FamTeam Update

[nausicaa]

10 minutes ago, Screamapillar said:

We also had a family joke about penguins. Ours originated from my brother and I as teenagers, I don't remember which once of us started it, saying "It's too damn hot for a penguin to just be walking around here" (From the movie Billy Madison) as a random response to things my Mom would say to us. We found this hilarious, and she did not. So we started giving her penguin things all the time, penguin socks, penguin pictures, penguin ornaments. I'm laughing just thinking about it. Good times!

Are you single? Into baseball, Pixar movies, and anti-abortion propaganda? Just saying, I have a veritable feast of single men for you to choose from.(Or else you could just infiltrate and report back to us. I've been pushing FJ members to do this for years.)

[nokidsmom]

1 hour ago, Handmaiden of Dog said:

One of the things that always pops into my head when reading about the Arndts is that whatever Mom and Dad are doing to their boys (as long as it is not physical) it is not against the law.  As far as the state goes, you can brainwash and psychologically damage them, keep them from being educated or having any friends, infantilize them as much as you want and nobody can stop you.  I would love to know what the extended family members say about it though.  They must be as aghast as we are.

As someone whose FOO is similar to the Arndts and Maxwells (not to the extremes, but the scary similarities are there nonetheless) I can bet that the extended family is WTF over what's being done to the kids.   There's nothing you can do because it's not crossing the lines of abuse as it's traditionally defined.

[MatthewDuggar]

I often wonder if Cathy and Rick don't also employ some sort of sibling self-policing and brainwashing as well.  I'm not sure what to call it exactly.  Like the older Manboys keeping the younger ones in a non-rebellious state of mind.  Mark specifically looks like he an be a major bully.  Paul seems like he checked out a long time ago (per the youtube vids).  I've been combing through the very early Dad's Diary entries when I have time and interest and there are several entries that talk about having deep conversations until the wee hours of the morning with Paul.  I suspect he tried to rebel frequently but somehow was convinced to stay.  They all come across as fairly confident, so I doubt they are being beaten down, it must be more of a guilt trip thing like mentioned earlier or some sort of promised future reward....   It is mystifying.

PS I did email Rick a few months ago asking if they would be doing more youtube vids and his reply was that they are focusing their efforts on Vine Valley.  He also invited me to the Softball Classic LOL  - My sister just moved to St Louis.  Maybe I'll try to score an invite to next year's event (If they have it)

[HerNameIsBuffy]

Just now, MatthewDuggar said:

I often wonder if Cathy and Rick don't also employ some sort of sibling self-policing and brainwashing as well.  I'm not sure what to call it exactly.  Like the older Manboys keeping the younger ones in a non-rebellious state of mind.  Mark specifically looks like he an be a major bully.  Paul seems like he checked out a long time ago (per the youtube vids).  I've been combing through the very early Dad's Diary entries when I have time and interest and there are several entries that talk about having deep conversations until the wee hours of the morning with Paul.  I suspect he tried to rebel frequently but somehow was convinced to stay.  They all come across as fairly confident, so I doubt they are being beaten down, it must be more of a guilt trip thing like mentioned earlier or some sort of promised future reward....   It is mystifying.

PS I did email Rick a few months ago asking if they would be doing more youtube vids and his reply was that they are focusing their efforts on Vine Valley.  He also invited me to the Softball Classic LOL  - My sister just moved to St Louis.  Maybe I'll try to score an invite to next year's event (If they have it)

Agreed Mark seems like a bully.  Paul has seems resigned and beaten down in every episode, Luke seems to have this undercurrent of anger because some of his teasing is pretty passive-aggressive mean to the ones much younger than he is.  I think both Mark and Luke seem like they could have a pronounced mean streak.

John seems so damn happy all the time - I almost wonder if he'd be the one who would live at home by choice just because he likes it there.

Jude seems supernaturally good natured.  We don't see much of James and I don't think that's an accident - he seems the most confident in a way and I could see him pushing back where they were okay with his limited participation.

If you go I really hope you wouldn't mock them.  Seeking out any fundies in real life is squicky to me (mileage varies, I know) but I just hate the thought of anyone getting confronted with snark in real life - but especially these guys because they aren't out shoving it in anyone's face and I do think that some of those guys just seem so darn nice.

 

[MatthewDuggar]

14 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

If you go I really hope you wouldn't mock them.  Seeking out any fundies in real life is squicky to me (mileage varies, I know) but I just hate the thought of anyone getting confronted with snark in real life - but especially these guys because they aren't out shoving it in anyone's face and I do think that some of those guys just seem so darn nice.

 

Oh no, that's not in my nature.  I'd probably even have a hard time "reporting back" anything out of the ordinary.  Unless of course they offended me directly and personally, which I doubt they would.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

41 minutes ago, MatthewDuggar said:

Oh no, that's not in my nature.  I'd probably even have a hard time "reporting back" anything out of the ordinary.  Unless of course they offended me directly and personally, which I doubt they would.

I wouldn't want to know anything stalkerish but I'm in love with their property and would want to know if it's as beautiful in person.

For me that's the perfect amount of land.  Enough that you have space and privacy but not so much that trespassers could be doing whatever and you'd never know.

