Josh & Anna Smuggar: A Series of Unfortunate Events

[iwantcookies]

Suite D: for d list son and family 

 

[emmawoodhouse]

6 minutes ago, iwantcookies said:

Suite 😧 for d list son and family 

 

For Smuggar, it should be Suite Z. 

[QuinnInND]

3 hours ago, rue721 said:

If I were living in a warehouse with my six kids and baby-hungry wife, you can be DAMN SURE I would be taking every class offered at the community college and otherwise trying desperately to get an education. I don’t understand why Josh doesn’t do that. Maybe depression, laziness, anti-intellectualism? I dunno, but an unskilled guy is never going to be able to claw his way out of a windowless warehouse, and that would light a fire under my ass, I can tell you. 🤦🏻‍♀️

JimBlob has taken care of them so far. He probably thinks that will continue. 

[BitterApple]

4 hours ago, rue721 said:

 I don’t understand why Josh doesn’t do that.  🤦🏻‍♀️

He has no self-respect and he doesn't care. If you gave Josh the option tomorrow of ditching Anna and the kids and never looking back, I think he'd take it in a heartbeat. 

[Zella]

I think the fact that Josh was the prince of the family who was catered to also deprived him of any real work ethic. Laziness isn't just limited to him, of course, but I think his being placed on a pedestal as firstborn makes him particularly entitled, even by Duggar standards. He basically had everything handed to him and his parents apparently still enable and coddle him, so I don't think it's very surprising that as a disgraced thirty-something, he just stagnates and lets his parents support him. 

[ozziemom]

I wonder if Josh is always trying to make deals, like a real estate developer but they never pan out. So he is busy but is actually accomplishing nothing.

[Tikichick]

12 hours ago, farmgal4 said:

I would feel like a failure as a parent if my kids had to live there.  Josh truly is the scum of the earth.

They have two parents.   Anna doesn't get off scot free on this, despite Josh's actions being the one responsible for their change in circumstances.  Anna continues to participate in bringing more children into these circumstances while doing nothing to provide better living accommodations.

[Churchhoney]

10 hours ago, BitterApple said:

He has no self-respect and he doesn't care. If you gave Josh the option tomorrow of ditching Anna and the kids and never looking back, I think he'd take it in a heartbeat. 

But since leaving would require actually working for a living and becoming acquainted with new people who won't know he was ever a prince and lord of a household, he's too afraid and lazy even to make a break for it. He's really a pitiful character. 

I feel bad for these six (hopefully-not-still-counting) kids. The sins of the father -- and the idiocy and jerkiness of the grandfather/mother and mother -- really are going to be visited on them in some ways. This messed-up situation can't help but scar and confuse at least some of them in ways that'll be hard to get past, I would guess. That happens to many many many kids, of course. But we're seeing this one played out publicly, and it's just always sad. 

Edited March 17, 2021 by Churchhoney

[awaken]

I’m curious what their kids know about their circumstances, if anything. Some of them are old enough to remember the moves and changes in their lifestyle. 

[QuinnInND]

1 hour ago, Tikichick said:

They have two parents.   Anna doesn't get off scot free on this, despite Josh's actions being the one responsible for their change in circumstances.  Anna continues to participate in bringing more children into these circumstances while doing nothing to provide better living accommodations.

But that's her job. To keep breeding. She's doing her part in her mind. 

[Tikichick]

33 minutes ago, QuinnInND said:

But that's her job. To keep breeding. She's doing her part in her mind. 

And I lay a large proportion of that blame at the feet of her parents, and to a certain extent with JB and M as far as screwing up their parental responsibilities and applying a lot of pressure and encouragement for Josh and Anna to remain together in the aftermath of the scandal(s).  

