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

[Snow Fairy]

I just hate those stupid grins on the girl's faces. That is not smiling and you don't look nice

[FizzyPuff]

5 hours ago, Snow Fairy said:

I just hate those stupid grins on the girl's faces. That is not smiling and you don't look nice

They’ve been brainwashed to always smile when a cameras around.

[sleepysuzy]

On 11/18/2019 at 7:36 PM, sleepysuzy said:

As with many men who look a bit goofy when clean-cut, I think Nathan would benefit from the still somewhat trendy mountain man look. Put a beard and some slightly shaggier hair on him, and his nose would be more balanced and his thin mouth not as noticable. 

I had a random snow day today, so I tested my theory. Granted, it's one of Jill's facetuned pictures,  but his acne may clear up. Tim had hrown some scruff, so I think a short beard would be acceptable  to the family.

[satrunrose]

If Jill wants us to believe that her kids are just naturally skeletal, she may want to stop posting pictures of Tim. The way that kid has filled out and the improvement in his colour since he left home are remarkable. 

[BitterApple]

1 hour ago, satrunrose said:

If Jill wants us to believe that her kids are just naturally skeletal, she may want to stop posting pictures of Tim. The way that kid has filled out and the improvement in his colour since he left home are remarkable. 

That was my first thought! Tim looks like an entirely different person. His cheeks are chubbier and his skintone is healthy as opposed to sallow. The contrast between him and his siblings is startling. 

Edited December 2, 2019 by BitterApple

[galaxychaser]

7 hours ago, Snow Fairy said:

I just hate those stupid grins on the girl's faces. That is not smiling and you don't look nice

Jill is probably saying smile, smile! 

[Churchhoney]

25 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

That was my first thought! Tim looks like an entirely different person. His cheeks are chubbier and his skintone is healthy as opposed to sallow. The contrast between him and his siblings is startling. 

And it became startling very soon after he left home, seems to me.

Even though he hadn't actually filled out and bulked up much at that point, his face and head no longer looked like the skin was pasted flat against his skull, lacking the thin layer of protective fat that virtually everyone has outside of a concentration camp, a famine, or a facility for anorexics. 

That was the tell, to me. I'd always thought the kids' faces, the boys' especially, were not just the faces of naturally skinny, active children, but the faces of the starving -- because that skin-flat-on-skull look is what the starving have. The male fat layer is naturally a little thinner, I think, which would account for why it would be more thoroughly and obviously missing from the boys.

Tim, who'd always had that skin-right-on-skull look previously as well, had lost the look by the very first pictures we saw of him after he got to Moody. 

Edited December 2, 2019 by Churchhoney

[queenanne]

On 11/30/2019 at 6:36 PM, Madtown said:

These fundy girls and their "man of my dreams" shit. They've known each other for all of 5 minutes. Does she know anything about him. besides that he is "Godly?" When I think of all the things these girls know nothing about and what they are truly missing out on, it makes me weep for their future of nothing but babies.

"Man of my dreams" =

(1) Has penis;

(2) Said "yes";

(3) parents gave permission;

(4) presence of beloved results in first hints of acceptable sexual feeling.

On 12/1/2019 at 7:59 AM, Churchhoney said:

I sounded a bit like that as a kid. And I wasn't dropped on my head! Mostly I didn't talk at all. And I don't sound anything like that now, and I talk constantly.

Infantilizing people and forcing them into a position where they don't really dare say anything spontaneous or unrehearsed is a favorite weapon of many tyrants and can produce a sound like that.

You're just crippled in your ability to utter anything of your own mind and in your own voice, I think. I'd occasionally get really angry -- angrier than I was every minute of most days, that is -- and bust out with something loud and unprescribed. But that carried dangerous consequences so most of the time I did the Rodrigui thing and tried to stay under the radar.

I'm positive, although I'm unclear as to how it makes psychological sense (or maybe that's the point), but the kids have developed this voice specifically because they don't want anybody to take them seriously, and/or are hoping their statements get lost in a crowd.  Just in case Ma and Pa Rod take it into their heads to start lecturing them about said statements; at which point they can say they were "joking" or similar.  Or, maybe they've adopted these stupid voices for the "in the world, not of it" campaign...

On the bright side, if any other Rods ever get to move out on their own/go to school like Timmy, and are savvy enough not to tell the story of how the bear really came to be, I suppose they can attribute the Build-A-Bears to mushy teen presents from a boyfriend or girlfriend.

[BradandJanet]

Random thoughts:

What home did Tim come home to? I thought the Rods had an offer on their house and were in Ohio looking for a new one. 

