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

[farmgal4]

20 minutes ago, louannems said:

I've watched most of Andrea's videos and she did love her babies and kids.  She nursed Hanna to sleep at night and even just shortly after her death, Tom claimed that Hanna forgot all about her mother!

Yet his mom, Grandma Kitty, put a short video on her Facebook of Hanna smiling at a pic of her mommy and saying mama, over and over.  Heartbreaking.

And now, on Tom's livestream, he barely pays any attention to little Hanna.  The teenaged sons do all of her care.  Including putting her to bed in her clothes with no bedtime routine like a bath, a clean diaper, and teeth brushed and rocking and a song.

On the latest family dinner livestream, she is screaming so Tom gives the son half of a grilled cheese sandwich and tells him to put Hanna in her crib with the sandwich!!!

So I was right; Tom really is a f’ing moron.  I don’t know anything about these people.  How old is Hanna?

[galaxychaser]

Watch Tom marry next year to someone like Jana Duggar. Aka old maid spinster. 

Sadness...

Edited October 15, 2019 by galaxychaser

[Jynnan tonnix]

7 hours ago, galaxychaser said:

Watch Tom marry next year to someone like Jana Duggar. Aka old maid spinster. 

Sadness...

It is sad...but probably the only way those poor  kids will see any sort of nurturing again from the sounds of it. 

I would understand the father being depressed and not quite able to get himself to the point of taking an active role in caring for his children, but if that's the case he is very unlikely to get treatment for it, and maybe even end up suicidal himself. On the other hand, it doesn't sound as though he had much of a hand in all that sort of wimmin's work to start with, so even when the depression lifts he'll be unlikely to take much part in it. Until and unless he remarries, those kids will be up the creek.

[Minivanessa]

7 hours ago, galaxychaser said:

Watch Tom marry next year to someone like Jana Duggar. Aka old maid spinster. 

Sadness...

Well, a widowed fundie nutjob in search of a wife will have plenty of single female fundie nutjobs to choose from, and the ones that are getting long in the tooth may have fathers who are looking to offload them to another headship. I have no idea who those people are, I'm sorry that woman died so horribly (and stupidly), but if he moves in fundie circles he's likely to remarry soon to get some help with the kids and teh sex on the regular.

[doodlebug]

7 hours ago, galaxychaser said:

Watch Tom marry next year to someone like Jana Duggar. Aka old maid spinster. 

Sadness...

I don't think there is any chance he WON'T be married by this time next year.  And it will be to someone like Jana or Laura; who has a 'heart for children' and lots of experience with managing a mob of kids and will be able to get pregnant ASAP to keep that baby train running.

[Churchhoney]

On another note, I'm always cheered up when any little extra something happens to trip up and wall up Steven Anderson. Came across this tidbit this morning,  from April: 

"One “church” warrants special attention. The Tempe, Arizona-based Faithful World Baptist Church (FWBC), along with its pastor, Steven Anderson, professes to be a church, yet has prayed for the death of President Obama and called for the government to “put homosexuals to death.” Anderson’s church has been labeled a hate group by the SPLC, but perhaps more importantly, he has been banned from travelling to the Netherlands, United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada, and in May 2019 became the first person ever to be banned by Ireland.

"Snake charmers like Anderson, under the guise of religion, manipulate susceptible individuals to embrace toxic ideologies, not unlike the leaders of neo-Nazi groups like the Attomwaffen division. Financial institutions and governments should raise the cost of doing business for hate groups like FWBC.

"In April 2019, the Bank of America took an important step in shutting down all accounts associated with FWBC. This had a significant impact on Anderson’s hate church. He was quoted as saying, “we can’t even get our money out…they just froze everything.” Bank of America’s decision to sever its relationship with the FWBC was a prudent business move."

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/hate-groups-funding-tax-code

Edited October 15, 2019 by Churchhoney

[Natalie68]

18 hours ago, ginger90 said:

Jill just found this feature on her phone didn't she?  It is like when my sister figured out how to insert GIFs into texts.  ALL THE GD TIME!  HA!