Still there remains a good deal of responsibility for Anna to shoulder in this regard.   Aside from those who are cognitively impaired or psychologically impaired, becoming a parent brings about an awakening of thoughts and feelings regarding caring for and protecting your child(ren).   IMO that's something that's laid on your heart and mind and disregarding it happens willfully and with intention to neglect.  Anna is not unaware of the compromises she's choosing to make regarding her children, including when actively participating in reproduction.  She's responsible for those compromises.    Josh absolutely bears responsibility for an awful lot, very much so.  But so is Anna for willfully dragging her children through her choices, consistently and repeatedly.    

[Churchhoney]

9 minutes ago, Tikichick said:

And I lay a large proportion of that blame at the feet of her parents, and to a certain extent with JB and M as far as screwing up their parental responsibilities and applying a lot of pressure and encouragement for Josh and Anna to remain together in the aftermath of the scandal(s).  

Still there remains a good deal of responsibility for Anna to shoulder in this regard.   Aside from those who are cognitively impaired or psychologically impaired, becoming a parent brings about an awakening of thoughts and feelings regarding caring for and protecting your child(ren).   IMO that's something that's laid on your heart and mind and disregarding it happens willfully and with intention to neglect.  Anna is not unaware of the compromises she's choosing to make regarding her children, including when actively participating in reproduction.  She's responsible for those compromises.    Josh absolutely bears responsibility for an awful lot, very much so.  But so is Anna for willfully dragging her children through her choices, consistently and repeatedly.    

And now she's named as a valued mentor for several young girls and women in their Craziness Cult! 

Imagine the messed-up attitudes she tries to impart to younger women. This drives me insane. 

Edited March 17, 2021 by Churchhoney

[Tikichick]

1 hour ago, Churchhoney said:

And now she's named as a valued mentor for several young girls and women in their Craziness Cult! 

Imagine the messed-up attitudes she tries to impart to younger women. This drives me insane. 

What's particularly disturbing about this is, if Anna has/had moments of doubt/regret cross her mind or if she's felt scalded by the sting of being somehow to blame for Josh's behavior because she somehow lacked as a godly wife, that makes her ideally suited and primed to double down to prove herself or wipe away any thoughts of regret or doubt in her own heart and mind by being incredibly overzealous in her example and mentoring.   

[iwantcookies]

Ma/ Pa Keller and Ma /Pa Duggar are awful parents to raise their kids in a cult.

[rue721]

1 hour ago, Tikichick said:

Anna is not unaware of the compromises she's choosing to make regarding her children, including when actively participating in reproduction.

I think Anna has drunk the Kool Aid. She's had to, in order to survive. So she probably genuinely believes at this point that she's doing God's work and saving souls, including and most importantly the souls of her children -- and of Josh.

Anna and Kendra are essentially walking wombs, but that's the Gothard ideal... neither are going to break away unless they have a MAJOR crisis of faith, and I don't see that coming for either.

Josh, however, I think has NOT drunk the Kool Aid. And he also is not doing his "god given duty" as head of his household. So I dunno what his excuse is. But I've never understood Josh. Like why the hell was he assaulting his sisters when he himself was a kid? His choices and feelings are completely batshit to me, from childhood on.

I think the Kellers did a disservice to their kids by raising them in the cult, but Anna has siblings who have left and I think the Kellers are true believers as well. So I dunno.

[Tikichick]

28 minutes ago, rue721 said:

I think Anna has drunk the Kool Aid. She's had to, in order to survive. So she probably genuinely believes at this point that she's doing God's work and saving souls, including and most importantly the souls of her children -- and of Josh.

Anna and Kendra are essentially walking wombs, but that's the Gothard ideal... neither are going to break away unless they have a MAJOR crisis of faith, and I don't see that coming for either.

Josh, however, I think has NOT drunk the Kool Aid. And he also is not doing his "god given duty" as head of his household. So I dunno what his excuse is. But I've never understood Josh. Like why the hell was he assaulting his sisters when he himself was a kid? His choices and feelings are completely batshit to me, from childhood on.

