Sweet Fellowship: Duggars and Friends (aka the Bates Family and Other Featured Families Thread)

[EmeraldGirl]

David worried because she was needed. Nine children under nine, but not really interested in her life, just that she was “ needed”.

What is this nonsense with her respecting people who are given zero children? She is making it sound like it is their fault because they are not opening their wombs enough to God. So apparently if you pray more, and are as holy as Jill, you will somehow miraculously be given children when you can’t have any? What an effing slap in the face to people who would give anything to have a baby. 
 

Other thoughts, David was “ at work”? He actually did something outside of the home that might not have been for Christ? Like maybe making money? And of course, only Christian neighbors could be called to care for the children while Jill was semi-dying. Any old neighbor wouldn’t do.

Edited Sunday at 08:36 AM by EmeraldGirl

[satrunrose]

So, I work with kids Olivia's age and I guess that's why this makes me rage more than the typical Jill drivel. What about your daughter, Jill? You know, the one the whole family loves so much? Who's her favourite author? What's her favourite colour? Her favourite food? Her favourite animal? Her favourite subject? Heck, do the fundie edition, What's her favourite chore? Her favourite psalm? Her favourite hymn? What is she praying for? Is she quiet? Is she loud? Does she question things? Is she helpful? Is she independent? Is she a dreamer? Does she like to make stuff? Is she an introvert? Is she high energy or low? This is your daughter's day, damnit! Can you, for once, not make it all about yourself?

Also, The fact that Davey's sperm finds your egg on a regular basis may or may not have anything to do with how much you're SUPERGOD's bestest little vessel (I'm going with not, but hey, mileage may vary) but the fact that you got pregnant 19 times doesn't make you a mother. Animals do that. Bacteria do it every 20 minutes or so. If you want to be crowned mother of the year, try and show some minute understanding of your children as individual people, not as your props to show everyone how wonderful you are. 

And, as usual, Jill, feed your kids.

 

PS. And Olivia, if you ever get a chance to read this, please know that it's a big wonderful world out there and you can find people in it who will honour your birthday because you are a special person deserving of care and attention, not because of how you were born or the miscarriages that came before you. Some of them will even have the same faith as you were brought up in, if that's what's important to you, but you will find people of every walk of life who are ready and eager to see you for the wonderful individual you are. I pray you will move outside your family to find those people someday. Best wishes from an internet stranger on your birthday. 

Edited Sunday at 02:03 PM by satrunrose

[mythoughtis]

Once again, Olivia’s birthday  is all about Jill.    Olivia is a non-person other than for Jill to have an excuse to talk about herself and her medical issues.  Tell that story at some  appropriate time - not on Olivia’s birthday. 
 

Are there any of the children besides Nurie and Janessa that are loved for themselves?  Ant that feel loved? 
 

ETA @satrunrose  you posted while I was typing so I didn’t see your post until I hit save. Your post was PERFECT. 

Edited Sunday at 02:04 PM by mythoughtis

[GeeGolly]

Hey Jill, maybe birth control and all reproductive health care are two boats and a helicopter.

[Lilac2000]

My takeaway is Nurie is only 22????

[ginger90]

1 minute ago, Lilac2000 said:

My takeaway is Nurie is only 22????

She’ll be 26 in April.

[emma675]

8 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

This self-serving screed accompanied the picture.

 

"Many say they can't do what I do, like I am some kind of type of superwoman." Bitch, please. Come down off of that high pedestal you've placed yourself on, Jill, vanity is a sin.

[Lilac2000]

9 minutes ago, ginger90 said:

 

NM, misread.

Edited Sunday at 02:37 PM by Lilac2000

[BetyBee]

Jill always starts out a lie-a-tribe with a line like "Words can't describe" and then goes on to use too many self serving words. She is right though, that SHE is incapable of composing a tribute to anyone but herself and the God she "serves" as long as He continues to bless her special self! It's really amazing how He agrees with everything she does as the super best Christian ever!

[BradandJanet]

So Jill lost over 60% of her blood while lying in the bathtub. That must have looked like a crime scene, but at least the cleanup was easy. I'm surprised her heart was still beating as she was lying there gushing blood while protesting that she didn't need to go to the hospital. After she passed out, David spent time looking for some Christian neighbors to sit with the other kids so Jill could get to the hospital before the tub filled. 