[Natalie68]

14 hours ago, doodlebug said:

Took one for the team and watched this:  First, a lot of it is Tom rambling and trying to remember fairly insignificant details.  Seems that Andrea was feeling very tired and constipated and had abdominal pain.  She went to the ER where they diagnosed her with high blood pressure which she and Tom dismissed as being 'White Coat Syndrome' and she never took the medication prescribed nor did she follow up anywhere.   She was anemic and was given some iron supplements.  A month then passed, during which, according to Tom, she was virtually bedridden, getting up only to cook meals (because he is apparently incapable).  Finally, after a month with her pain worsening, still constipated and barely able to get out of bed; she allowed him to take her to an Urgent Care where they diagnosed her with gall bladder disease and she was transferred to hospital for surgery.  BTW, he says she had gall bladder attacks every few weeks for more than a year in the past but never had it removed.  The surgeon who removed her gallbladder told them that her liver was 'bumpy'.  He thought it was maybe scarring or cirrhosis but wanted her transferred to a bigger hospital to see a liver specialist.  He spent a significant amount of time rambling about the decision between an ambulance vs air transfer.  He also complained a few times that her voice was hoarse from the anesthesia, implying that this was abnormal.  The kids did get to see her awake and alert before the transfer.

At the next hospital, they did a biopsy and found that she had cancer in her liver.  While they were planning to start figuring out the next step, her water broke, she delivered the fetus which died.  Her placenta didn't deliver immediately and there was concern that a D&C would kill her.  Over the next couple days, she continued in terrible pain and her liver and kidney function deteriorated to the point where she was clearly dying.  The oncologist told them that she had a very fast moving cancer and he felt she had no more than a couple of days. He also told them that biliary duct cancer often does this and that was his first guess.  The full pathology report identifying the primary as most likely from the breast wasn't done yet.  At first, he said Andrea didn't seem to understand, wanted to go home and take herbs or wait a couple days and do an MRI like someone else suggested.  Tom had to tell her that she wasn't likely to live long enough to have the test. Eventually she understood when the doctor came back and explained again.

They insisted on going home but the doctors were concerned that, if she went home, with her liver failure, her blood wouldn't clot properly and she would bleed to death which would be horrible for all of them.  They insisted on going anyway.  Tom made the arrangements, but somehow, despite the fact that she was needing around the clock pain meds, thought that a friend who was a nurse who gave Andrea Rhogam after her births could somehow acquire massive doses of narcotics on a moment's notice without a prescription.  They ended up going to a hospital on the way home where a couple of people tried rather heroically to arrange for a pain med pump for her at home, but it couldn't happen instantaneously (she was in agony having had no meds for hours since leaving the last hospital).  So, she was admitted to a hospice facility right next to the hospital.  A doctor at the ER gave her something for pain and Tom said, pretty much from that moment on, she was not awake.  She died the next morning.  The kids came and were with her.

He also insists that it was the gall bladder removal that spread the cancer and killed her so quickly.  Now, perhaps the major surgery did hasten her death by days or maybe a week or two, but she was terminal before she ever entered the hospital. The fact that it was breast cancer that had already filled her liver and was the cause of the abnormal liver functions that caused them to think it was her gallbladder seems to have escaped him.  As we talked about when we first heard this, Andrea was indeed breastfeeding, right up until she was in the hospital and Tom thinks that this somehow prevented the cancer from spreading, once again ignoring the fact that it had completely filled her liver by the time they went to the hospital. He then tosses in the mention that she had a lot of 'swollen lymph nodes' but doesn't seem to realize that they were probably cancerous.  He again says that inflammatory breast cancer is totally undetectable and has no symptoms and cannot be seen on a mammogram which is, of course, not the case.  He never mentions whether one of her breasts was reddened or swollen or misshapen which often happens in inflammatory cancer and whether she was treating what she thought was a breast infection with herbs.  He doesn't even mention anyone examining her breast looking for a problem which is kinda weird. The cancer that she had is very tough to treat and often fatal, but it might've given her a bit more good time to prepare her kids had she followed up a month earlier.  

