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

[Zella]

2 hours ago, Lady Edith said:

And they already snagged themselves a Keller. Marrying another child into the same family would be creepy AF.

It's honestly not creepy (at least to me) for multiple siblings to be married to siblings from another family. It's not unheard of in my family or among acquaintances. I mean, I'd run screaming into the night if one of the Rodrigueses married into my family (let alone more than one), but just the fact that another one of them besides Nurie could marry into the Keller family doesn't really strike me as strange or weird. 

[Heathen]

5 hours ago, louannems said:

The skinny blonde is Phillip.  Samuel is darker with dark hair.

Thanks. I got my Rodriguii confused, obviously. 

[sondraK]

Their kids would be double 1st cousins,if Rods and Kellers marry into each other more than once.

Believe it or not,it's legal in some states for cousins to marry,but double 1st cousin marriages are usually prohibited

[Zella]

1 hour ago, sondraK said:

Their kids would be double 1st cousins,if Rods and Kellers marry into each other more than once.

Believe it or not,it's legal in some states for cousins to marry,but double 1st cousin marriages are usually prohibited

My grandmother has talked about some of her cousins being double first cousins. I can see why double first cousins can't get married. The family tree needs to fork a little more than that. 😆

Unless you want your descendents to eventually look like this. . . .

[Temperance]

5 hours ago, Lady Edith said:

Wow...it seems as if the girls got all the looks in the family and the boys got the shaft.  The majority of the Not Nuries are absolutely beautiful IMHO and would be breathtakingly so with the right coaching.  Adolescent awkwardness aside, these poor boys don’t have a chance.  Not even Timothy, who I consider to be the most handsome of the bunch. 
 

So here’s what I’m wondering...with Nurie  marrying into adjacent fundie royalty,  and the upcoming nuptials, it’s apparent that the parents had a LOT to do with this arrangement.  So how will the boys find their helpmeets?  Their lives are so insular. They go nowhere but to churches and “dates” with their parents. And they already snagged themselves a Keller. Marrying another child into the same family would be creepy AF.  I seriously doubt any of the other royals would entertain a merger between their children. The Duggars are radio silent on the Nurie acquisition and that speaks volumes.  And forget the Bateses...they aim higher than even the Duggars.   I know there are other fundie families out there but there is no opportunity for them to meet...

Among mainstream young people it's rare these days, but among fundies, it's very much a thing for siblings from one family to siblings from another family. FJ has a lot of random fundie families where there a multiple matches between the family. 

Jill's world really isn't that insular. She travels a lot. 

The Kellers only have one more available child and that is their son David. 

One family Jill knows who are considered good fundies, known to the Duggars are the Bontragers. The Bontragers are ex-mennonite fundies who own a farm, a hotel and also tour and sing.  Jill took pictures with them. They have several young sons who are the right age for Kaylee or Renee.

The Bontragers are probably the best well known of the families with multiple sibling matches. The fourth child, second boy Carson married a girl named Carolina Bowers. His younger brother Joshua (Bontrager #5) married Carolina's sister Cassidy Bowers. These were very much arranged marriages. The Bowers family seemed to move to Iowa to help facilitate the courtships. Mrs. Bowers and Mrs. Bontrager are both in Michelle's season of life.  The  girls were no longer needed to do as much housework/childcare so their parents found them a good, prosperous family to marry into. 

The Wallers have a couple single sons, although the older one is quite a bit older than the Rod girls (probably less than 10 years though). David Waller might introduce them to his younger brothers. 

The Rod boys will have a much harder time finding wives, because they will have a hard time supporting a wife. This is a huge problem for fundie boys and not just Jill's boys. For example, I mentioned the Bowers family above. Neither the sons nor the family is well-off and that makes it harder for them to find wives. 

[Zella]

1 minute ago, Temperance said:

The Wallers have a couple single sons, although the older one is quite a bit older than the Rod girls (probably less than 10 years though). David Waller might introduce them to his younger brothers. 

