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

[Nysha]

2 hours ago, BitterApple said:

It's great Bobby finished school but I'm not exactly sure what he's going to do with an unaccredited degree in Bible Study. 

 

 

 

 

Be a Southern Baptist Preacher or teach at an unaccredited Christian school. 

Edited May 13, 2017 by Nysha
I tried to put my quote with my other post so I didn't double post, but failed. Sorry.

[louannems]

5 hours ago, Nysha said:

She's definitely trying too hard. The guessing game/reveal wasn't cute or funny since they pretty much had to hand feed the answer to the kids.

From her Facebook feed, her oldest is 6-year-old Khai and the youngest is Edyn, who's 18 months. How old are the middle children?

Dragging out the plastic crib mattress was beyond weird.

[awaken]

Khai?  Please tell me no. I can't take it. I'd almost rather Spurgeon. Almost. 

[BitterApple]

10 hours ago, PinkyCupcake said:

That video is weird... I mean, the black frame and the ''Watch'' text and emojis. That's the kind of things you see on compilation videos and such that are passed around on social media - not on the original video itself.

Feels like she's trying too hard.

It was weird, especially considering three of the kids are too young to realize what's going on and the other two had to be prompted with the answers before they realized their mother was expecting. Plus, by the time you're on your sixth kid, does anybody really care?

[RazzleberryPie]

47 minutes ago, awaken said:

Khai?  Please tell me no. I can't take it. I'd almost rather Spurgeon. Almost. 

How do you pronounce that and what does it mean? Male or female? Its sort of hideous. 

Edyn is bad, too. Makes me want ice cream. Eden isn't bad, but I hate weirdly spelled names.

[kalamac]

I'm guessing it's pronounced K sound + eye, like that character on The Vampire Diaries.

[Sew Sumi]

34 minutes ago, kalamac said:

I'm guessing it's pronounced K sound + eye, like that character on The Vampire Diaries.

That's how I've always pronounced it in my head. They also have an Asher, but I understand that's very tryndee these days. If it's another girl, do we get Eryn? 

[MunichNark]

Kai (pronounciation would be Kye) is a german name, usually male, but it is officially neutral, although it is rarely given to girls here.

She's not even 30 years of age and has nearly SIX children? No wonder she looks ancient.

What is it with fundies and their lack of intelligence, common sense and whatnot? God created us with a brain, in order we may use it. Where's the problem? If He had wanted us to be stupid and not make the most of our individual talents, I'm sure He would have created us so.

[Churchhoney]

10 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

That's how I've always pronounced it in my head. They also have an Asher, but I understand that's very tryndee these days. If it's another girl, do we get Eryn? 

If it's a girl I vote for Tryndee. 

[Portia]

17 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

They also have an Asher, but I understand that's very tryndee these days. 

Asher I actually like . . . or at least I liked it before it became so tryndee.  (I'm going to remember your creative spelling, Sew.) Asher is Biblical and they haven't effed with the spelling, so I'll allow it.  

[MamaMax]

On 5/14/2017 at 4:45 AM, MunichNark said:

Kai (pronounciation would be Kye) is a german name, usually male, but it is officially neutral, although it is rarely given to girls here.

She's not even 30 years of age and has nearly SIX children? No wonder she looks ancient.

What is it with fundies and their lack of intelligence, common sense and whatnot? God created us with a brain, in order we may use it. Where's the problem? If He had wanted us to be stupid and not make the most of our individual talents, I'm sure He would have created us so.

I think she's like 25!

[Sew Sumi]

She just turned 27.

[ChaChaSlide]

How old was Sierra when she started having miracles? Like 19? She just turned 27 and is on #6, so looks like she's knocking em out every 18 months or so. In comparison, Michelle had 6 by 27 and didn't start until 21 (though she did have a set of twins), and Kelly Jo similarly started at 22 and had her 6th singleton shortly after her 28th birthday, both closer to a year between each birth. 

Even though Sierra started younger than they did I don't think she'll get to the upper teens like they did, I don't think her fertility is anywhere near theirs. She'll probably just make the double digits before she peters out. 