Thank you for listening and reporting.  I just didn't have it in me.

[doodlebug]

12 hours ago, louannems said:

They have the christian cost-sharing Scamitarian insurance.

But, isn't the deal with Samaritan that they base their payouts on who has the greatest need at any one time?  So, if Andrea needed her gallbladder removed, they would have to submit their claim to Samaritan where a board of who knows who then takes a look at the amount of cash they have on hand, the numbers of requests for help they've received and divvies it up?  Which means that some people get their bills covered in full but there is also a possibility that someone else would get just a portion of what they'd asked or even nothing.   Maybe Andrea asked for money for gallbladder surgery during flu season or a bunch of snake handling Baptists needed anti-venin that month and she was SOL.

2 hours ago, Churchhoney said:

On another note, I'm always cheered up when any little extra something happens to trip up and wall up Steven Anderson. Came across this tidbit this morning,  from April: 

"One “church” warrants special attention. The Tempe, Arizona-based Faithful World Baptist Church (FWBC), along with its pastor, Steven Anderson, professes to be a church, yet has prayed for the death of President Obama and called for the government to “put homosexuals to death.” Anderson’s church has been labeled a hate group by the SPLC, but perhaps more importantly, he has been banned from travelling to the Netherlands, United Kingdom, South Africa, Canada, and in May 2019 became the first person ever to be banned by Ireland.

"Snake charmers like Anderson, under the guise of religion, manipulate susceptible individuals to embrace toxic ideologies, not unlike the leaders of neo-Nazi groups like the Attomwaffen division. Financial institutions and governments should raise the cost of doing business for hate groups like FWBC.

"In April 2019, the Bank of America took an important step in shutting down all accounts associated with FWBC. This had a significant impact on Anderson’s hate church. He was quoted as saying, “we can’t even get our money out…they just froze everything.” Bank of America’s decision to sever its relationship with the FWBC was a prudent business move."

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/cafe/hate-groups-funding-tax-code

Can I call Bank of America and open an account?  I have one of their credit cards, I may just have to run out and buy something with it to thank them for standing up to hate.

[wilsie]

1 hour ago, doodlebug said:

Maybe Andrea asked for money for gallbladder surgery during flu season or a bunch of snake handling Baptists needed anti-venin that month and she was SOL.

No matter how foolish or foolhardy Andrea and Tom Mills were with her life, I feel for their family's loss.  But boy @doodlebug the snake handling Baptists needing anti-venom just cracked me up😊

Edited October 15, 2019 by wilsie

[Guest]

16 hours ago, sixlets said:

I know nothing about Andrea & Tom Mills, but one of his recent videos popped up in my recommendations on YouTube.  He explains what happened surrounding Andrea's passing. 

I know nothing about them either but went briefly into the YT rabbit hole and watched his livestream video on the night they were moving Andrea out of the hospital and supposedly back home. In his video, he assures the people watching that he "won't let his [YoutTube] channel die," because of what was happening with Andrea (nice priority, sir) and that he was hosting the live stream while his wife was dying the next room because he was tired of "being silent" with her. SHE'S DYING. Maybe you'd rather be talking to HER instead of thanking a bunch of women for sending you heart emojis on the internet. 

I feel sorry for their billion kids. 

[Tasya]

Quote

Thanks so much, I thought it was slowing down but apparently it is picking back up again! It has been immensely helpful in paying medical bills. Again we should be reimbursed for all of those eventually if all goes right, but being able to pay now helps us to get discounted rates for the bills for quick pay, which helps keep the total hopefully well below the limit that our Samaritan Ministries plan covers.