I get the impression--perhaps incorrect--that TFDW is absolutely mortified by the Rodrigueses, so I could see him wanting to avoid further entanglements and not introducing them to any of his family. But it wouldn't surprise me if Jill is thwarted in finding other matches if she tries to swoop up Nathan's single brother for one of her other girls. Imagine the matching clothing potential! 🤣

[sondraK]

I still think the Rod and Shrader families will get matched up w some of them...at least one couple..when they get back from Africa.I think they have a couple more years? I can't imagine John allowing any of his kids to marry a Zambian.Jmo

[Temperance]

The Maxwells have a new grandchild! Elissa Maxwell gave birth to her third child Caleb Alexander! Elissa is married to Joseph Maxwell. They have 3 children: Calia Grace, Kyle Jeremiah, and Caleb Alexander. Caleb was born January 25th 2020. Elissa and he are both healthy. She was originally due between late January/early February.  I'm sure Steve appreciates the biblical first name. 

This is the second Maxwell grandchild born this month. Anna Marie and Christopher welcomed their 6th child Simon Peter earlier this month. Anna Marie is dealing with breast cancer. She was due a little less than month later, but was induced to get to surgery faster. 

The Maxwell have 4 married children and 16 grandchildren with one on the way. Chelsy is due in June with baby #2. 

 

[galaxychaser]

11 hours ago, Zella said:

My grandmother has talked about some of her cousins being double first cousins. I can see why double first cousins can't get married. The family tree needs to fork a little more than that. 😆

Unless you want your descendents to eventually look like this. . . .

Was it the Hamburg chin? Thankfully he was sterile and sadly slow to boot. 

[galaxychaser]

Jill posted: 

“We need a steady, healthy diet of Biblical influence in our lives”

Crazy chicklet teeth your kids need food not only Bible memorization. She makes me furious.

[louannems]

9 hours ago, Temperance said:

The Maxwells have a new grandchild! Elissa Maxwell gave birth to her third child Caleb Alexander! Elissa is married to Joseph Maxwell. They have 3 children: Calia Grace, Kyle Jeremiah, and Caleb Alexander. Caleb was born January 25th 2020. Elissa and he are both healthy. She was originally due between late January/early February.  I'm sure Steve appreciates the biblical first name. 

This is the second Maxwell grandchild born this month. Anna Marie and Christopher welcomed their 6th child Simon Peter earlier this month. Anna Marie is dealing with breast cancer. She was due a little less than month later, but was induced to get to surgery faster. 

The Maxwell have 4 married children and 16 grandchildren with one on the way. Chelsy is due in June with baby #2. 

 

You forgot to mention above that a Bontrager female is married to a Maxwell son !  They have baby Axton and are pregnant again.    I'm sure this baby will have an equally strange name!

[galaxychaser]

Axton Maxwell is pretty bad. Jeez.

[DangerousMinds]

51 minutes ago, galaxychaser said:

Jill posted: 

“We need a steady, healthy diet of Biblical influence in our lives”

Crazy chicklet teeth your kids need food not only Bible memorization. She makes me furious.

I’d be ok with it if she didn’t want to push her “diet” on the rest of us.

[galaxychaser]

1 hour ago, DangerousMinds said:

I’d be ok with it if she didn’t want to push her “diet” on the rest of us.

I’d be fine on her hubby’s diet. He eats well!

[DangerousMinds]

1 hour ago, galaxychaser said:

I’d be fine on her hubby’s diet. He eats well!

I meant her diet of “biblical influence.”

[Temperance]

2 hours ago, louannems said:

You forgot to mention above that a Bontrager female is married to a Maxwell son !  They have baby Axton and are pregnant again.    I'm sure this baby will have an equally strange name!

Yes I mentioned Chelsy, but left out that she's a Bontrager. I could see this baby being named Bontrager as a first name. 

[floridamom]

My mother's brother married my father's sister. Their children are my double first cousins. There is no crossover with them. We cousins simply have both parents from the same gene pool. 

[galaxychaser]

1 hour ago, Temperance said:

Yes I mentioned Chelsy, but left out that she's a Bontrager. I could see this baby being named Bontrager as a first name. 

Bontrager is even worse than Spurgeon.

[Fostersmom]

21 hours ago, Lady Edith said:

Marrying another child into the same family would be creepy AF.  

Why? 

9 minutes ago, floridamom said:

My mother's brother married my father's sister. Their children are my double first cousins. There is no crossover with them. We cousins simply have both parents from the same gene pool. 

