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

[Arwen Evenstar]

6 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Whoa, the new SIL was calling out all her in-laws!? Gutsy move.

Yeah, I’m surprised Stevehovah didn’t shut that wedding down. Maybe he’ll set his daughters free.

[Sew Sumi]

Chelsy is still blogging. I figured Stevehovah would shut that down after the wedding, but I guess not. We'll see how frequently she blogs as she settles into Maxwell. 

[Nysha]

On 1/28/2018 at 5:57 PM, kalamac said:

I've got a feeling Nurie's more likely to end up with someone close to her father's age, who is solely obsessed with a having a virgin bride.

I wish we could give crying faces instead of hearts because I'm pretty sure this is going to be Nurie's future and it makes me want to cry for her.

[Barb23]

On 1/19/2018 at 1:41 PM, EAG46 said:

I agree with bigskygirl.  The last thing patients and hospital staff want to see is a pack of holier-than-thou dingleberries singing songs and handing out pamphlets.  Especially when they're busy.

Not to mention Jill was probably doused in perfume, just what a sick person needs to smell.

I was checking out the Maxwell's site. I read Sarah's blog about Chelsy &John's wedding.  Haven't  watched the video yet. Chelsey"s dress has to be one of the ugliest I have ever seen. Looks like it was homemade by a seamstress who hasn't sewn much.  Reminds of the wedding dress I had for my Barbie doll  in the 70's.  

What is it with these Fundies & their wedding shenanigans --it was the wedding ring rapelling down  at whoever duggar's wedding& now at Chelsy & John's the ring arrived by drone. 

At least they had real food (strange choices in my opinion) of taco soup & cheese cake. Why soup? Besides being cheap to make & it was a cold wintry day, it must have been hard keeping that amount of soup hot. But it does beat ice cream on a cold day on the church parking lot.

[Sew Sumi]

Chelsy made her dress. 

[Heathen]

8 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

Chelsy made her dress. 

She shouldn't have. It's fugly and so are the bridesmaids' dresses. 

Daughter-in-law number two is pregnant with number five? Is she even thirty yet? 

[Sew Sumi]

Which DIL? All the Bontranger boys who are married are newlyweds: all 3 got married over last Labor Day weekend. The sisters who had the double wedding are both pregnant with their first, both due around the time Jinger is.

edit: As I hit Reply, it occurred to me that the post referred to Anna Marie Maxwell, who is due with her 5th any day now. I think she's around 30, or a hair older. Chris is about 37; he's making up for lost time.

Edited February 1, 2018 by Sew Sumi

[Fuzzysox]

I completely agree Chelsy's dress was  ugly. And she did the bare feet in the church bit too.

http://bontragersingers.blogspot.com/

Edited February 3, 2018 by Fuzzysox

[Libby96]

17 minutes ago, Fuzzysox said:

I completely agree Chelsy's dress was an ugly. And she did the bare feet in the church bit too.

http://bontragersingers.blogspot.com/

Wow.  That is not an attractive dress.  But, hey, she covered up that seductive collarbone lest she cause a man in the audience to be defrauded.

[Arwen Evenstar]

10 minutes ago, Libby96 said:

Wow.  That is not an attractive dress.  But, hey, she covered up that seductive collarbone lest she cause a man in the audience to be defrauded.

And we all know feet aren’t sexual...

[lianau]

28 minutes ago, Fuzzysox said:

I completely agree Chelsy's dress was an ugly. And she did the bare feet in the church bit too.

http://bontragersingers.blogspot.com/

They love Roy Moore .  Scroll down to the last picture and read what they've written about it . It's puke worthy  . I wrote a comment but I think it's probably not going to make it past the censor .

[Chicklet]

Hey that dress beats Jillymuffins by a long shot. I couldn't see feet but then I didn't look. I did love the brother Bontrager's "intentional Christianity" , I just hate when you get unintentional Christianity. That's the pits.

