CarolMK

I saw a rerun the other day from season 11, I think..and Jill was helping to deliver a baby. The midwife said then that Jill had been working with her for 2 years and had about 3 more to go...so I wonder, how much longer does Jill have now to finish..maybe 18 months? Hopefully they can hold off a little while before they'll have kids of their own so that she can actually finish her education.

I really like pretty much all of the characters on the show. One of my favorite stories from season 1 is the one in which two thugs are looking for Frank after he doesn't come through with his $6000 end of the deal, and the family along with Vee/Kevin have Frank knocked out with tranquilizers to pretend that he's dead, right down to where the thugs help carry out the coffin that's filled with rotten meat (stolen from a hapless driver who's lost)..that whole storyline was hilarious, in my opinion.The Monica/Bob side story in season 1 was also a good one, especially when they found out that Liam was Frank's child and Ian was the son of Frank's brother.

I was wondering about Joshua's job in Washington, DC. Is this really a permanent position? Will he be working for this conservative hate group (or whatever it's called, don't recall the name) until he's ready to retire? Although I like the idea of he and Anna being away from the Duggar parents and on their own in Washington, DC. And just a wild guess, but I'm thinking that no matter what they say, I don't think Josh and Anna will have more than 6 or 7 kids. She can probably handle it better than he can, because she was one of the younger ones and didn't actually have to raise her younger siblings nearly as much as Joshua did. Also, on one of the recent episodes, it showed Anna trying to teach Mack how to write as well as keeping the toddler and baby happy at the same time, and getting constantly interrrupted. Hopefully these two will eventually decide to send their kids to school, even a conservative Christian one , instead of homeschooling. I was never very impressed with the way that the Duggars handled homeschooling and even though Anna might try her best, it's not fair to the older kids who are trying to learn if they are constantly interrupted by their younger siblings. It would be better if they had a tutor come in to teach them their lessons.

Joy Anna is 16, and Hannie is 8. In the Duggar household, 8 is not too young to have a buddy, do laundry, make meals, etc...it's actually about a year older than Jana was when the kids had to start taking over the household duties long ago (remember Michelle's nervous breakdown in the laundry room after 7 kids? I think Jana was 7 years old then). If Jinger and Jana leave, which probably won't be for another 2-3 years, there will only be a couple of girls younger than 10 years old in the family. And hopefully Jim Bob will encourage some of the older boys to find wives. I have a feeling that both Joseph and John David would not want to go for the whole courtship/engagement/wedding dog and pony show on television though. So how will the Duggars handle that? Supposed John David wants to marry an ATI girl whose parents are firmly against television...will they just announce one day,"well, John David got married this past weekend" and keep the whole thing off camera? I really wonder about that. Or does every boyfriend/girlfriend that the Duggar kids have must agree to be a part of the show before Jim Bob approves their relationship?

No, I'm almost positive it was Jinger who said it..the camera backed up and had her saying it a couple of times. And when Michelle got her wedding dress from Kleinfield's in NYC, they realized that she was pregnant and had to hurry up their ceremony a few weeks I have a feeling if Michelle is jealous , it's mostly about the attention her daughters are getting now. Like Kate Gosselin, Michelle wants to be the star of the show.

I hope for both of their sakes, that Jill doesn't become pregnant for at least a year after marriage...maybe longer. it would be interesting to see how the Duggar parents react if at least one of their married children went a year or three without a pregnancy. Clearly going against the beliefs that all of them were taught that they must have a Quiver full of Arrows in order to serve God's will. What a bunch of crap. No wonder Jana is in no rush to get married. She needs a few years off from changing diapers.

I really like this character. So prim and proper and humorless, he takes himself so seriously. Then again, in those days, the butler was pretty much the second in command of the household, next to the master. So his character does make sense.