I wonder what the average birthrate is for quiverfull people? You don't hear many tales outside of Michelle's and Kelly's about superfecundity; the few online fundie families seem to on average have between 6 and 13 from just casual observation. 

[GeeGolly]

I'm thinking some Quiverful-ish parents get creative. They breastfeed well past the 6th month, have timely headaches and maybe have timely disagreements, travel and visitors. Because I'm thinking that most figure out sanity (and money) is essential to raising the 6 or 7 they already have.

Edited May 16, 2017 by GeeGolly

[Guest]

JFC I just turned 26, how is this girl 27 with 5 going on 6 six kids? That's just ridic.

[Portia]

When I was 27 I had three kids under four. I love that these folks make me look somewhat normal by comparison.  

[Rabbittron]

19 hours ago, ChaChaSlide said:

How old was Sierra when she started having miracles? Like 19? She just turned 27 and is on #6, so looks like she's knocking em out every 18 months or so. In comparison, Michelle had 6 by 27 and didn't start until 21 (though she did have a set of twins), and Kelly Jo similarly started at 22 and had her 6th singleton shortly after her 28th birthday, both closer to a year between each birth. 

Even though Sierra started younger than they did I don't think she'll get to the upper teens like they did, I don't think her fertility is anywhere near theirs. She'll probably just make the double digits before she peters out. 

I wonder what the average birthrate is for quiverfull people? You don't hear many tales outside of Michelle's and Kelly's about superfecundity; the few online fundie families seem to on average have between 6 and 13 from just casual observation. 

A neighbor of mine lives in a 3 bedroom single wwide trailer and has 12 kids. Yes they are fundies

[SuspiciousMind]

Ugh - that video.  I'm projecting, but I was really stricken by a sense of claustrophobia in thinking about what it would be like to be Sierra.  All those kids, pregnant yet again, long hair to deal with, always in a long skirt ... it seems like everything would be smothering.  And that's not even considering the smothering patriarchal sh#t...   

[Marigold]

Sierra was trying to do one of "those" videos that go viral. 

Epic Fail. 

[Lunera]

I know fundy ladies are supposed to be all happy whenever they're expecting a new miracle but I know Sierra probably had a small breakdown.  Her lifestyle is really aging her.

I was reading the comments on her page of all the fundy women saying they were also on their 6th kid and others saying they couldn't wait to catch up. 

[Absolom]

Childbearing as an Olympic sport.  See who can reach 10 first?  It's collective suspension of real life consequences, isn't it?

[Lunera]

Also, like Meeeechelle, she has a a serious medical issue that causes high risk pregnancies and does nothing about it. 

Can't believe how stupid she is and her husband is a piece of shit.

 

[Sew Sumi]

Yeah, I'd heard she had PCOS, but hadn't read any real confirmation. She and her husband are idiots. What are the chances that she carries full term? My friends with PCOS can't conceive at all and many ended up adopting. 

[xwordfanatik]

Just reading about Sierra and other fundie women is exhausting.    

They must all share a brain.

[ChaChaSlide]

28 minutes ago, Lunera said:

Also, like Meeeechelle, she has a a serious medical issue that causes high risk pregnancies and does nothing about it. 

Can't believe how stupid she is and her husband is a piece of shit.

 

She must have the same kind of "PCOS" Maci Bookout from Teen Mom has: lean, ovulates normally, has no trouble conceiving and maintaining the subsequent pregnancy.

While she might have had some birth complications, I highly doubt they were PCOS related (though PCOS does put you at a higher risk for pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes). PCOS is becoming a wastebasket diagnosis where doctors are diagnosing women with very few of the traditional symptoms: anovulation, multiple cysts on ovaries, increased insulin sensitivity, high cholesterol, higher testosterone/androgens, and of course, infertility. Both lean and heavy "cysters" tend to share these traits, and they wreak havoc on conception. And when we do conceive, typically after significant medical intervention, we're at a much higher risk of miscarriage because of all of the endocrine crap going on; women with PCOS miscarry more chromosomally normal embryos than "normal" women because without significant medical oversight and support, our bodies are often not able to support pregnancy.