The kids are seemingly doing fine, Thomas is a rock, hasn't really been sad much -at least in front of me, but we have talked a lot about it. His faith is very strong and he knows he will see her again. Asher is sad sometimes, but mostly fine. Every now and then he needs to be alone which is good. Me and him have been playing video games in the evenings which helps us both forget the whole world for a very short time, which helps a lot. Asher is still pulling the most weight among the kids on how much he has helps me fill the gaps. Judah grieves alone in his bed when he is sad, but is doing very well most of the time. We have some very good one on one talks. Justus is still his mischievous silly self, I was worried about him initially but seems to be doing fine. Eden is the one who seems to be the saddest, but her sadness times seem to be getting more sparse. Solomon seems totally fine, hes a "tough boy" so he tries to never cry, which would be concerning to me, but he really doesn't seem to be too bad off. Sophia and Claudia both are questioning of the whole thing with Sophia showing more emotion than Claudia, who is still confused on if Andrea "is a zombie." But she has said things several times that shows she remembers the way mommy did things. Hannah is literally the same, She smiles at Andrea's picture, but she doesn't know anything going on and is still her happy self.
I guess I am still a mess. The loneliness is a poison I can't escape, but I am totally fine part of the time. I am anxious to see what the future brings and how we will figure all these things out.
Thank you all for the continued prayers and for all these donations. It is a great burden lifted that I don't have to worry much about money. We love all of you.

This is his latest post on his GoFundMe page. There's so much wrong here I can't even...I would hope that not even Jim Bob would be bad enough to sacrifice a daughter to that man. 

[Picture It. Sicily]

32 minutes ago, Tasya said:

This is his latest post on his GoFundMe page. There's so much wrong here I can't even...I would hope that not even Jim Bob would be bad enough to sacrifice a daughter to that man. 

Man, he uses the word 'fine' a lot.

[doodlebug]

5 minutes ago, Picture It. Sicily said:

Man, he uses the word 'fine' a lot.

And he uses it as a synonym for 'I really don't know my kid very well and I am not really going to delve into his or her feelings about the death of their mother, let alone get them professional counseling'.

[Ohiopirate02]

46 minutes ago, Tasya said:

This is his latest post on his GoFundMe page. There's so much wrong here I can't even...I would hope that not even Jim Bob would be bad enough to sacrifice a daughter to that man. 

The sad thing is that many of the unmarried fundie daughters 30 and over will relish becoming the Second Mrs. Tom Mills.  And I mean relish the opportunity.  She will get to swoop in and do her best Maria impression for the Von Trapp Mills children.  Those children need a mother and Tom is so, so lonely.  There is no way a man could raise all of those kids by himself, surely Jesus wants him to have a second wife.  I could go on.  Some of these women have been waiting years for their Prince Charming and working on this fantasy.

[beagletime]

20 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

The sad thing is that many of the unmarried fundie daughters 30 and over will relish becoming the Second Mrs. Tom Mills.  And I mean relish the opportunity.  She will get to swoop in and do her best Maria impression for the Von Trapp Mills children.  Those children need a mother and Tom is so, so lonely.  There is no way a man could raise all of those kids by himself, surely Jesus wants him to have a second wife.  I could go on.  Some of these women have been waiting years for their Prince Charming and working on this fantasy.

Jana would be a perfect fit!  Jana can sew.  I'm sure she'd make some cool play clothes out of the Mills family drapes. Jana also sings and plays instruments.  Sounds like a match to me.  "These are a few of my favorite things!"

[Temperance]

There's nothing wrong with some lonely older woman remarrying a man with many children. Earlier this year a 39-year-old SAHD married a man with many children. His children were delighted and yes they even re-enacted parts of the Sound of Music (although it was his older daughters' idea.) 

That being said Jana will never marry Tom Mills. His beliefs are too hateful for TLC and JB won't let her sink the family brand. 

[Ohiopirate02]

6 minutes ago, Temperance said:

There's nothing wrong with some lonely older woman remarrying a man with many children. Earlier this year a 39-year-old SAHD married a man with many children. His children were delighted and yes they even re-enacted parts of the Sound of Music (although it was his older daughters' idea.) 