Finally, Olivia came along, but she was too awkward to slip out. Breech! It took the doctor and midwife two hours of punching Jill's stomach to figure that out? (Jill has such a way with words.) Didn't Jill go to the hospital? I thought all her children were born in a hospital. 

Poor Olivia. Mama's yearly tribute to her is always about Martyr Mama's suffering. It's no wonder the sweet child always looks so lost. 

[Minivanessa]

OMG Jill is unhinged. Thank you @satrunrose, for your eloquent and wise post above. And also - thanks to the rest of you who commented. You can be found in my life under the heading "People Who Restore My Faith in Humanity on the Daily."

I looked at Jill's post about Olivia's birthday, posted upthread here, on her FB page. It's illustrated with four photos and three videos. Exactly ONE of them is of Olivia. It's a video where she's blowing out candles on her cake but Nathan and somebody are arm wrestling in the back ground and Jill actually moves the camera to focus on them, then may have remembered she's cosplaying a mother and goes back to Olivia.

One video stars the heavily filtered Jill explaining that they celebrate the 13th birthday of each child by the whole family going to the mall for a "scavenger hunt." They didn't do this one on Olivia's birthday I think because Nurthan was in town so of course Jill's golden child and best friend had to be included which wouldn't happen on the day itself.

I've noticed that Jill HAS to, as often as possible, mention her 19 - yes, that's NINETEEN, spelled "M-i-c-h-e-l-l-e D-u-g-g-a-r or sometimes K-e-l-l-y B-a-t-e-s" - pregnancies. The sacred number, granted to her by her SUPERGOD dontya know. 

Surely it's a mystery why she's not a TV star, or at least the well-respected wife of a prominent IFB minister. /s

Here are the first two photos attached to Jill's Facebook post about her dramatic miscarriage and ensuing D&C, and incidentally mentioning Olivia's birth three or four years later:

 

Edited Sunday at 03:21 PM by Minivanessa

[libgirl2]

10 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

They celebrated Olivia's birthday on NYE. And yes, they did the scavenger hunt while at the mall. 🙄

 

Nathan and Sam look so non WHIMPY in the background. 😂

Arm wrestling.... thats new 🙄

9 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

This self-serving screed accompanied the picture.

 

All about her yet again. 

[AstridM]

On 1/3/2025 at 4:32 PM, Salacious Kitty said:

Jill must have gotten complaints from other women about the presence of the men in her family hanging around the retreat. 

Tim also attended with Heidi. 

Hopefully!

[AstridM]

On 1/4/2025 at 11:30 AM, mythoughtis said:

There is no time to enjoy the hotel amenities or the ‘within nearly walking distance’ shops. 

So - NOT within walking distance? 😂

[oliviabenson]

8 minutes ago, AstridM said:

So - NOT within walking distance? 😂

Hire David he will drive them to shop for Amish goodies!

[merylinkid]

1 hour ago, oliviabenson said:

Hire David he will drive them to shop for Amish goodies!

Jill will have to go along.  She isn't going to alliw strange women alone with Dave.  They might try to steal her hunk.  And she will just happen to pick up a few things she "couldn't resist."

[oliviabenson]

Maybe Jill can even loan out her electric bike for shopping. For $ of course.

[oliviabenson]

That me birth story just made realize how forgotten Olivia is and is a lost girl in that family. Pretty sure whatever cheap gift she got on Christmas was also for her birthday. So the nye party bash/bday all she got some cake, chips and sparkling juice. I highly doubt Jill did anything for Olivia yesterday like buying her a McDonald’s breakfast or a hot chocolate or a small gift. In Jill’s case she has the $ she just chooses it to spend on herself only. No way she did anything extra for Olivia.

 

 

[DeeReynolds]

The thing that gets me about the annual SEVERE miscarriage ode and (oh yeah happy birthday I guess) is that Olivia's birthday is presumably not even the anniversary of the day that she had her miscarriage. Why doesn't she post about it as a remembrance of the day the whole ordeal actually happened if she must tell the story every year? She has to hijack Olivia's day of birth with the story of something that simply happened before she was born, no connection to the actual date. Jill is the worst!