Tim does look better, especially compared with the younger kids who look straight out of a documentary on the Great Depression. 

He would have had a better Thanksgiving if he had stayed at school and had someone feel sorry for him and invite him to dinner. 

I curious if Tim has the sophistication yet to know he shouldn't tell his friends about his 15th birthday celebration at Build a Bear. 

A beard on Nathan should be acceptable to all. The most handsome, wonderful, husband and father in the world has one, after all, and his wife allowed it. 

[Sew Sumi]

To your last paragraph: 🤮

🤣

[Temperance]

Good news for the Waller family! The Wallers are David Waller's parents. David Waller is married to Priscilla Keller and they have 4 children. David's parents had 10 children. One of their oldest sons died as adult in 2005. Their oldest 4 living children are all married including their oldest daughter Rachelle. The Wallers have a total of 14 grandchildren. 

Their youngest daughter Rebecca died in a car accident earlier this year.

Now their daughter Lydia is engaged to man named Graham/Graeme (sp?) Alden.  David is excited about it, so Lydia's fiance is probably a fundie. On the other hand, David's brother-in-law Nathan is engaged to a Godly young woman (Nurie) and David/Pris have said nothing about that.  Lydia is probably about 24  years old.  All of the unmarried Waller children live at home, so they have 3 adult children still there (2 boys and a girl). 

(Sources of Information include FJ and Fundie Wiki). 

[Sew Sumi]

David posted a pic of the happy couple on IG with a lovely tribute. A stark contrast to the crickets heard post Nathan's engagement. 

[Heathen]

54 minutes ago, Sew Sumi said:

David posted a pic of the happy couple on IG with a lovely tribute. A stark contrast to the crickets heard post Nathan's engagement. 

David must be super-embarrassed by the gauche Rodriguii. 

[Temperance]

It's very unChristian of David and Priscilla if they can't welcome Nurie into the family. Underneath all the make-up, she has the same beliefs they do. 
That being said, maybe the difference is that Lydia and her man seem to be staying/spending time with David and Priscilla. Maybe they haven't met Nurie yet.

[Jynnan tonnix]

1 hour ago, Sew Sumi said:

David posted a pic of the happy couple on IG with a lovely tribute. A stark contrast to the crickets heard post Nathan's engagement. 

Hmmm...I'm really wondering now how the whole Nathan/Nurie romance came to be. These fundies are not generally seen starting courtships which are, if not actually arranged and brokered by the respective families, at least firmly vetted and approved. Is it possible that Nathan either genuinely fell nor Nurie based on whatever, or maybe just felt driven to rescue her? How would it all have come about without both families being agreeable? Would Nathan have met Nurie at some point, or would he be going by Jill's blog/Facebook page? Was he just so lacking confidence that he figured Nurie was the best he could do, or did his parents think so as well, and set it up with the intent of sweeping the whole thing under the rug and pretending it never happened?

I'd kind of like to think that he's really smitten, really does want to be her Prince Charming, and sweep her away from the life she has despite his family's disapproval, but the photos of them don't really bear out that theory.

'Tis a puzzlement...

[Temperance]

8 minutes ago, Jynnan tonnix said:

Hmmm...I'm really wondering now how the whole Nathan/Nurie romance came to be. These fundies are not generally seen starting courtships which are, if not actually arranged and brokered by the respective families, at least firmly vetted and approved. Is it possible that Nathan either genuinely fell nor Nurie based on whatever, or maybe just felt driven to rescue her? How would it all have come about without both families being agreeable? Would Nathan have met Nurie at some point, or would he be going by Jill's blog/Facebook page? Was he just so lacking confidence that he figured Nurie was the best he could do, or did his parents think so as well, and set it up with the intent of sweeping the whole thing under the rug and pretending it never happened?

I'd kind of like to think that he's really smitten, really does want to be her Prince Charming, and sweep her away from the life she has despite his family's disapproval, but the photos of them don't really bear out that theory.

'Tis a puzzlement...

The Keller parents seem to like the Rods just fine. It's Nathan's sisters Anna and Priscilla and their husbands, who seem to disapprove. The Keller boys live at home to prevent them from chosing a heathen woman.

[galaxygirl76]

Maybe David Waller doesn't care as much because it's not a Waller wedding but a Keller wedding. 

[Sew Sumi]

3 minutes ago, galaxygirl76 said:

Maybe David Waller doesn't care as much because it's not a Waller wedding but a Keller wedding. 

Prissy posts on the joint IG account. Not a peep from HER.