If Sierra really and truly had PCOS, she likely would not have 5 and counting bundles of joy staring up at her right now before the age of 30.

[Rabbittron]

Sierra has POD Syndrome pregnancy on demand.

[GeeGolly]

1 hour ago, Lunera said:

Also, like Meeeechelle, she has a a serious medical issue that causes high risk pregnancies and does nothing about it. 

Can't believe how stupid she is and her husband is a piece of shit.

 

Wow, her post seems to be looking for some praise or accolades for her willingness to risk leaving her 5 children motherless.

At the risk of repeating myself - pregnancies are blessings but current children are not? Or is it that once one of God's army is born it's all good because the mom is only needed as carrier and deliverer? 

[doodlebug]

As noted above, 'ovarian cyst syndrome' is not a real diagnosis.  As for polycystic ovaries (PCOS), that is a real condition, one that leads to infertility.  There is no way Sienna, on baby #6 at age 27, has it.  It gets overdiagnosed on ultrasound because a practitioner who doesn't understand what it is or what it means, sees an ultrasound with multicystic ovaries 'suggestive' of PCOS and makes the wrong diagnosis.    It also has absolutely no relationship to risk of death in pregnancy (except that women who have it are more likely to have gestational diabetes and are often overweight which are risk factors for serious complications).

Sienna is a nitwit.  I am not sure why she would think that having postpartum complications after her last child would make her less likely to get pregnant again but it is probably part of the fundie 'heroic motherhood syndrome' which Michelle also has.

[Mollie]

1 hour ago, xwordfanatik said:

Just reading about Sierra and other fundie women is exhausting.    

They must all share a brain.

I have no idea why Sierra is on the Duggars' reality show at all, unless it is out of pity to throw a little appearance money her way.

Her husband was a youth pastor in 2014 until he got fired after working there for 11 months.  (No one seems to know where he worked for the first six years after they married on December 20, 2008.)  Now he works at Sam's Furniture as a salesman. 

Sierra was a co-wedding planner for Jill's wedding and sole wedding planner for Jessa's, where there was no wedding cake and she famously forgot to plug in the freezer for the ice cream and it all melted. She also planned a Duggar birthday party, gender-reveal, baby shower and a graduation party (homeschool, so not realschool). Supposedly, she is Joy's best friend so we can probably expect her to dip some strawberries or something for Joy's wedding.

Sierra watches normal, secular movies and TV shows.  Before her TV appearances with the Duggars on TLC, she even used to dress like a normal person.

 

[GeeGolly]

I think timing had a lot to do with Sierra appearing on the show. Amy was fading away and pursuing her own show when Sierra began showing up, so she was kind of the boisterous personality replacement for Amy. And I think the Duggars were impressed with her Pinterest parties and take charge attitude and actually had weddings to plan. And of course she's Fundy so the girls could actually be with her without a chaperone and finally had a local friend.  And I agree that the Duggars used to  get people on the show to throw some money their 'friends' way. Although part of me thinks that JB acting as the head of the Big Rich Fundy Family that can help folks out, was as much of the reason as actually wanting to share the wealth.

Just my take on a possibility of why.

[pinkelephant3]

Sierra better sell a lot more lipsense to pay for this new bundle of joy

[Temperance]

Sierra started out somewhat fundie or maybe very fundie and is converting to Duggar-level fundie. She is also a groupie, who will do grunt work for little if any pay (probably the Duggars don't pay, but TLC does since she appears on the show). She clearly thinks the Duggars are wonderful, amazing people and they love hearing how great they are and what an inspiration, etc. 

A friend of my friends (who remind me of the Duggars) had ovarian problems where she had a lot of systs. There were many problems with her ovaries to the extent they removed one while she was pregnant. She lost that baby (late-term) and  had another one almost two years later.  I don't remember all the details though. Not sure what's going with Sierra. The friends I mentioned are religious too. 

[tabloidlover]

4 hours ago, Mollie said:

I have no idea why Sierra is on the Duggars' reality show at all, unless it is out of pity to throw a little appearance money her way.