[crazycatlady58]

4 hours ago, satrunrose said:

So, I work with kids Olivia's age and I guess that's why this makes me rage more than the typical Jill drivel. What about your daughter, Jill? You know, the one the whole family loves so much? Who's her favourite author? What's her favourite colour? Her favourite food? Her favourite animal? Her favourite subject? Heck, do the fundie edition, What's her favourite chore? Her favourite psalm? Her favourite hymn? What is she praying for? Is she quiet? Is she loud? Does she question things? Is she helpful? Is she independent? Is she a dreamer? Does she like to make stuff? Is she an introvert? Is she high energy or low? This is your daughter's day, damnit! Can you, for once, not make it all about yourself?

Also, The fact that Davey's sperm finds your egg on a regular basis may or may not have anything to do with how much you're SUPERGOD's bestest little vessel (I'm going with not, but hey, mileage may vary) but the fact that you got pregnant 19 times doesn't make you a mother. Animals do that. Bacteria do it every 20 minutes or so. If you want to be crowned mother of the year, try and show some minute understanding of your children as individual people, not as your props to show everyone how wonderful you are. 

And, as usual, Jill, feed your kids.

 

PS. And Olivia, if you ever get a chance to read this, please know that it's a big wonderful world out there and you can find people in it who will honour your birthday because you are a special person deserving of care and attention, not because of how you were born or the miscarriages that came before you. Some of them will even have the same faith as you were brought up in, if that's what's important to you, but you will find people of every walk of life who are ready and eager to see you for the wonderful individual you are. I pray you will move outside your family to find those people someday. Best wishes from an internet stranger on your birthday. 

I would marry this post if I could.

[AstridM]

21 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Jill had a party for people at her church. Renee has a friend!

How long before they wear out their welcome?

 

Hostessing????? 🤦‍♀️

21 hours ago, 65mickey said:

Jill posted pictures on facebook of their "late Christmas" party where she hosted member of their church. What's up with the Rodrigues women sitting around all of them barefoot? The men are all wearing socks and shoes. Is this some kind of religious thing? It seems downright weird and creepy to me. 

Super creepy!

[AstridM]

3 hours ago, BradandJanet said:

So Jill lost over 60% of her blood while lying in the bathtub. That must have looked like a crime scene, but at least the cleanup was easy. I'm surprised her heart was still beating as she was lying there gushing blood while protesting that she didn't need to go to the hospital. After she passed out, David spent time looking for some Christian neighbors to sit with the other kids so Jill could get to the hospital before the tub filled. 

Finally, Olivia came along, but she was too awkward to slip out. Breech! It took the doctor and midwife two hours of punching Jill's stomach to figure that out? (Jill has such a way with words.) Didn't Jill go to the hospital? I thought all her children were born in a hospital. 

Poor Olivia. Mama's yearly tribute to her is always about Martyr Mama's suffering. It's no wonder the sweet child always looks so lost. 

She left out the part where she HAD A D&C in the hospital, also. Yes, Jill, that’s the “operation” you had. 

[CalicoKitty]

She loved her unborn child so much she refused real medical care?  Her "midwife" couldn't tell for hours that the baby was beach?  I wonder who told her she had lost 60% of her blood.  That is not compatible with life--more than 40% blood loss is fatal-- and she just sounds even more foolish.  If someone actually pointed out that scientific fact to her, I'm sure her story would not change.  It would just prove how special she is, in her own mind.  I just don't understand this kind of thinking.  Those poor children.

[Salacious Kitty]

4 hours ago, Minivanessa said:

OMG Jill is unhinged. Thank you @satrunrose, for your eloquent and wise post above. And also - thanks to the rest of you who commented. You can be found in my life under the heading "People Who Restore My Faith in Humanity on the Daily."

I looked at Jill's post about Olivia's birthday, posted upthread here, on her FB page. It's illustrated with four photos and three videos. Exactly ONE of them is of Olivia. It's a video where she's blowing out candles on her cake but Nathan and somebody are arm wrestling in the back ground and Jill actually moves the camera to focus on them, then may have remembered she's cosplaying a mother and goes back to Olivia.

One video stars the heavily filtered Jill explaining that they celebrate the 13th birthday of each child by the whole family going to the mall for a "scavenger hunt." They didn't do this one on Olivia's birthday I think because Nurthan was in town so of course Jill's golden child and best friend had to be included which wouldn't happen on the day itself.

I've noticed that Jill HAS to, as often as possible, mention her 19 - yes, that's NINETEEN, spelled "M-i-c-h-e-l-l-e D-u-g-g-a-r or sometimes K-e-l-l-y B-a-t-e-s" - pregnancies. The sacred number, granted to her by her SUPERGOD dontya know. 