[Heathen]

5 hours ago, Sew Sumi said:

Which DIL? All the Bontranger boys who are married are newlyweds: all 3 got married over last Labor Day weekend. The sisters who had the double wedding are both pregnant with their first, both due around the time Jinger is.

edit: As I hit Reply, it occurred to me that the post referred to Anna Marie Maxwell, who is due with her 5th any day now. I think she's around 30, or a hair older. Chris is about 37; he's making up for lost time.

Yes, Anna Marie is the one I meant. May none of her children be as horse-faced as the original Maxwells. 

[awaken]

4 hours ago, lianau said:

They love Roy Moore .  Scroll down to the last picture and read what they've written about it . It's puke worthy  . I wrote a comment but I think it's probably not going to make it past the censor .

I was going to post the same thing!  What lovely Christian values. 

“One day before a prison service, we, along with the Bowers family,  had the privilege to meet with former Chief Justice Roy Moore. We were inspired by Mr. Moore's dedication to truth and law. He is truly an unwavering man of principle and character.”

5 hours ago, Fuzzysox said:

I completely agree Chelsy's dress was an ugly. And she did the bare feet in the church bit too.

http://bontragersingers.blogspot.com/

So the daughter was her dad’s “personal assistant “.

i am pretty sure I went to fundie summer indoctrination camp with this family, the name is really familiar. 

[Vacantsmile3]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5336675/American-von-Trapp-family-reveals-horror-rapist-father.html

 

Apparently Toby Willis abused multiple daughters... So sad. I'm glad he's going to rot in jail!

[zoomama]

2 hours ago, Vacantsmile3 said:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5336675/American-von-Trapp-family-reveals-horror-rapist-father.html

 

Apparently Toby Willis abused multiple daughters... So sad. I'm glad he's going to rot in jail!

i always felt weird about that guy...just watching the show was so uncomfortable for me. 

[Fuzzysox]

WOW Toby, what a POS. Ewwww sick bastard. I feel so sorry for his whole family. I wouldn't be able to ever forgive such a POS. Makes me sad for his parents too. Anyone living in Chicago can remember all the news reports of his parents getting into a horrific accident where 6 of his siblings died. His parents seem like such salt of the earth people. The dad is a minister if I recall right. 

[Temperance]

I thought the Willis family was Catholic, both generations. 

[Fuzzysox]

17 minutes ago, Temperance said:

I thought the Willis family was Catholic, both generations. 

No Baptist.

http://articles.latimes.com/1994-11-20/news/mn-65246_1_older-children

[Nysha]

It was obvious Toby Willis was super controlling and full of rage, so the fact that he was also abusing his daughters isn't surprising. Sexual abuse of minors is another way of controlling them.

[EVS]

21 minutes ago, Fuzzysox said:

WOW Toby, what a POS. Ewwww sick bastard. I feel so sorry for his whole family. I wouldn't be able to ever forgive such a POS. Makes me sad for his parents too. Anyone living in Chicago can remember all the news reports of his parents getting into a horrific accident where 6 of his siblings died. His parents seem like such salt of the earth people. The dad is a minister if I recall right. 

I remember that this accident exposed the license for bribes scandal. The whole thing was so heartbreaking. 

[RedheadZombie]

5 hours ago, EVS said:

I remember that this accident exposed the license for bribes scandal. The whole thing was so heartbreaking. 

It brought down the governor.  It was unbelievable how it all went down. 

[Celia Rubenstein]

Jill Rod has been totally silent on her facebook for a long time. Anybody know why? Did she get too much shit for saying Nurie called American women "sluttish?" That's what was happening last I saw. And now it looks like her long post about it is gone.

All I can say is nice work Jill. You either revealed that your eldest child is a judgmental little prude who has picked up some questionable thinking and language habits at home, or you put those words in Nurie's mouth then broadcast it to the world as if she said it so people could hold it against her. Either way she loses.