That being said Jana will never marry Tom Mills. His beliefs are too hateful for TLC and JB won't let her sink the family brand. 

I agree. I see nothing wrong with the Von Trapp family reality, I do have issue with the Sound of Music fantasy.  There are worse reasons to get married than two adults coming together to raise a family after a tragic death.  

I also don't see Jana becoming the Second Mrs. Mills.  But there are enough other candidates out there for the position.  

[BetyBee]

I don't think Jana would go there either.  If she's as picky as they say, she sure as heck wouldn't go from the frying pan into the fire for that guy.  Why do I get the creepy feeling that he feels worst for himself, that no one is making him a sandwich these days?! 😲  Dude, I have news for you.  NONE of your children are fine.  None of them.  Aren't there any relatives helping out?  Loving aunts, friends, neighbors?  

[Ohiopirate02]

8 minutes ago, BetyBee said:

I don't think Jana would go there either.  If she's as picky as they say, she sure as heck wouldn't go from the frying pan into the fire for that guy.  Why do I get the creepy feeling that he feels worst for himself, that no one is making him a sandwich these days?! 😲  Dude, I have news for you.  NONE of your children are fine.  None of them.  Aren't there any relatives helping out?  Loving aunts, friends, neighbors?  

I got the impression from reading the post that Tom is proud of his boys for sucking it up and crying both rarely and privately.  Better for his boys to bottle up their  emotions instead of letting them out because men don't cry.  

[doodlebug]

16 minutes ago, BetyBee said:

I don't think Jana would go there either.  If she's as picky as they say, she sure as heck wouldn't go from the frying pan into the fire for that guy.  Why do I get the creepy feeling that he feels worst for himself, that no one is making him a sandwich these days?! 😲  Dude, I have news for you.  NONE of your children are fine.  None of them.  Aren't there any relatives helping out?  Loving aunts, friends, neighbors?  

I believe Tom's mother was helping out while they were in Denver and a while after they got back, but she doesn't seem to be there most of the time these days.  I suppose she could be working, or if she's like her son, maybe she has kids of her own still at home.  Tom really is just that helpless.  When you watch the videos, you can hear kids screaming and yelling and sometimes crying in the background. Surely he could wait for the younger ones to go to bed before going off to his 'recording studio' and playing the martyr.  He whines and laments about how hard it all is but there doesn't seem to be much proof that he is doing much more than checking the Go Fund Me page.

It seems like Andrea's second born, Asher, who is around 17 is essentially doing all of the child care that is getting done.  Tom doesn't talk about making meals or giving baths or tucking kids in; he talks about Asher doing most of those things.  Remember, there are 7 kids younger than Asher, the youngest of whom is  only 17 months.

From reading Andrea's website, it sounds like they did home church and she brags that sometimes they had as many as 20 people there!  Of course, about half of them were Tom and Andrea and their kids, so I don't think they had a very large 'church family' that they could count on, either.

Edited October 15, 2019 by doodlebug

[doodlebug]

10 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

I got the impression from reading the post that Tom is proud of his boys for sucking it up and crying both rarely and privately.  Better for his boys to bottle up their  emotions instead of letting them out because men don't cry.  

And who's going to get a meal on the table and the baby put to bed fully dressed if they're busy crying?

[Marthalord]

I can’t see Jana ever going for a someone who has already been married and/or with kids. She probably will marry a completely unknown, perhaps someone younger than her. 

[galaxychaser]

I totally see some leghumpers salivating at the thought of marrying Tom.

[louannems]

1 hour ago, doodlebug said:

I believe Tom's mother was helping out while they were in Denver and a while after they got back, but she doesn't seem to be there most of the time these days.  I suppose she could be working, or if she's like her son, maybe she has kids of her own still at home.  Tom really is just that helpless.  When you watch the videos, you can hear kids screaming and yelling and sometimes crying in the background. Surely he could wait for the younger ones to go to bed before going off to his 'recording studio' and playing the martyr.  He whines and laments about how hard it all is but there doesn't seem to be much proof that he is doing much more than checking the Go Fund Me page.