Surely it's a mystery why she's not a TV star, or at least the well-respected wife of a prominent IFB minister. /s

Here are the first two photos attached to Jill's Facebook post about her dramatic miscarriage and ensuing D&C, and incidentally mentioning Olivia's birth three or four years later:

 

And that's her pregnancy with Janessa. Nothing to do with Olivia at all. 

[oliviabenson]

there is an Olivia? sadly that's very true in that family.

is 13 when Jill plucks the eyebrows? 

did Jill stop kids getting her a built a bear on the kids birthday?

did Olivia get a chicken leg all to herself on her birthday?

[lianau]

On 1/5/2025 at 1:30 AM, oliviabenson said:

Hostessing is so Jill. What an uneducated person. 

Dave was shockingly sitting upright for once. He looked awake enough. 

This is primarily Jill's doing and she is a she and she is a hostess and not a male host and of course she is not hosting but hostessing. 

[Notabug]

9 hours ago, AstridM said:

She left out the part where she HAD A D&C in the hospital, also. Yes, Jill, that’s the “operation” you had. 

Jill also left out the part where she was carrying a 14 week size fetus and that she'd had an ultrasound confirming the demise before deciding to go home and let it happen 'naturally'.  Unless her midwife and physician were completely incompetent, which is a possibility; there is NO WAY they recommended she go home and do it herself.  She would've been warned about the size of the fetus, the amount of time and significant pain that would be involved in passing it naturally as well as the very real possibility that she would bleed profusely and be at high risk for infection or retained products of conception that would ultimately require a D&C anyway.  They would've strongly recommended a D&C be scheduled and performed under controlled conditions.

In addition, there is no way she was told to stay home no matter what.  She would've been given precautions and guidelines to follow.  I personally tell any patient with vaginal bleeding that, if they saturate a large pad for 3 hours in a row, they need to go to the ER for immediate evaluation.  I've been doing this for 40+ years and have worked with hundreds of other doctors and midwives and do not know a single one who wouldn't have warned her and advised she come to the hospital immediately as soon as the bleeding became significant.

In other words, this was an emergency of Jill's own creation.  She clearly had no idea what she was doing staying home, lying in the tub with her small children right there for hours on end without getting help.  She clearly never bothered to call her midwife or the doctor to tell them what was happening.  Or, she did call them, but then ignored their advice in order to play martyr.  Jill is both stupid and ignorant and, if I were her, I'd be keeping this story to myself because she doesn't come out the hero of the piece, she's the fool.

As for being 10 cm dilated and breech and insisting the doctor turn the baby headfirst and then needing a two hour external version; this is pure fabrication and outside the realm of medical reality.  This was her 9th kid (I think), there's no way she wouldn't have pushed the kid out breech long before that.  The baby should've been well down into her pelvis  at that point and it would've been nearly impossible to push the baby out of her pelvis and back into the uterus to turn it.  Finaly, she's a grand multip (6 or more babies) and apparently never had big problems delivering her other kids; her pelvis would've been more than adequate to deliver a breech vaginally which is what would've been the safest option and the recommendation of virtually all doctors and midwives in this situation.  Jill is a lying liar who lies and these  fake stories are proof of that.

ETA: I've done hundreds of external cephalic versions on non-laboring women and, in my experience, if the baby doesn't turn after 10 or 15 minutes, it isn't going to turn and to persist is to risk abrupting the placenta or compressing the umbilical cord.  Add active labor on top of the two hour ordeal and Olivia would probably not have been born alive if this story was true, IMO.

Edited Yest. at 04:55 AM by Notabug

[EmeraldGirl]

Why am I picturing Jill laying in the bathtub in a puffy vest, jean skirt, and white boots?

Thank you so much Notabug for your always valuable information. On most of these medical situations I just wait and see what your answer will be.
 

[Triple P]

17 hours ago, oliviabenson said:

there is an Olivia? sadly that's very true in that family.

is 13 when Jill plucks the eyebrows? 

did Jill stop kids getting her a built a bear on the kids birthday?

did Olivia get a chicken leg all to herself on her birthday?

I think the girls get to wear lip gloss at 13 and the eyebrow plucking is at 14.

The kids get Build-a-Bear at 15 and is the last (and first, who are we kidding?) stuffed animal they receive from Jill and David.

 

[Notabug]

38 minutes ago, Triple P said:

I think the girls get to wear lip gloss at 13 and the eyebrow plucking is at 14.