My grandmother and her sister married my grandfather and his brother.  I'd have to think these kind of marriages happened a lot back in the day. Both families are Italian, my grandfather's oldest brother was born in Italy. So you probably had a lot of immigrant families coming over, possibly knowing each other in the old county, or knowing someone who knew of them, so people matched up, especially almost 100 years ago. The only time this was even questioned was when my sister and my apparently just as clueless cousins came up to me one Christmas all freaked out that "Grandma and Grandpa are brother and sister?!?!?!" Uh, what? I was like 16 or 17 at the time, and while they were all younger, my sister and 1 cousin were only a year younger, those 2 at least should have been smarter! LOL! I had to spell it out that NO they were not, and if I started dating my sister's boyfriends brother, would that make my sister and her boyfriend bother and sister? 

[andromeda331]

1 hour ago, Fostersmom said:

Why? 

My grandmother and her sister married my grandfather and his brother.  I'd have to think these kind of marriages happened a lot back in the day. Both families are Italian, my grandfather's oldest brother was born in Italy. So you probably had a lot of immigrant families coming over, possibly knowing each other in the old county, or knowing someone who knew of them, so people matched up, especially almost 100 years ago. The only time this was even questioned was when my sister and my apparently just as clueless cousins came up to me one Christmas all freaked out that "Grandma and Grandpa are brother and sister?!?!?!" Uh, what? I was like 16 or 17 at the time, and while they were all younger, my sister and 1 cousin were only a year younger, those 2 at least should have been smarter! LOL! I had to spell it out that NO they were not, and if I started dating my sister's boyfriends brother, would that make my sister and her boyfriend bother and sister? 

So do I. I think was pretty common back when families usually had a lot kids. It was pretty common in my mom's and dad's branches because there were a lot of kids and both families generally lived in areas that didn't have a lot of people. Eventually your going to run out of someone not related by blood or marriage to marry. Not to mention the very common marrying your late wife's sister or marrying your husband's brother, or in at least one case in my family brother and sister both died and their spouses married each other almost always out necessity.

[louannems]

1 hour ago, Fostersmom said:

Why? 

My grandmother and her sister married my grandfather and his brother.  I'd have to think these kind of marriages happened a lot back in the day. Both families are Italian, my grandfather's oldest brother was born in Italy. So you probably had a lot of immigrant families coming over, possibly knowing each other in the old county, or knowing someone who knew of them, so people matched up, especially almost 100 years ago. The only time this was even questioned was when my sister and my apparently just as clueless cousins came up to me one Christmas all freaked out that "Grandma and Grandpa are brother and sister?!?!?!" Uh, what? I was like 16 or 17 at the time, and while they were all younger, my sister and 1 cousin were only a year younger, those 2 at least should have been smarter! LOL! I had to spell it out that NO they were not, and if I started dating my sister's boyfriends brother, would that make my sister and her boyfriend bother and sister? 

In my family, Germans from Russia who settled in South Dakota, a few sisters married brothers.  The German community stuck to themselves.

My grandpa DID marry his own  not-blood sister!  He was an orphan from New York City, and put on the orphan train at the age of two.  A childless couple from South Dakota adopted him.  When he was four, his adopted mother gave birth to a girl, whom my four year old grandpa named.

They went on to have a slew of kids, but both parents died, leaving behind 7 children, from ages two years up to my grandpa, age 21.  The county wanted to split up the little kids into different homes, but my grandpa wanted them to all stay together.

He asked the parish priest if he could marry his not blood sister, age 17, and he agreed. They married and raised all those kids, and had 7 of their own!

If a Rod girl married Nathan's brother, that would not be weird to me.

 

 

[ginger90]

10 pictures:

 

 

[cdp73]

I sure hope David is good at getting the permits needed to do all of the construction, plumbing, and electric that he's so good at.  Somehow though, I doubt it.

[Fostersmom]

20 minutes ago, andromeda331 said:

 Not to mention the very common marrying your late wife's sister or marrying your husband's brother, or in at least one case in my family brother and sister both died and their spouses married each other almost always out necessity.

Not that this has anything to do with this, but it reminded me of my cousin. I can't remember if it was him or his ex wife who cheated, but one of them did and they got divorced. The other person was also married. My mom told me that once everyone was divorced, the 2 who had been cheated on ended up getting together and were now married. All I could say, was that was kind of messed up! Not exactly for the adults, but I know my cousin had a daughter from that marriage, not sure about the other couple, and all I could think was at least 1 kid was going to need years and years of therapy!

 

Is it Kendra's or Lauren's sister who seems awfully thirsty to snag herself a Duggar brother? I know one of them is.  