 I guess Jill thought bragging about how Nurie was appalled by American sluts would make her look good, like she raised an aware, modest, godly daughter. But all she showed was that somewhere along the line she taught Nurie to be a sanctimonious, judgmental little twerp (that is assuming you even believe Jill was quoting Nurie, which may or may not be the case). 

Assuming Nurie really did say that, far from showing what a godly daughter Jill raised, it shows what really goes on in their house - Jill stares into a mirror caking her face with makeup and dying and curling and plastering her hair in place with aqua net, training her daughters about the importance of modesty and how vanity is a sin.  She then further instructs them in the ways of hypocrisy, whining about people judging her while she happily judges other people for their appearance or lifestyle.  It's obvious she does this because no way did Nurie invent the concept that American women dress like sluts. She heard it someplace. I'm willing to wager that place was at home. 

Either that or Jill is putting some ugly words in her poor daughter's mouth, words her daughter will have to live with for a long time because she's never gonna come out and contradict her mother claiming she said that. 

Maybe Jill will have learned a little lesson from all this -  not just about her own hypocrisy, but about how she should reconsider using her children to promote herself and fulfill her never-ending need for attention.

LOL yeah right, she hasn't learned a damn thing, I know. Give her a few weeks to restore her pride and she'll be right back at it. 

[Sew Sumi]

All I know is that they've just embarked on another Florida Grifting Tour. 

Jill remains on Friends Only lockdown. She certainly lacks self-awareness, but the Sluttish post must have woken her up a bit when she started getting pushback from her followers. 

[Celia Rubenstein]

12 minutes ago, Sew Sumi said:

All I know is that they've just embarked on another Florida Grifting Tour. 

 Isn't Chimpy still in Africa harassing ministering to the locals? Who will drive the stink bus? Who will make sure the baby cage is kept locked? 

 Surely Jill is not taking the eleven kids left behind with her to Florida. Maybe she stuck her parents and SEVERELY paralyzed Amy Foster with watching the littles. 

[Sew Sumi]

I'm pretty sure the African trip was only two weeks, so they'd be back by now. 

[Temperance]

What lockdown?

[Sew Sumi]

Jill locking down her FB page to Friends Only.

[Temperance]

I didn't see any new posts, but I did see her Facebook page like an hour ago.

(I checked after you posted, and I don't follow her on Facebook or anything.)

Edited February 3, 2018 by Temperance

[Sew Sumi]

Hmm... I can now see posts up to the 17th. She's certainly posted since then. This IS Jill we're talking about! I think that maybe the earlier posts were public, so that's why we can see them? I've always been Friends Only, so I don't know if there's a difference. 

[Absolom]

Her recent posts have been friends only.

[Arwen Evenstar]

46 minutes ago, Absolom said:

Her recent posts have been friends only.

In Fundyland, isn’t a “friend” anyone who gave you a grifter item or fed your passel of kids?

[Sew Sumi]

I think that does indeed fall into the friendzone, as defined by me (Dullard thread, I think) a few days ago. 

[Loves2Dance]

21 hours ago, Nysha said:

It was obvious Toby Willis was super controlling and full of rage, so the fact that he was also abusing his daughters isn't surprising. Sexual abuse of minors is another way of controlling them.

Agreed. There original show was disturbing on so many levels but he tried to show a tamer side the second time around. But the eyes, those eyes never lie. When I heard about the charges I'd hoped his daughters weren't involved, but figured they were. It makes you wonder about Brenda though---she was not an aloof Michelle who doesn't know her kids names. I shudder to think of the length he went to control her. 

[Jynnan tonnix]

29 minutes ago, Loves2Dance said:

Agreed. There original show was disturbing on so many levels but he tried to show a tamer side the second time around. But the eyes, those eyes never lie. When I heard about the charges I'd hoped his daughters weren't involved, but figured they were. It makes you wonder about Brenda though---she was not an aloof Michelle who doesn't know her kids names. I shudder to think of the length he went to control her. 