The kids get Build-a-Bear at 15 and is the last (and first, who are we kidding?) stuffed animal they receive from Jill and David.

 

And, as far as we can tell, that Build-a-Bear is almost immediately 'gifted' to Mahmo who has a huge closet full of stuffed animals that are hers and hers alone.

[ginger90]

Did anyone else watch the video of them at the mall? At one point the younger kids were doing the scavenger hunt (which Jill said isn’t actually a scavenger hunt 🤦‍♀️).

The smallest kids were on rides. Except for some pictures being taken, all of the adults were looking at their phones. Nurie’s daughter was in a stroller. It seemed like she was so far away. Angle of the video being taken, or the stupidity it looked like to me?

[Salacious Kitty]

Yeah, it looked like little Naomi was off in the middle of an aisle, not within reach of anyone, even precious Mimi. 

As for build a bear, I don't recall either Tessie or Hannah making one, but Jill may not have posted about it. 

[Lady Edith]

1 hour ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Yeah, it looked like little Naomi was off in the middle of an aisle, not within reach of anyone, even precious Mimi. 

As for build a bear, I don't recall either Tessie or Hannah making one, but Jill may not have posted about it. 

The last build a bear birthday trip I remember was for one of the boys…Sam maybe?

[oliviabenson]

I guess Jill had enough of the bears her kids had to make for mahmo. 

[Westiepeach]

On 1/2/2025 at 10:52 PM, farmgal4 said:

I wish I knew how much profit Jill is taking home from these “retreats.”

Oh she is making a profit all right. 

[lianau]

On 1/4/2025 at 3:03 PM, BradandJanet said:

Modest apparel from the 19th century, please. Will women in bloomers (or pants) be turned away, or is there a special session for them with photos from the Creamy Ivory boutique and a lecture by Jill? 

I read elsewhere that the picture shows a woman wearing Edwardinian underwear. Very modest. 

[farmgal4]

1 hour ago, Westiepeach said:

Oh she is making a profit all right. 

Absolutely!  She wouldn’t do it otherwise… or maybe she would, for the ego stroke she gets from it.

[skatelady]

22 hours ago, Notabug said:

In other words, this was an emergency of Jill's own creation.  She clearly had no idea what she was doing staying home, lying in the tub with her small children right there for hours on end without getting help.  She clearly never bothered to call her midwife or the doctor to tell them what was happening.  Or, she did call them, but then ignored their advice in order to play martyr.  Jill is both stupid and ignorant and, if I were her, I'd be keeping this story to myself because she doesn't come out the hero of the piece, she's the fool.

It's also possible that none of this happened at all: no near-death experience, and maybe not even miscarriage(s). I mean, if Jill went a long period of time without conceiving, she couldn't admit that to the world. Much better story to have multiple miscarriages to explain the age gap. Not to mention the drah-ma of multiple miscarriages. 

Edited 8 hours ago by skatelady

[mythoughtis]

I gather Jill was featured on a podcast ( it’s mentioned on her FB page).  Can someone take one for the team and listen to it?  Reddit posters say  that she mentioned taking her DIL-to-be to the airport and also mentions Heidi’s pregnancy. This would mean that it was taped Thanksgiving weekend… and that she announced Heidi’s pregnancy almost immediately upon learning about it. She’s just lucky that the podcast didn’t come out until now and that the podcast producers  didn’t leak it. 
It also means Samuel and Brianne didn’t break up over Thanksgiving. 

Edited 6 hours ago by mythoughtis

[Salacious Kitty]

Those points were the only "new" information. The Redditor also posted her review on FJ, so I have seen it twice. 😀

Jill just basically gave her testimony and talked about being a young Christian. She did say that her early years of marriage were challenging and that she was "persecuted" at beauty college. Those were the only things she hasn't repeated verbatim, but have alluded to once in a while. 

Edited 4 hours ago by Salacious Kitty
Autofill got me again!

[andromeda331]

3 hours ago, Salacious Kitty said:

Those points were the only "new" information. The Redditor also posted her review on FJ, so I have seen it twice. 😀

Jill just basically gave her testimony and talked about being a young Christian. She did say that her early years of marriage were challenging and that she was "persecuted" at beauty college. Those were the only things she hasn't repeated verbatim, but have alluded to once in a while. 

Oh, Jill, you weren't persecuted. They just hated you.