[ozziemom]

We’ve seen pictures of the Rod family visiting the Kellers in Florida whilst on one of their singing tours, so maybe Nathan and Nurie liked each other enough to pray or whatever they do before courting.

[galaxychaser]

I bet Nuri saw a rainbow just like mama.

[sondraK]

I have a hard time believing Nurie and Nathan are in love,considering all things not allowed courtship

[Zahdii]

7 hours ago, Jynnan tonnix said:

Hmmm...I'm really wondering now how the whole Nathan/Nurie romance came to be. These fundies are not generally seen starting courtships which are, if not actually arranged and brokered by the respective families, at least firmly vetted and approved. Is it possible that Nathan either genuinely fell nor Nurie based on whatever, or maybe just felt driven to rescue her? How would it all have come about without both families being agreeable? Would Nathan have met Nurie at some point, or would he be going by Jill's blog/Facebook page? Was he just so lacking confidence that he figured Nurie was the best he could do, or did his parents think so as well, and set it up with the intent of sweeping the whole thing under the rug and pretending it never happened?

The Rods have known the Kellers for years, so Nathan and Nurie have met often and spent a fair amount of time together during family visits.  In fact, when Nurie was courting her first fella, there were some people who asked Jill R if Nathan was the guy.  Jill R denied it, the courtship fizzled, and the Rods continued to visit the Kellers.

I don't know if David Waller has ever met the Rods, but surely he's heard plenty about them, and he's probably afraid acknowledging them in any way would be construed by Jill as in invitation to drop by some day.  Jill's posted enough about 'visiting' people.  They park their RV in the driveway, expect to be fed and entertained, and kitchen, bathroom, and laundry facilities are to be shared with her family while the hosts pay for everything.

[BigBingerBro]

2 hours ago, Zahdii said:

In fact, when Nurie was courting her first fella,

Sorry, I'm not a long-term J-rod reader.  Who was the first fella?

[Jeeves]

1 minute ago, BigBingerBro said:

Sorry, I'm not a long-term J-rod reader.  Who was the first fella?

A guy who talked to Nurie more than once and gave her a whole pack of gum. Yes, chewing gum. 

[GeeGolly]

1 minute ago, Jeeves said:

A guy who talked to Nurie more than once and gave her a whole pack of gum. Yes, chewing gum. 

Come on, it was PURPLE!

[Churchhoney]

26 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

Come on, it was PURPLE!

Well, let's get even fairer here. It was a box with gum and several other low-cost trinkets (don't remember what) -- all in Nurie's favorite color, purple. 

[Jeeves]

46 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

Come on, it was PURPLE!

18 minutes ago, Churchhoney said:

Well, let's get even fairer here. It was a box with gum and several other low-cost trinkets (don't remember what) -- all in Nurie's favorite color, purple. 

I tip my hat to both of you, and your memories that are much better than mine. And well, PURPLE gum, AND trinkets? Wowzer, giving her that and then dropping out of sight is def worse than if it were just gum.

[Barb23]

4 hours ago, Zahdii said:

They park their RV in the driveway, expect to be fed and entertained, and kitchen, bathroom, and laundry facilities are to be shared with her family while the hosts pay for everything.

In other words, like Cousin Eddie from the Christmas Vacation movie.

[Churchhoney]

21 minutes ago, Barb23 said:

In other words, like Cousin Eddie from the Christmas Vacation movie.

...but without the humor. 😵

[Nysha]

I don't think Nurie and Nathan are in love in any way, shape, or form. Nurie doesn't have to emotional capacity to know what romantic love is and while I don't know anything about Nathan, the fact that he was raised Gothard tells me he's probably just as stunted. Marriage for both of them means adult status, Nurie play house in her own home and quit slaving for her Mama, and Nathan gets laid. 

[ozziemom]

45 minutes ago, Churchhoney said:

...but without the humor. 😵

But with singing.

[queenanne]

7 hours ago, Zahdii said:

The Rods have known the Kellers for years, so Nathan and Nurie have met often and spent a fair amount of time together during family visits.  In fact, when Nurie was courting her first fella, there were some people who asked Jill R if Nathan was the guy.  Jill R denied it, the courtship fizzled, and the Rods continued to visit the Kellers.

I don't know if David Waller has ever met the Rods, but surely he's heard plenty about them, and he's probably afraid acknowledging them in any way would be construed by Jill as in invitation to drop by some day.  Jill's posted enough about 'visiting' people.  They park their RV in the driveway, expect to be fed and entertained, and kitchen, bathroom, and laundry facilities are to be shared with her family while the hosts pay for everything.