I think the Kellers did a disservice to their kids by raising them in the cult, but Anna has siblings who have left and I think the Kellers are true believers as well. So I dunno.

IMO Kendra has drunk the Kool Aid with nary of so much as a flicker of doubt or thought beyond what she's been taught.   Unless I am very mistaken, Kendra is very naive, very innocent and genuine.   I don't sense a bit of guile in her.   I could be a complete fool.

Anna too was very innocent.  However she's had a bit more experience with siblings making a break with the lifestyle, and of course the fallout surrounding Josh.   If pregnant Anna didn't crack under the porn scandal, I don't see it happening.

I don't think Josh's aberrant behavior came out of nowhere.   I suspect he was indeed a true believer, which is part of the awful horns of the dilemma he found himself on.   I'd bet money Josh felt changes taking place and talked to JB, M or both -- and got either scared by a bunch of completely misleading lectures full of misinformation or punished.   Of course neither solved the physiological effects hormones were having on him, but might have caused him a whole lot of torment or shame before he gave in.   I base this on what I've learned from experts dealing with sex offenders moving through the system, several juveniles, and the information shared here about how JB & M publicly punished and paraded another son regarding masturbation.    I make no bones about the fact that I believe sex offender Josh was solely the creature that resulted from the damaging effects of the parenting of JB & M.   It doesn't mean I absolve him of taking responsibility, but I actually do see him as pitiful because I don't believe left to his own devices he was a budding sex offender in the making.   He still needs real treatment.   His own children may very well be quite safe, and honestly my suspicion is they are.   I would not be confident enough to say that about other children, but would not be at all surprised if they are as well.   Although his victims may have been juveniles, he was far from your typical juvenile offender being someone living in a very strange and insular environment.   The porn website scandal makes me think the assaults in his youth were solely based upon opportunity, not preference, and that his drive is actually centered in adult women.   Completely a layperson's opinions and observations of patterns based on watching adult and juvenile offenders move through the criminal justice system, which is often a very lengthy process with lots of expert assessments. 

Edited March 17, 2021 by Tikichick

[dariafan]

1). I’m glad there still isn’t a birth announcement 

2) everytime I come on here, I get the song groggy went a courtin stuck in my head 

[all fall down]

13 hours ago, dariafan said:

1). I’m glad there still isn’t a birth announcement 

2) everytime I come on here, I get the song groggy went a courtin stuck in my head 

She's going to have to get knocked up again soon if she wants her odd year baby. 

[emmawoodhouse]

41 minutes ago, christine falls said:

She's going to have to get knocked up again soon if she wants her odd year baby. 

Recent pictures suggest that she's already knocked up.

[Snow Fairy]

I was bored and went scrolling through Instagram.

Anna did not post anything since March 3. She does tend to have breaks, but 20 days is long. And no IG stories for some time. I wonder if she will just appear with a new baby

[Madtown]

8 minutes ago, Snow Fairy said:

I wonder if she will just appear with a new baby

I keep thinking that I'm going to look in this thread and find a new family picture with her holding a newborn. No announcement or anything.

[GeeGolly]

9 minutes ago, Madtown said:

I keep thinking that I'm going to look in this thread and find a new family picture with her holding a newborn. No announcement or anything.

From the size of Anna's midsection last month during Henry's birthday, I'm thinking May or June for Anna's odd year blessing.

[Snow Fairy]

I usually don't follow them, but this is so weird that I had to look if there is something new

[emmawoodhouse]

14 hours ago, Madtown said:

I keep thinking that I'm going to look in this thread and find a new family picture with her holding a newborn. No announcement or anything.

I don't think TLC announced Duddy's wedding or Jed!'s engagement, either. They're slacking.

[iwantcookies]

16 hours ago, Snow Fairy said:

I was bored and went scrolling through Instagram.

Anna did not post anything since March 3. She does tend to have breaks, but 20 days is long. And no IG stories for some time. I wonder if she will just appear with a new baby

Maybe they all got COVID or mold poisoning or something.