I was really not aware of the Willis family before, but I can't help but wonder what the actual numbers are when it comes to a range of behaviors which could be classified as abusive. I mean, the Duggars clearly have a whole slew of issues by themselves, most of which one might have a hard time really classifying s abuse, per se, but which also obviously affect their children in any variety of ways. And they are considered by many as role models!

Take a step further into the likes of the Rodriguii, and you start to see  some truly troubling things going on, though they still manage to have their fans who probably want to grow up to be just like them.

Even the Pearls, from whom much of the child-rearing philosophies spring, are still seen as promoting Christian methods among a good number.

Then add in the characters like Toby Willis who have serious mental issues on top of the religious extremism, and you have some real tragedies which are still cloaked in a wholesome and even enviable image...

All the way down to cases like the Turpins, which are beyond comprehension, but which still pop up in degrees every so often....

And so, so often, aside from inherent mental illness, it seems to be a perverted understanding of religion which is behind it. Yet religion is on of the fundamental things which one can hide behind to an almost limitless degree in this country.

I'm not suggesting that religious freedom be curtailed, but surely there is some way to be able to demand some accountability and mental stability among the truly fringe/homeschool/family compound types. 

Edited February 4, 2018 by Jynnan tonnix

[Loves2Dance]

49 minutes ago, Jynnan tonnix said:

I was really not aware of the Willis family before, but I can't help but wonder what the actual numbers are when it comes to a range of behaviors which could be classified as abusive. I mean, the Duggars clearly have a whole slew of issues by themselves, most of which one might have a hard time really classifying s abuse, per se, but which also obviously affect their children in any variety of ways. And they are considered by many as role models!

Take a step further into the likes of the Rodriguii, and you start to see  some truly troubling things going on, though they still manage to have their fans who probably want to grow up to be just like them.

Even the Pearls, from whom much of the child-rearing philosophies spring, are still seen as promoting Christian methods among a good number.

Then add in the characters like Toby Willis who have serious mental issues on top of the religious extremism, and you have some real tragedies which are still cloaked in a wholesome and even enviable image...

All the way down to cases like the Turpins, which are beyond comprehension, but which still pop up in degrees every so often....

And so, so often, aside from inherent mental illness, it seems to be a perverted understanding of religion which is behind it. Yet religion is on of the fundamental things which one can hide behind to an almost limitless degree in this country.

I'm not suggesting that religious freedom be curtailed, but surely there is some way to be able to demand some accountability and mental stability among the truly fringe/homeschool/family compound types. 

Toby Willis was different. There was an evil rage behind him that I have not seen with either Gil or JB. I can't speak for the other fundie families because I don't follow them enough, but he ruled his house with an iron fist and it was no secret. If you watch some of their original show and early interviews with him; it's not hard to see. You don't even need to look for it. He literally controlled every single aspect of his children's life from what they did, to what they wore and what sports they participated in. Physical abuse, none with standing, emotionally abusive for absolute sure. 

[Nysha]

23 minutes ago, Loves2Dance said:

I'm not suggesting that religious freedom be curtailed, but surely there is some way to be able to demand some accountability and mental stability among the truly fringe/homeschool/family compound types. 

The problem is, it's not illegal to be a bad parent. This is a direct quote from a CPS worker and backed up by my lawyer and a child's guardian ad litem, who is also a lawyer. Parents have a legal right to raise their children, even if they're mentally unstable people with no positive parenting abilities.  Evangelical Christians would protest en masse any attempt to introduce accountability and mental stability into the homeschool movement, even those who don't homeschool based on the "slippery slope" belief that such attempts will eventually lead to even more persecution of Christians by the heathen government. 