Dingdingding!  I think we have a winner!  Frankly, I'd have the same reaction, even as a heathen.  Few people can withstand being descended upon by 3/4 of a football team, half of them caked in makeup that would do Tammy Faye proud.

[Churchhoney]

1 hour ago, Nysha said:

I don't think Nurie and Nathan are in love in any way, shape, or form. Nurie doesn't have to emotional capacity to know what romantic love is and while I don't know anything about Nathan, the fact that he was raised Gothard tells me he's probably just as stunted. Marriage for both of them means adult status, Nurie play house in her own home and quit slaving for her Mama, and Nathan gets laid. 

Well, better than what they most likely see as the only alternative -- remaining in the family homes. 

Edited December 3, 2019 by Churchhoney

[queenanne]

On 12/1/2019 at 10:57 PM, sondraK said:

Yes,I think Jill truly wears the pants in that family,even though she hates pants.LOL

Many of these fundie families preach patriarchy,even though a lot of times,it's the woman running the show.I get that feeling from Ben n Jessa Duggar Seewald as well

I keep forgetting to mention, this is because they're also told that "women are supposed to be in charge of The Home, which also means children."  So what this really means is, the woman can (and usually does) do anything up to the line that involves "putting his foot down".  Papa is supposed to step in only whenever Mama can't browbeat Child into doing whatever she thinks Child ought to do. 

This in fact generally results in women finding passive men who are completely happy to let the mother do all the child-rearing; and who in fact proffer opinions only after much haranguing on the part of the mother in his direction. 

This is supposed to convey "what your father says, goes". 

In reality, what this means is that generally said fathers loath "putting their foot down", and would rather be seen as "the kind non-disciplining father", so the kids get lots of seeing and hearing Mama tell Papa what to do, to which Papa generally reacts with silence until forced to make a decision.  (Unfortunately, I think the brainwashed kids generally see Papa's silence as assent to whatever Mama is saying.)

[Fuzzysox]

5 hours ago, BigBingerBro said:

Sorry, I'm not a long-term J-rod reader.  Who was the first fella?

A guy that I thought was dangerous with his posts of all his guns and his fundiness. Jesus doesn't like killers. Not that he was a killer but he was beyond cray looking. JMHO

[DangerousMinds]

5 hours ago, Barb23 said:

In other words, like Cousin Eddie from the Christmas Vacation movie.

Lol watched that last night!

[Natalie68]

On 12/1/2019 at 9:25 PM, tabloidlover said:

Timothy came home for Thanksgiving- 6 pictures

OMG.  Is that little girl sick?  Very odd complexion (very yellow) and those dark circles around her eyes!

[BradandJanet]

5 minutes ago, Natalie68 said:

OMG.  Is that little girl sick?  Very odd complexion (very yellow) and those dark circles around her eyes!

It's Sadie, I think. Anyway, she's a bad model for the miracle of Plexus. 

She'll look better when she grows up and moves to a new home with her young husband. Then she'll get more than two bites of food at mealtime.  

[Natalie68]

1 minute ago, BradandJanet said:

It's Sadie, I think. Anyway, she's a bad model for the miracle of Plexus. 

She'll look better when she grows up and moves to a new home with her young husband. Then she'll get more than two bites of food at mealtime.  

She seriously looks unwell.  Maybe its just the photo but it is alarming to me!

[galaxychaser]

Nuri first suitor was probably in a anti government group or something. Yeah a ton of guns. Maybe if he gifted Nuri a purple gun they’d be married by now.

[BradandJanet]

52 minutes ago, Natalie68 said:

She seriously looks unwell.  Maybe its just the photo but it is alarming to me!

Unfortunately, she always looks that way. That doesn't mean there isn't something wrong. I doubt these kids get much medical care. 

[rue721]

That’s probably how all the kids look under the crusty layers of makeup. It’s disturbing. 
 

I know other posters have said that the kids don’t seem to be in imminent danger and so CPS is unlikely to do anything, but starving children to the point that they look like this, refusing to educate them, “disciplining“ them with the Perls’ abusive methods, intimidating them so horribly that they literally, physically cringe and stutter on the “hostage videos” made to prove that they’re happy, and then marrying the girls off to the highest bidder...these children genuinely would be better off in a group home, I think. Even in juvy kids get three square meals a day, their own bed to sleep on, access to school, no forced marriage (aka survival sex), and some avenues for socializing outside of the family.

I find the Rods obscene. Something very dark is going on there, there are plenty of large, poor, bible thumping families in this world and yet I have never seen children who look and behave like the Rod kids do.