It seems like Andrea's second born, Asher, who is around 17 is essentially doing all of the child care that is getting done.  Tom doesn't talk about making meals or giving baths or tucking kids in; he talks about Asher doing most of those things.  Remember, there are 7 kids younger than Asher, the youngest of whom is  only 17 months.

From reading Andrea's website, it sounds like they did home church and she brags that sometimes they had as many as 20 people there!  Of course, about half of them were Tom and Andrea and their kids, so I don't think they had a very large 'church family' that they could count on, either.

Tom's Mom, Grandma Kitty, comes over three times a week to homeschool the youngest kid.  The ACE homeschool curriculum is completely self-taught after kindergarten and first grade.

Grandma Kitty looks amazingly young and fit compared to her overweight, rapidly aging 42 year old son, and she is a retired public school teacher. I'm hoping she can talk some sense into Tom, who continues to be rabidly against public school, even though he himself went to them.

Andrea's two sisters, both with tiny kids of their own, spend time in the house supervising the kids with their chores.  These kids have always done all the chores in that house. 

In a comment section under a YouTube video, Andrea once bragged that she spent most of her days laying on the couch, supervising the schooling and chores. She made the kids come to her for questions. She preferred to spend her free time organizing things with colored labels, of which she excelled.

[GeeGolly]

Sorry Tom, your kids are not fine.

They will be fine, but their mother just unexpectedly died and it sounds like their dad sucks at life. 

So Tom, get your head out of your selfish ass, be a parent to your motherless kids and let your kids be kids while they're grieving the loss of their mother.

[farmgal4]

Since I know zilch about the Mills, I decided to venture down the rabbit hole a little bit and watch a few videos.  I watched the 1+ minute video at the hospice facility.  Bless that woman’s heart.  She was drugged up on Fentanyl and still making occasional noises like she was still in pain.  I can’t even imagine the pain that she endured for the last few weeks or months of her life.  Didn’t she or a family member notice that she was jaundiced?  Like I said, I know less than nothing about this family, but I don’t understand why she didn’t seek medical help months ago! 

[galaxychaser]

41 minutes ago, farmgal4 said:

Since I know zilch about the Mills, I decided to venture down the rabbit hole a little bit and watch a few videos.  I watched the 1+ minute video at the hospice facility.  Bless that woman’s heart.  She was drugged up on Fentanyl and still making occasional noises like she was still in pain.  I can’t even imagine the pain that she endured for the last few weeks or months of her life.  Didn’t she or a family member notice that she was jaundiced?  Like I said, I know less than nothing about this family, but I don’t understand why she didn’t seek medical help months ago! 

She didn’t trust doctors?? She believed in natural medicine and herbs???

[BetyBee]

55 minutes ago, louannems said:

Tom's Mom, Grandma Kitty, comes over three times a week to homeschool the youngest kid.  The ACE homeschool curriculum is completely self-taught after kindergarten and first grade.

Grandma Kitty looks amazingly young and fit compared to her overweight, rapidly aging 42 year old son, and she is a retired public school teacher. I'm hoping she can talk some sense into Tom, who continues to be rabidly against public school, even though he himself went to them.

Andrea's two sisters, both with tiny kids of their own, spend time in the house supervising the kids with their chores.  These kids have always done all the chores in that house. 

In a comment section under a YouTube video, Andrea once bragged that she spent most of her days laying on the couch, supervising the schooling and chores. She made the kids come to her for questions. She preferred to spend her free time organizing things with colored labels, of which she excelled.

That's very interesting.  The curriculum does not sound stimulating and their lives sound like they were always nutty.  Still, they are suffering and it's very sad.  Does Tom work?  

[farmgal4]

2 hours ago, galaxychaser said:

I totally see some leghumpers salivating at the thought of marrying Tom.