Her husband was a youth pastor in 2014 until he got fired after working there for 11 months.  (No one seems to know where he worked for the first six years after they married on December 20, 2008.)  Now he works at Sam's Furniture as a salesman. 

Sierra was a co-wedding planner for Jill's wedding and sole wedding planner for Jessa's, where there was no wedding cake and she famously forgot to plug in the freezer for the ice cream and it all melted. She also planned a Duggar birthday party, gender-reveal, baby shower and a graduation party (homeschool, so not realschool). Supposedly, she is Joy's best friend so we can probably expect her to dip some strawberries or something for Joy's wedding.

Sierra watches normal, secular movies and TV shows.  Before her TV appearances with the Duggars on TLC, she even used to dress like a normal person.

 

He got fired??   What does one do to get fired as a minister?

[Sew Sumi]

How do you wear "modest," baggy jeans and still manage to have a bizarre penis/cameltoe? Those must have been maternity wear in a previous pregnancy. 

[awaken]

There is something strangely unctuous about her husband.  Reading the story of how he pursued her when working in a video store gave me the creeps.  

[Sew Sumi]

Subject change for a sec: looks like more Bateses than just Carlin and Lawson were in Florida last weekend. I wonder if this was Tori's engagement weekend? After all, Bobby now has hiw worthless degree from PCC. 

[pinkelephant3]

John David was there too...it was in Carlins insta story at a baseball game

[Sew Sumi]

Right. I mentioned it in the Lonely Duggars thread. JD/Bateses/Websters seen. I still think it was Tori's engagement, which is why those people, as well as Gil and Kelly, weren't photographed.  But Erin's beach pic kind of gives it away, IMO. We don't know how long their "vacation" lasted. I don't think Chad and Erin have had a vacation outside of TN without the parents being nearby. I have a feeling that this is no exception. 

[Sew Sumi]

Oh man, failed missionary John Shrader confirmed that he's knocked up Anna's sister Esther yet again. This will be her 11th, 3rd in Africa....IF they last until December. 

[zoomama]

i thought they divorced????

 

maybe i am thinking of someone's daughter on here? HFC maybe?

Edited May 17, 2017 by zoomama

[Sew Sumi]

Anna's sister, Rebekah, is divorced. Sadly, Esther still works like a slave at the behest of her lazy ass headship. 

[whydoiwatch]

2 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

Oh man, failed missionary John Shrader confirmed that he's knocked up Anna's sister Esther yet again. This will be her 11th, 3rd in Africa....IF they last until December. 

Every time I see the phrase "knocked up", I laugh out loud. Not sure what that says about my sanity level. But seriously, what the hell is wrong with these idiots.

[SMama]

Breeding for Jesus?

Edited May 18, 2017 by SMama

[Sew Sumi]

He knocks her up every 9 months or so because he is totally ineffective at every other aspect of his life. It's all he's got. 

[SMama]

Me mumbling while daughter did homework: WOW, eleven kids.

My ten year old daughter without taking her eyes of her science homework: Well that's a tragedy. 

I'm setting her up for a lifetime in the prayer closet. 

[Annb67]

Again, how in the he'll do you get fired as a pastor? Usually you only get fired if it is something pertaining to sex.

[Absolom]

Many times youth ministers are let go due to funding issues at the church.  That's happened to several around here.

[Sew Sumi]

Then wouldn't he gave been laid off rather than fired? Two totally different implications happening with the terminology @Mollie used.

[Absolom]

The word I heard used here was terminated.  While usually fired means for cause, I offered the explanation because sometimes people read termination as always termination for cause = fired.

[Sew Sumi]

Molllie said: 

Her husband was a youth pastor in 2014

until he got fired after working there for 11 months.  (No one seems to know where he worked for the first six years after they married on December 20, 2008.)  Now he works at Sam's Furniture as a salesman.

I get that language matters, and a firing goes far beyond being let go due to money constraints. That's more in the ballpark of being laid off. 

All this said, we will probably never know what happened unless someone can get Sierra to spill.