What will the new blessing be called. I’m never right guessing. Mmm Moses or Martha

[BigBingerBro]

[YupItsMe]

Maybe Anna is being a surrogate? Only reason I can think of why she wouldn’t announce a pregnancy.

[GeeGolly]

Anna never quite gets her words to match her photos. These kids aren't playing together, they're playing in the same room. I noticed she left out her usual hashtag of #childhood unplugged, when this photo is more 'unplugged' than other photos she posts.

[Portia]

3 minutes ago, BigBingerBro said:

It's strange she describes that as "playing together" when each kid seems to be off in their own world. Not that there's anything wrong with that--it's called parallel play and it's perfectly normal at that age--but Anna really seems to want to push that narrative that her kids are bestest friends because they're not in school or daycare. 

[BigBingerBro]

And here we thought Jessa had a gross couch.  I think Anna has her beat!

[Snow Fairy]

2 hours ago, YupItsMe said:

Maybe Anna is being a surrogate? Only reason I can think of why she wouldn’t announce a pregnancy.

How does their faith look on this?

Catholic church is anti IVF

[QuinnInND]

2 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Anna never quite gets her words to match her photos. These kids aren't playing together, they're playing in the same room. I noticed she left out her usual hashtag of #childhood unplugged, when this photo is more 'unplugged' than other photos she posts.

Maybe she thinks it's the same thing. They're together in the same room playing, so to her that's playing together. 

[Bewitched]

Another thing to make me sad about the women in this lifestyle.  Knowing about parallel play and the natural progression to interaction is Child Development 101.  Anna has all the inclination and ability to be a really good early childhood teacher/provider which would provide an income.  However, she will never be allowed to study and use her God-given (irony) talents to support her family or even to enhance the family she already has.  

[GeeGolly]

53 minutes ago, Bewitched said:

Another thing to make me sad about the women in this lifestyle.  Knowing about parallel play and the natural progression to interaction is Child Development 101.  Anna has all the inclination and ability to be a really good early childhood teacher/provider which would provide an income.  However, she will never be allowed to study and use her God-given (irony) talents to support her family or even to enhance the family she already has.  

She might actually have learned some of this. She took some early education course online.

[Westiepeach]

5 hours ago, BigBingerBro said:

And here we thought Jessa had a gross couch.  I think Anna has her beat!

I don't think Anna has given birth multiple times on her couch, however...

[QuinnInND]

9 minutes ago, Westiepeach said:

I don't think Anna has given birth multiple times on her couch, however...

No, just on a toilet. 

[GeeGolly]

1 hour ago, QuinnInND said:

No, just on a toilet. 

Was that at the mold house? So that's Jessa's toilet now?

[truebluesmoky]

It almost looks staged to me, just in terms of the coloring. Some “influencers” have a thing where all their photos have a certain “aesthetic,” like certain colors and tones. Everything they’re playing with is teal blue, peachy orange, or tan, and it goes with the neutral room colors and clothing colors.

[QuinnInND]

36 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

Was that at the mold house? So that's Jessa's toilet now?

I believe so. 

[GeeGolly]

1 hour ago, QuinnInND said:

I believe so. 

We need to change the name from the Mold House to the Birthing Center.

[Jynnan tonnix]

1 hour ago, truebluesmoky said:

It almost looks staged to me, just in terms of the coloring. Some “influencers” have a thing where all their photos have a certain “aesthetic,” like certain colors and tones. Everything they’re playing with is teal blue, peachy orange, or tan, and it goes with the neutral room colors and clothing colors.

Maybe, but given that the only colors that really "pop" are the teal and orangey colors on the airplane and truck, it could be that those toys came as a set, or part of a line from the same manufacturer. The other colors being fairly neutral could easily just be a matter of taste rather than a purposeful aesthetic choice.