Does JRod know about this man and his family?  I could see her hooking one (Kaylee, maybe?) of her daughters up with him.

[louannems]

4 hours ago, BetyBee said:

That's very interesting.  The curriculum does not sound stimulating and their lives sound like they were always nutty.  Still, they are suffering and it's very sad.  Does Tom work?  

Tom has a home business in their basement.  He repairs computers and systems and is frequently out on the job.  He has a batchelor degree in computer science and doesn't think any of his kids need college!

[becca3891]

16 hours ago, Temperance said:

There's nothing wrong with some lonely older woman remarrying a man with many children. Earlier this year a 39-year-old SAHD married a man with many children. His children were delighted and yes they even re-enacted parts of the Sound of Music (although it was his older daughters' idea.) 

That being said Jana will never marry Tom Mills. His beliefs are too hateful for TLC and JB won't let her sink the family brand. 

You've piqued my curiosity. What's her name? Agreed that Tom wouldn't be Jana's type, but I don't see how his views are any worse than the Duggars'.

13 hours ago, galaxychaser said:

She didn’t trust doctors?? She believed in natural medicine and herbs???

Looking at her blog, she "did her own prenatal care" at home. I'm not saying her cancer definitely could have been discovered in time, but one way to be sure your cancer will definitely not be found until it's too late is by avoiding doctors altogether. I feel awful for her children.

[galaxychaser]

Grandparents dropped by for dinner at the Rods house. 

[Temperance]

7 hours ago, becca3891 said:

You've piqued my curiosity. What's her name? Agreed that Tom wouldn't be Jana's type, but I don't see how his views are any worse than the Duggars'.

Looking at her blog, she "did her own prenatal care" at home. I'm not saying her cancer definitely could have been discovered in time, but one way to be sure your cancer will definitely not be found until it's too late is by avoiding doctors altogether. I feel awful for her children.

The older SAHD who got married, is named Andrea Reins. She was 39 and married a widower with a large family. 

Tom is way more anti-government than the Duggars. He and his wife believe/believed all kinds of crazy conspiracy theories, many of them hateful and hurtful. I feel sorry for the kids. 

Edited October 16, 2019 by Temperance

[lianau]

On 10/12/2019 at 2:36 AM, ginger90 said:

 

8 pictures:

 

Trying to figure out who owns that floating hand on Nurie's shoulder .

[CalicoKitty]

2 minutes ago, lianau said:

Trying to figure out who owns that floating hand on Nurie's shoulder .

It looks like there is another boy hiding behind the boy in the blue shirt.  If you enlarge the picture you can see the outline of another head. 

[dargosmydaddy]

I think the hand belongs to the little boy in blue, and those are the boy in the hat's hands behind the blue kid's head (not a whole other person).

[CalicoKitty]

16 minutes ago, dargosmydaddy said:

I think the hand belongs to the little boy in blue, and those are the boy in the hat's hands behind the blue kid's head (not a whole other person).

I think you may be right.  I thought the arms of the tall boy in back were another person. It does look like a floating hand, however.

[latetotheparty]

Jill, you have never been humble in your life. 

[galaxychaser]

Look at the kid that is Tim is holding . She is clinging to him. None of the kids cling or look truly happy around their parents 

[Mindthinkr]

Every time I come to this thread to read my heart breaks. 

[doodlebug]

5 hours ago, galaxychaser said:

Grandparents dropped by for dinner at the Rods house. 

So, which of the kids announced they were fasting so Grandma and Grandpa could eat?

[Sew Sumi]

4 minutes ago, doodlebug said:

So, which of the kids announced they were fasting so Grandma and Grandpa could eat?

Well, they would need adult-sized portions, so that rules out the girls. Looks like the two older boys went hungry tonight. 😕

[beagledog100]

28 minutes ago, Sew Sumi said:

Well, they would need adult-sized portions, so that rules out the girls. Looks like the two older boys went hungry tonight. 😕

I don’t know much about this family. Do they not have the money to feed the kids adequately?

