing up in WV, I heard a lot more about WVU and Marshall football than any pro teams. College and high school football seemed more important to most people. The Steelers only mattered to people in the northern part of the state, and that I only remember starting in the early 2000s. However, I left the state 13 years ago, so it may have changed.

My oldest daughter's middle name is Mae, which was the middle name of both my grandmother and my husband's grandma. Her first name is Annabelle, also after a grandma. I guess Joy and I like the same names for baby girls.

That's kind of what I'm getting at: Jill is working her way through a process to sift the love she has for her family of origin from the damaging views and experiences with which she was raised. Maybe after a few more years of that development, it won't be a problem for her to admit that, like many others who have been out of formal education for over a decade, she needs some review before embarking on higher education. Jill has shown capacity to learn and pass real exams, so I believe that she could actually be successful in many fields of higher education. It's not like she would have to publicize the fact that she enrolled in any remedial classes, either. She could quietly work her way through a few online courses a year without anyone being the wiser. Course enrollments are not public information.

She passed the GED test when she was 16. At this point, she would probably need some remedial classes if she wanted to start higher education, but 25% of metriculating students do likewise, so she certainly wouldn't be alone in that. I helped a friend enroll in a community college program 12 years after she graduated from public school. She needed three semesters of remedial English and Math courses before she could take anything for credit. Unconscionably high numbers of recent graduates need to take remedial classes because so many school systems graduate barely literate students. Maybe if Jill knew how common it is for people to need to "catch up" in their education, she would be more encouraged to pursue it in the future. I would hope to see her continue working through therapy and being happy as a wife and mother for a few more years, though. Let her build some confidence and a better sense of self before she has to worry about grades.

I've been teaching English for nearly two decades, and "literally" has been overused - and misused when they actually mean figuratively - by young people since I started, if not longer. The newer trend I see is "iconic", taking the place of "epic".

He could look good in fall and winter and goofy in spring and summer. Nathan probably has a decent tolerance for the heat, though. He wears long pants and at least short sleeves (no tank tops) year round. Nurie with her long hair down makes me feel sweaty. I have long hair, but it's almost always up or braided this time of year.

Back in December, I shared a picture of what Nathan would look like with a beard. I really think it would improve his looks immensely. It would also fit the outdoorsy look of a lawncare professional. I know quite a few guys with his kind of features - big nose, weak chin, very lean - who went from goofy dork to macho mountain man by growing a beard.

I show that clip from YouTube to my kids whenever we all want to laugh. He does great physical comedy.

I had measurable, contractions every 2 minutes or less for 44 hours with my third baby. I only had one epidural, and it barely worked for about two hours, them completely stopped working. Thank goodness my misery wasn't edited down to a single episode of a tv show (I never wanted recording of my labors). I'm sure I whined, moaned, writhed, and screamed plenty. My baby was also "sunny-side up" and I had excess amniotic fluid making it difficult for her to descend, so I eventually had to tell them to break my water (after about 36 hours and being admitted overnight, sent home at 4 cm, going to an ob appointment and chiropractor, then being readmitted). The exhaustion really wears down the ability to handle pain. I don't care how annoying or dramatic Lauren is in her everyday life; she can complain and whine as much as she wants to in a long labor and I'm going to sympathize.

Nurie could also go work with Nathan, like Joy does with Austin. Lots of Mennonite families in my area do lawn care, and they have whole crews that are women and teen girls.

I'm also 39, and I'm pretty sure I look my age. I used to look young for my age, but my 3rd child aged me 10 years overnight with health problems her first few months of life (she's fine now), and my 4th baby had similar health problems, so my age caught up to me. I imagine a similar scenario transpired with Esther. However, after our 4th baby also had health problems and doctors couldn't tell us why, my husband and I decided not to have more children. Even though their health problems resolved on their own over time, it was exhausting to take care of their complex needs during those first six months, and we also took into account how much that took away from my time with our other children. I don't know the details about Esther and John's children, but I do know that no matter how much of a toll it takes on her to be a mother of 12 on the mission field, stopping the growth of their family is not seen as an option. Considering her circumstances, I'd say she looks about as well as can be expected.

That's what I thought, too. When the brother who was driving looked over and the one recording/mimicking him stopped, it was a little funny (to me). Not lol, but amusing enough for a short clip, even if I didn't know who they were.

I have three daughters, grew up one of four sisters. I'm not super girly, but my first daughter was such a beautiful baby I just wanted to put her in all of the pink frilly stuff I could find. My other two girls were more suited to blue and purple, but I still did the frills and lace and headbands because they were do freaking adorable. They are still young enough that they dress up like princessed sometimes, but their personalities shift over time. Right now the oldest is obsessed with Halloween and creepy stuff, but still wants to do it in a pretty way. The middle one is all pink sparkles and fairy wings, and the youngest loves yellow and asked for a dress with an airplane on it. Joy can have fun dressing up her daughter for awhile. She and Austen strike me as parents who will let her modify her style once she is a little older, albeit within the restrictions of their belief system. Joy's style is basically jeans and tshirts, as long as the jeans are a skirt.

If Tim is taking remedial classes and sticking to it, good for him. Around 25% of college freshmen have to take remedial courses, and after a semester or two, many give up. Even those classes, which aren't worth college credit, are expanding Tim's future prospects. Unlike many of the families on this thread, whose children only get Bible certificates through online unaccredited courses at best (like Tim's sisters have done), Tim has gone to on campus classes at real colleges in two states far from home, one of which was a secular school. He might have only lasted one or two semesters at each place, but I'm going to remain optimistic for him.

Jill has posted that Tim transferred to a nearby school in Ohio and has his own place now. He had actually posted some pictures showing off his new apartment a few weeks ago, but Jill must have deleted it. This was on her Facebook.

The curriculum is from Crown. I've taught plenty of extension classes for real colleges and universities that met in different locations, so Ctown could easily do likewise.

I delivered her in early November, thankfully. However, that whole summer I had strangers telling me I was "about to pop" and asking if it was twins. I hope that Joy gets to enjoy her pregnancy and giant belly. I also hope that, if she has another huge baby, she hears tons of compliments and can tune out all of the gross comments that often come along with big newborns.

I'm attaching a picture of my own gravid belly a week before delivering an 11 lb baby for context. Women who have large babies get the privelege of hearing constant commentary about how huge they are. I looked like I had inflated a beach ball under my shirt. I think Joy looks good, and I hope that this pregnancy goes well and she and the baby are healthy.