[louannems]

On 3/24/2021 at 4:37 AM, BigBingerBro said:

But Anna, when you never quit adding to your family, then you can never look forward to when they're all grown.  There is always going to be a preschooler and an infant.

I cannot have imagined not looking to the day when I could finally sleep again, or no more diapers.

[Heathen]

On 3/23/2021 at 11:34 PM, iwantcookies said:

Maybe they all got COVID or mold poisoning or something.

What will the new blessing be called. I’m never right guessing. Mmm Moses or Martha

I'm not expecting (haha) an announcement until this summer or so, but they're due for a Matthew, Max, Molly, or Maggie. No Madeleine, that's too fancy for them. 

Other suggestions: 

Michaelangelo (so what if they have a kid named Michael already)

Mary (so what if they have a kid named Maryella already)

Millie (that feels inevitable, although it's cute) 

Matilda (or Mattie)

Madison (could work for a girl or a boy. I'm sure they know who Madison Cawthorn is)

Maci (who cares if a Bates took that name and its dastardly saccharine spelling)

Magnus (or Magnum, after the condoms) 

 

[QuinnInND]

23 minutes ago, Heathen said:

I'm not expecting (haha) an announcement until this summer or so, but they're due for a Matthew, Max, Molly, or Maggie. No Madeleine, that's too fancy for them. 

Other suggestions: 

Michaelangelo (so what if they have a kid named Michael already)

Mary (so what if they have a kid named Maryella already)

Millie (that feels inevitable, although it's cute) 

Matilda (or Mattie)

Madison (could work for a girl or a boy. I'm sure they know who Madison Cawthorn is)

Maci (who cares if a Bates took that name and its dastardly saccharine spelling)

Magnus (or Magnum, after the condoms) 

 

Please not Matthew. That's my sons name. 

[Zella]

40 minutes ago, Heathen said:

I'm not expecting (haha) an announcement until this summer or so, but they're due for a Matthew, Max, Molly, or Maggie. No Madeleine, that's too fancy for them. 

Other suggestions: 

Michaelangelo (so what if they have a kid named Michael already)

Mary (so what if they have a kid named Maryella already)

Millie (that feels inevitable, although it's cute) 

Matilda (or Mattie)

Madison (could work for a girl or a boy. I'm sure they know who Madison Cawthorn is)

Maci (who cares if a Bates took that name and its dastardly saccharine spelling)

Magnus (or Magnum, after the condoms) 

 

It won't happen, but I am rooting for Michelangelo. LOL

[Jynnan tonnix]

51 minutes ago, Heathen said:

I'm not expecting (haha) an announcement until this summer or so, but they're due for a Matthew, Max, Molly, or Maggie. No Madeleine, that's too fancy for them. 

Other suggestions: 

Michaelangelo (so what if they have a kid named Michael already)

Mary (so what if they have a kid named Maryella already)

Millie (that feels inevitable, although it's cute) 

Matilda (or Mattie)

Madison (could work for a girl or a boy. I'm sure they know who Madison Cawthorn is)

Maci (who cares if a Bates took that name and its dastardly saccharine spelling)

Magnus (or Magnum, after the condoms) 

 

I don't think that Madeleine is any fancier than Meredith. And they wouldn't have to resort to a nickname like "Dithy" to shorten it. Though I suppose they could follow suit and call her "Leiny".

I wouldn't be mad if they went with Millie. Magnus Duggar actually has a sort of ring to it. 

Madison has too many shades of Ashley Madison, which no amount of political associations can erase.

[Teriacky]

And since Josh plays the piano, how about Melody for a girl?

[GeeGolly]

Maeve JoAnne. So they can have Ivy, Evelyn, Evangeline and Maeve. Ivy Jane, Evy, Evie-Jo and Mavy-Jo.

Or maybe its Maybelline. 😉

[awaken]

I do see them using Matthew or melody. 

[JoanArc]

1 hour ago, Teriacky said:

And since Josh plays the piano, how about Melody for a girl?

Madisinner?