[queenanne]

44 minutes ago, Nysha said:

The problem is, it's not illegal to be a bad parent. This is a direct quote from a CPS worker and backed up by my lawyer and a child's guardian ad litem, who is also a lawyer. Parents have a legal right to raise their children, even if they're mentally unstable people with no positive parenting abilities.  Evangelical Christians would protest en masse any attempt to introduce accountability and mental stability into the homeschool movement, even those who don't homeschool based on the "slippery slope" belief that such attempts will eventually lead to even more persecution of Christians by the heathen government. 

This is not a surprise to me or anyone who follows child abuse cases, but man... how sad.  How depressing and sad.  

Does this mean, as a potential logical outcropping, that CPS backs down a lot in order to CYA and avoid being sued by parents claiming their rights have been infringed upon? 

I feel this would explain a lot.

[Sew Sumi]

WTF Carlin and Fundie Zoolander? If you've ever used a walker or been on oxygen, this isn't funny or cute. At all. 

Apparently, all the couples are in on this hot mess. 

[BitterApple]

Chad looks like he wants to murder someone. I wonder if the theme was the family's idea or producer-driven. Either way it isn't cute or funny.

[dargosmydaddy]

I dunno, the Chad and Erin picture could be construed as kind of amusing, in a costume party-esque kind of way (though I love Lawson's WTF look). The Carlin and whats-his-face one with all the extra apparatus is just bizarre and un-funny, though.  

So do you think they all shared the same wigs/ mustache, or did they buy in bulk?

Edit: Nevermind, I see there are photos with all of them wearing them at the same time.

Edited February 4, 2018 by dargosmydaddy

[Sew Sumi]

This is such a production-driven activity. ILY Day isn't for another 10 days. 

[Heathen]

The Bateses reminded me with that stunt why I can't stand them. What self-absorbed twats they are. 

[Temperance]

The Maxwells have their most popular blogpost ever, as they ask the readers for advice on kids' toothpaste. 

[kalamac]

1 hour ago, Temperance said:

The Maxwells have their most popular blogpost ever, as they ask the readers for advice on kids' toothpaste. 

If they wanted to be really biblical they'd just chew on thick plant stems and swish wine around their mouths. That's how it was done back in the day.

[GeeGolly]

Please forgive me for getting defensive for folks with a diagnosed mental health issue, but it's my passion and career. Folks with mental illnesses are no more likely to abuse children than the average parent. There are a lot of rotten people out there that no one understands and it feels more comfortable to put them on 'the other' category to make sense of it all. Mental health carries so much stigma. Some would be surprised how many 'normal' well adjusted friends and acquaintances struggle with mental health.

Religious zealot, authoritarian parent, mean asshole, etc. do not, in and of themselves meet the criteria of a mental health diagnosis.

Sorry, had to.

This is not aimed at any post at all - the labeling of mentally ill comes up often enough to compel me to jump on my soapbox every so often. Slinking off it now. 

Edited February 4, 2018 by GeeGolly

[floridamom]

Apparently the Bates women have scissors in their future. They all will have short hair when they are old women.

[Loves2Dance]

There was a viral video not long ago that took a couple and changed them from young to old to older to as old as they're getting and it was cute and sappy. I didn't see an issue with that so I can't find issue in the producer-driven plot of the Bates to recreate something similar. 

[zoomama]

i am with you, loves2dance.....and i am on the older end of the spectrum. 

[Nysha]

12 hours ago, queenanne said:

Does this mean, as a potential logical outcropping, that CPS backs down a lot in order to CYA and avoid being sued by parents claiming their rights have been infringed upon? 

I feel this would explain a lot.

CPS backs down because without major injuries or witnesses to the abuse, there is nothing to bring before the judge to justify further investigation. And even then, it ain't no big thing. My ex-son-in-law plead guilty to beating my then 2-year-old granddaughter to the point of leaving over 30 bruises on her. He got 30 days for misdemeanor injury to a child and an additional 45 days for violating the no-contact order by repeatedly calling my daughter when he was in jail. The laws protecting innocent children in this country suck.