[Future Cat Lady]

Who needs a clock when they sit on the toilet?

[Picture It. Sicily]

3 minutes ago, Future Cat Lady said:

Who needs a clock when they sit on the toilet?

Someone taking a pregnancy test. 🤮🤮🤮

[Future Cat Lady]

2 minutes ago, Picture It. Sicily said:

Someone taking a pregnancy test. 🤮🤮🤮

Or the kids can't be in there more than X minutes to prevent them from masturbating. 

[GeeGolly]

I'm guessing David isn't one of the boys who use that bathroom. I'm thinking they'd need to remove a wall to get him out.

[galaxychaser]

31 minutes ago, Future Cat Lady said:

Who needs a clock when they sit on the toilet?

A big ass clock that Stevie Wonder can see. 
Probably so they know when to go grifting for mama.

[Chicklet]

I think I've gone blind. I don't see any difference in those photos. Hanging art in your bathroom and changing the shower curtain aint huge strides in decorating.

[sondraK]

2 hours ago, louannems said:

In my family, Germans from Russia who settled in South Dakota, a few sisters married brothers.  The German community stuck to themselves.

My grandpa DID marry his own  not-blood sister!  He was an orphan from New York City, and put on the orphan train at the age of two.  A childless couple from South Dakota adopted him.  When he was four, his adopted mother gave birth to a girl, whom my four year old grandpa named.

They went on to have a slew of kids, but both parents died, leaving behind 7 children, from ages two years up to my grandpa, age 21.  The county wanted to split up the little kids into different homes, but my grandpa wanted them to all stay together.

He asked the parish priest if he could marry his not blood sister, age 17, and he agreed. They married and raised all those kids, and had 7 of their own!

If a Rod girl married Nathan's brother, that would not be weird to me.

 

 

Yes,I bet Jill would love a double wedding,should they get together before July.Heck,make it a triple,and Jill and David will renew their vows.She's going to find a way to insert herself somehow.I'm guessing her dress will be bigger and fancier than Nurie's wedding dress

[OpieTaylor]

The caption says it’s the BOYS bathroom, but it looks rather feminine to me. There’s a pillow that says Happy Wife - ??? And Why a pillow in a bathroom?

[galaxychaser]

32 minutes ago, OpieTaylor said:

The caption says it’s the BOYS bathroom, but it looks rather feminine to me. There’s a pillow that says Happy Wife - ??? And Why a pillow in a bathroom?

The pillow=muffle crying or orgasm noises ?!

[lianau]

1 hour ago, OpieTaylor said:

The caption says it’s the BOYS bathroom, but it looks rather feminine to me. There’s a pillow that says Happy Wife - ??? And Why a pillow in a bathroom?

And why the Welcome mat ?

[doodlebug]

3 hours ago, cdp73 said:

I sure hope David is good at getting the permits needed to do all of the construction, plumbing, and electric that he's so good at.  Somehow though, I doubt it.

From what I could see in the photos, David's 'construction' consisted of a couple of towel racks/clothing hooks.  It looked to me like the major renovation involved Jill covering the walls with a crap-ton of ugly stuff.

[emma675]

2 hours ago, Chicklet said:

I think I've gone blind. I don't see any difference in those photos. Hanging art in your bathroom and changing the shower curtain aint huge strides in decorating.

Me, too! I was flipping back and forth between pics, trying to figure out the differences. And is that steel siding on the walls?

[Ohiopirate02]

I don't believe that is the boys' bathroom and only the boys' bathroom.   That pillow makes zero sense if it is the case, and Jill know it.  I thought I saw their new house has a septic system.   I cannot imagine the original owners would put in 2 to 3 full baths into a converted barn.  From what I have seen on the various HGTV shows,  septic tanks have different sizes based on how many bathrooms and people using them the structure has.  That barn probably has a tank big enough to handle 1 full bath and maybe a half bath.  That is probably the only bathroom for the whole family.   Even then that tank is going to be working overtime.  I predict a shitty situation happening to the Rods.

 

[Oldernowiser]

5 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

From what I have seen on the various HGTV shows,  septic tanks have different sizes based on how many bathrooms and people using them the structure has.  That barn probably has a tank big enough to handle 1 full bath and maybe a half bath.  That is probably the only bathroom for the whole family.   Even then that tank is going to be working overtime.  I predict a shitty situation happening to the Rods.