[Jynnan tonnix]

2 hours ago, dargosmydaddy said:

I think the hand belongs to the little boy in blue, and those are the boy in the hat's hands behind the blue kid's head (not a whole other person).

You are probably right about the kid in the back having his hands behind the kid in the blue's head...it looks as though his arms are straight down at first glance, but they may be bent at the elbow, resting on the younger brother's shoulders. But if that's so, and I don't see how there could be anyone else in the photo between them, the youngster in blue must have the wingspan of an albatross to have one hand on Nurie's shoulder and the other reaching all the way around the girl holding the little one.

Edited October 17, 2019 by Jynnan tonnix

[Sew Sumi]

They seem to somehow have the money, but the kids are far too thin for it to be just genetics.

[doodlebug]

30 minutes ago, beagledog100 said:

I don’t know much about this family. Do they not have the money to feed the kids adequately?

It's not clear, their mother, Jill, claims that she and her husband were very thin in their youth and the kids take after them.  There are photos of Jill and her hubby at the time of their wedding and they were pretty thin.  Jill is now probably within the normal range weight-wise which is fairly amazing after 13 kids.  Her husband, on the other hand, is definitely obese, he looks like he's hiding all 13 kids under his shirt.

The thing is, Jill's kids are not just thin, they have this sort of sunken eyed, dull skinned appearance that makes it seem like maybe they are malnourished.  Add to that, Jill frequently brags that various kids, still in their teens are fasting for religious reasons which is, of course, medically unsound at that age.  When she got pregnant with her last child, Jill bragged that all of her kids were so thrilled, and they would be happy to eat less chicken at dinner in order to feed another sibling.  It sounded kind of odd, like the kids were expected to go without food because Jill had another baby.  Meanwhile, we've seen plenty of photos of the whole family at the dinner table and Jill's husband always has a plate piled high in front of him while the kids seemingly have very little on theirs, even the teen boys and adult children. I was one of 6 kids with 4 younger siblings.  At no time did my parents ever suggest that I eat less so they wouldn't have to buy more food to feed the other kids.

In addition to her husband's morbid obesity, Jill wears a metric sh**-ton of makeup at all times as do her daughters.  She also obviously colors her hair and has a professional manicure.  He husband runs a Christian printing press and gives away all sorts of religious tracts; so he doesn't have an actual paying job.  Jill is queen of the grift and they haul all their kids around to  various churches where Jill gushes about the delicious food they're given or that the congregation took them to Golden Corral for dinner.

Jill's eldest son, Tim, went off to college last year and almost immediately seemed to gain weight and doesn't look nearly as pathetic as the rest.

In other words, yes, Jill and David have enough money to feed their kids, but it appears they have different priorities.  There's a lot of circumstantial evidence that the kids don't seem to get enough to eat.

Edited October 17, 2019 by doodlebug

[galaxychaser]

I just looked at Instagram. Jill did not post if anyone fasted. 

Check out how happy the kid is to sit between the grandparents.

Maybe grandma brought enough desserts and ice cream for everyone. 

[Sew Sumi]

24 minutes ago, galaxychaser said:

I just looked at Instagram. Jill did not post if anyone fasted. 

Check out how happy the kid is to sit between the grandparents.

Maybe grandma brought enough desserts and ice cream for everyone. 

Nah, we remembered the chicken story that @doodlebug just recounted and ran with it. 😀

Edited October 17, 2019 by Sew Sumi

[ginger90]

From a 2016 blog post by Jill:

Timothy had chosen to fast about his future as he approaches his adult life in the next couple of years.  He wants God’s direction and peace about exactly what God would have him to do once he graduates from high school.  He has his sights set on some specific things for his future, but he does not want to press ahead without his parents or without God’s approval.  I was THRILLED beyond measure to see Timothy’s desire to draw nigh unto God in his own personal walk.  He continues to have fasting as a part of his weekly schedule now.