I like the Bates parents a lot better than I do Jim Bob and Michelle, and it was nice to see Erin got to have the wedding she wanted. John David et al wanting to trash the car just proves that when you keep adult children overprotected, they don't mature like normal people..this is something a 13 year old might think was funny, not a 24 year old grown ass man. Same goes for Erin and her pink bedroom..she never got to have it when she was 10, so she's got it now. I hated Jim Bob giving Ben the third degree on the bus. Poor kid is trying hard to please. I loved Jessa's snarky faces and agree she might go ahead and marry Ben in a year or so just to get the hell out of her parent's house. Jim Bob may be idiotic in many ways, but he's got business savvy, for sure. He'll probably be able to keep this show going the next 5 years, marrying off all his daughters one season at a time. I don't think interest will hold by the time the Howlers are ready to marry, if they ever show enough maturity to do so. I'm not holding out much hope for John David marrying anytime soon. And in the earlier episode, Michelle finally learning how to play chess about 7 years after her son learned it was just pathetic. I always played along with my kids as much as I could, but the only things I couldn't really do were skateboarding and video games. We all went skiing as a family several times and it's something we still enjoy , even now that my sons are 16 and 20.

So their wedding date is set for June 21? That is awfully quick. I don't blame Jill for a minute though, I'm sure she can't wait to leave home. And Derrick looks to be a nice guy. I certainly wish the best for her.

I'm very happy for Jill but somewhat bugged by the fact that it was Jim Bob who decided that Derrick was the one for her. It's like the girls aren't allowed to be interested in a guy at all unless Jim Bob meets him first and approves of him and they can't trust their daughters to have good judgement in this regard. I'm glad my parents trusted me with my husband, who I didn't meet until after I was 25 and living on my own- they didn't even meet him until we were together 2 or 3 months. It's so annoying that the Duggars have to be the ones to decide that it's time for the girls to begin courting.

It's too bad that the Bates show didn't last at least another season. I would have rather watched their own show and the weddings instead of watching by way of the Duggar's show. I guess even though they're very religious, Gil and Kelly are too ordinary to make interesting reality tv. Their short lived show did have some interesting effects, like visiting with the grandparents and Gil taking out one of his daughters to go hunting.

If Jill wants to have a career in midwifery after she's married, I think that's up to her. Don't Jim Bob and Michelle believe in something called the "transfer of authority" when their daughters get married? So if Jill and Derrick want her to pursue her career, she can do so without fear of going against the Duggar's beliefs.

Is it just me, or do Michelle and Jim Bob appear to make their daughter's courtships all about them?

Tony is reminding me a bit too much of Russell, except he's more likeable and socially aware. That said, I'm not sure he'll win..the others will see what a threat he is and hopefully vote him out next tribal council if he doesn't win immunity. Also, his accent is driving me nuts. He's from North Jersey, so it's partially a New York accent....but he also sounds like maybe English isn't his first language, it almost seems like some kind of Hispanic accent as well.

Watching tribal council, I can't believe that Tony and LJ didn't know that each other had an idol and then they played them for each other. Hmmm. Production involved, perhaps? Kass isn't as smart as she thinks she is. Didn't she watch what Jonathan Penner did in Cook Islands, flip flopping to the point where everyone hated him? Still, glad Sarah is gone. She seemed to be all over the place in her strategy.

I've also come over from TWOP, with the same screen name. Funny thing, when the Duggar specials first came on the air, even though I thought they were overly religious and strict with their beliefs and their kids, I didn't mind the show at all. I even found it entertaining at times. Over the years though, I became more aware of the parents and how they raised their family and didn't like it at all...and got to the point where I could no longer even tolerate the fv show. I just went to TWOP for updates and recaps. I did see the specials when they were in Israel and England (more to see the countries than the Duggars), and probably the last episode I saw that really bothered me enough to stop watching was when Jason fell off the stage.

I'm happy for Jill. She appears to be marrying a guy who is ready for it, isn't her fiance 25? Whereas Ben is still only 18, I can't believe he's ready to get married to Jessa yet. Maybe Jill will marry first. Probably sometime this spring or summer.