 

I don’t know about Ohio, but in Maine and Washington state the septic is sized by the number of bedrooms, probably because it’s assumed most sane occupants would have two or three humans per bedroom max.

The codes don’t take Into account families where they stack bodies like cordwood into any available space. But if any of their occupancy of that pole barn is up to local building code I’d be shocked.

I can only hope the sellers at least had the septic pumped before the sale. That might buy them some time before the whole thing backs up.

[SMama]

I don’t have a decorator bone in my body.  But adding a lot of crap to an already small space ends up making it look smaller. Hope none of the boys are claustrophobic. It’s  a very feminine looking bathroom. Did they post pictures of the girls’ bathroom? If David is such a construction juggernaut he should get off his massive ass and use his skills to feed his emaciated children.  

[BradandJanet]

I agree that David's great carpentry and plumbing skills were not highlighted in these photos. This is the kind of stuff a teenager with a can of paint and a screwdriver could manage.

[sondraK]

They'll prob. have to get the septic pumped out often

[Temperance]

The biggest change I noticed was they painted the mirror frame. Why didn't they paint all the trim?

[sondraK]

The metal walls remind me of the room and bathroom the Duggars have in their warehouse,the one Ben Seewald stayed in.It looks like they live in a warehouse,not a barndominium

1 hour ago, Temperance said:

The biggest change I noticed was they painted the mirror frame. Why didn't they paint all the trim?

Yes,and they painted the cabinet,too,but not the trim

[becca3891]

On 1/18/2020 at 5:50 PM, galaxychaser said:

I think Jill writes it all and signs her kids name.

 

On 1/19/2020 at 10:45 AM, Barb23 said:

I agree.  No young person would say "where does time go."

Re:  Jill's hair color.  I wouldn't even call her current  color Blonde.  It's what you get when you have dyed/highlighted/frosted it with various shades of blonde/red/light brown.  You end up with that non-natural Rusty Gold color.  Mix that with the damaged, frizzy, over treated hair itself and you have one bad look. 

Actually, she was saying it looks like Jill DIDN'T write the post because there wasn't tons of capitalization. We'll have to agree to disagree. To me, it's obvious Nurie wrote it because it sounds just like who she is: A brainwashed robot who has been trained to do nothing but praise Jesus and her parents nonstop, hoping all the while that she's good and godly enough.

[ginger90]

The outlet in the bathroom definitely isn’t code. It should be a GFCI when within 6’ of the edge of a sink. To each their own, there’s too much stuff in the bathrooms.

Edited January 27, 2020 by ginger90

[Chicklet]

Yikes I missed the lack of GFCI but hey if Jesus wants those kids to get electrocuted, I guess that's just how it's going to be. Then Jill can write about her "severely" injured, burned, whatever child in a post.

[YupItsMe]

I do not care for those metal walls. Her construction master could have put up drywall or paneling to cover them.

[GeeGolly]

35 minutes ago, YupItsMe said:

I do not care for those metal walls. Her construction master could have put up drywall or paneling to cover them.

I imagine adding even one wall, on one side, would make that narrow bathroom unusable. There seems to be less than a foot between the front of the toilet and the wall.

What I don't get is why an interior wall is metal. If it was an exterior wall, surely the pipes would freeze.

[doodlebug]

33 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

I imagine adding even one wall, on one side, would make that narrow bathroom unusable. There seems to be less than a foot between the front of the toilet and the wall.

What I don't get is why an interior wall is metal. If it was an exterior wall, surely the pipes would freeze.

I think the whole place is that cheap pre-fab stuff that is usually used for lawnmower sheds.  We've had a pretty warm winter thus far in NE Ohio, but I imagine that pseudo-home is downright chilly.

[louannems]

59 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

I imagine adding even one wall, on one side, would make that narrow bathroom unusable. There seems to be less than a foot between the front of the toilet and the wall.

What I don't get is why an interior wall is metal. If it was an exterior wall, surely the pipes would freeze.

It's so tiny, but then Jill had to wedge a table next to the toilet.  Their knees must be bumping against that table every time they sit on it.

Just imagine.  Jill moves into a new "house" with her eleventy kids and one bathroom.  What does she do?  She paints the cabinet, hangs a beach sign, puts out a Wifey pillow, sets feathers and fake flowers and froo-froo next to the toilet, hangs fairy lights and drapes fabric all while someone must have constantly interrupting her to use the bathroom!