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

Iron deficiency anemia (which I've suffered from before myself) can cause those dark circles (but they can also just be hereditary - David Rodrigues seems to have them, too).  I also get "allergic shiners" (dark under eye circles caused by sinus allergies), so Sadie could just have allergies that are flaring up.  But again, iron deficiency could be the cause/a contributor to poor Sadie's dark circles.  It's totally possible Sadie isn't getting enough red meat, leafy greens, or other iron-rich foods in her diet.   Yellowish skin tone/pallor can be caused by malnutrition.  She may not be getting enough dietary fiber, B-12, and/or hydration.  

The poor little girl does look unwell.  It's possible whatever is going on with her isn't caused by her diet, but I'm guessing her diet doesn't help matters.  Poor baby also looks exhausted to the point of illness.  However, I'm sure if I lived with J-Rod & a zillion other kids (and David) in a cramped, traveling RV circus of Plexus and narcissism, I'd look like I needed to be hospitalized for exhaustion, too, no matter how good my diet was.

Edited December 3, 2019 by MyPeopleAreNordic

[Temperance]

4 hours ago, Fuzzysox said:

A guy that I thought was dangerous with his posts of all his guns and his fundiness. Jesus doesn't like killers. Not that he was a killer but he was beyond cray looking. JMHO

Most of the fundies we follow love guns and have posted pictures with them including the Duggars. The Duggars have pictures of guns with a variety of their children. The most memorable photos involve JD holding guns and Joy holding a gun. 

I can't remember all the other fundies and guns, except for the Caldwells. It seems particularly odd that Pa Caldwell, a man of the cloth, holding a big gun in his SWAT t-shirt. I wouldn't go to his church. 

[MyPeopleAreNordic]

10 minutes ago, Temperance said:

Most of the fundies we follow love guns and have posted pictures with them including the Duggars. The Duggars have pictures of guns with a variety of their children. The most memorable photos involve JD holding guns and Joy holding a gun. 

I can't remember all the other fundies and guns, except for the Caldwells. It seems particularly odd that Pa Caldwell, a man of the cloth, holding a big gun in his SWAT t-shirt. I wouldn't go to his church. 

To be fair, I feel like this is a Southern cultural thing (or at least a Southern Conservative thing as far as the pictures go) more than a Fundie thing. (And I know plenty of liberal Southern gun owners, they just tend be more quiet about their gun ownership and not post tons of pics of themselves/their families with their guns/in gun memorabilia.)

(Source: Lived in the South basically all my life. I know it's weird to the rest of the world but it's totally not weird here.)

That said, Nurie's past possible suitor definitely seemed more extreme than the average Southern guy who takes a pic with his gun or wears a Remington t-shirt. 

Edited December 3, 2019 by MyPeopleAreNordic

[farmgal4]

47 minutes ago, BradandJanet said:

Unfortunately, she always looks that way. That doesn't mean there isn't something wrong. I doubt these kids get much medical care. 

But when they DO get medical care Jill makes sure to tell CPS, I mean, us, about it on IG. 😒

Edited December 3, 2019 by farmgal4

[Temperance]

23 hours ago, MyPeopleAreNordic said:

To be fair, I feel like this is a Southern cultural thing (or at least a Southern Conservative thing as far as the pictures go) more than a Fundie thing. (And I know plenty of liberal Southern gun owners, they just tend be more quiet about their gun ownership and not post tons of pics of themselves/their families with their guns/in gun memorabilia.)

(Source: Lived in the South basically all my life. I know it's weird to the rest of the world but it's totally not weird here.)

That said, Nurie's past possible suitor definitely seemed more extreme than the average Southern guy who takes a pic with his gun or wears a Remington t-shirt. 

I honestly [don't] see much difference between the pictures of Nurie's suitor and the picture of Pastor Calwell and Joe or the one of Joy, but that's me. 

Editing to add: I'm depressed about this. I honestly try to make every post as accurate and grammatical as possible and still obvious errors like this escape me. When I read it, my brain sometimes fills in the missing word. 

Edited December 4, 2019 by Temperance
left out a word

[Sew Sumi]

How about Jessa with her pink assault rifle? That was a duck-lipped sight. 

[Rabbittron]

Nurie got grape bubblegum  ,flowers, pink candle ,cross bracelet and a coffee cup from the 1st guy.

[wilsie]

2 minutes ago, Rabbittron said:

Nurie got grape bubblegum  ,flowers, pink candle ,cross bracelet and a coffee cup from the 1st guy.

Which is more than she's gotten from Jill and David in her entire life.  And he didn't even stay around.