I admit it, I covert their house too.  Don't love the gray, but other than that it's great.

i think that's why this family fascinates me in a different way than the others - there is so much to like on the surface and so many similarities to my family in the superficial stuff that it's a like a fun house mirror version of stuff that's most familiar to me/the ideal.  But somehow the ideal went really wrong somewhere.  The eternal mystery.

and we'll never know because even if they were super famous we'll never get a tell all book out of an Armdt.

[MatthewDuggar]

I can never quite work out the floorplan of the inside of their home.  Am I correct to assume that where the garage is supposed to be in the large open room for where they used to hold their worship services?

[JenniferJuniper]

5 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

I wouldn't want to know anything stalkerish but I'm in love with their property and would want to know if it's as beautiful in person.

For me that's the perfect amount of land.  Enough that you have space and privacy but not so much that trespassers could be doing whatever and you'd never know.

I admit it, I covert their house too.  Don't love the gray, but other than that it's great.

 

It looks nice from the outside, but I find the house antiseptically dull.  No life.  Boxy rooms and dull walls and furnishings.   And strangely neat and organized considering 14 men and boys live there, with most spending quite a lot of time at home.

Daddy often mentions the full names of visiting first cousins (I don't know why.  Cousins Bob and Joan would suffice) so I confess, I've looked at some open facebook pages just to compare and contrast.  Everyone I've seen appears to be non-fundie.   Working women with college degrees.  Wine tasting.  Bikinis.  Some of the older relatives do babble on a bit about abortion (both sides are Catholic) but a few of the younger ones sound pretty progressive.

I gave up trying to figure them out a long time ago, but I do love a good Vine Valley update now and again.

 

 

 

[MatthewDuggar]

4 minutes ago, JenniferJuniper said:

 

Daddy often mentions the full names of visiting first cousins (I don't know why.  Cousins Bob and Joan would suffice) so I confess,

 

 

I think he does this so that it's truly like a historical diary.  So if someone happens upon it 5000 years from now, there would be no doubt as to whom he's referring.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

1 minute ago, MatthewDuggar said:

I can never quite work out the floorplan of the inside of their home.  Am I correct to assume that where the garage is supposed to be in the large open room for where they used to hold their worship services?

I knew something was going to make me go to the tape and I'd drop down that YouTube rabbit hole again.  

You mean the great room where Wizzie was taping down the plastic table cloths for the 4th of July party?  Because iirc they have a living room, family room (downstairs), and the great room which could have been the original garage.

Eldest boys suite upstairs would be a fabulous selling point as an inlaw living area.  Weird when it's 4 brothers in their 30s without bedroom walls, but for an in law area would be great.  Space and privacy but still part of the house in an organic way.

i want to know if they declutter before the cameras go on or they are all that tidy?  I hate clutter and have 1/4 of their adult kids and I swear I still spend half my life picking up after people and putting things away.  

5 minutes ago, MatthewDuggar said:

I think he does this so that it's truly like a historical diary.  So if someone happens upon it 5000 years from now, there would be no doubt as to whom he's referring.

Future generations will love him when they do their genealogy.

assuming there will be future generations.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

12 minutes ago, JenniferJuniper said:

It looks nice from the outside, but I find the house antiseptically dull.  No life.  Boxy rooms and dull walls and furnishings.   And strangely neat and organized considering 14 men and boys live there, with most spending quite a lot of time at home.

Daddy often mentions the full names of visiting first cousins (I don't know why.  Cousins Bob and Joan would suffice) so I confess, I've looked at some open facebook pages just to compare and contrast.  Everyone I've seen appears to be non-fundie.   Working women with college degrees.  Wine tasting.  Bikinis.  Some of the older relatives do babble on a bit about abortion (both sides are Catholic) but a few of the younger ones sound pretty progressive.

I gave up trying to figure them out a long time ago, but I do love a good Vine Valley update now and again.

 

 

 

Yeah - my tastes run to the antiseptic.  I appreciate decor with character when other people do it but would have no idea how to come up with that stuff myself so as long as it's clean, uncluttered with good light and largish rooms I'm happy.

 

[JenniferJuniper]

15 minutes ago, MatthewDuggar said:

I think he does this so that it's truly like a historical diary.  So if someone happens upon it 5000 years from now, there would be no doubt as to whom he's referring.

You're probably right.  That man thinks way too much of himself and his ramblings.  Especially for a guy with what appears to be an extraordinarily dull and repetitive life. 

[JenniferJuniper]

Latest FamTeam photo.  Some of the boys are clearly getting a bit long in the tooth, as the saying goes.

[Handmaiden of Dog]

Wizzy just had a birthday (Jan.7th) and she turned 19. 

[Mary C Doates]

On December 31, 2015 at 8:37 PM, MatthewDuggar said:

I think he does this so that it's truly like a historical diary.  So if someone happens upon it 5000 years from now, there would be no doubt as to whom he's referring.

I can't imagine what people in the future would think of them. I'm completely mystified by them right now.

[Screamapillar]

All of them either look exactly like Cathy or exactly like Rick to me. It's fascinating. 

[anjulibai]

Which is the one that grew a beard?

[HerNameIsBuffy]

24 minutes ago, anjulibai said:

Which is the one that grew a beard?

Jacob.  

[MatthewDuggar]

I wonder how many of the shirts they digitally recolored?  There is a youtube video regarding doing this on a previous year's Christmas card to one of the Manboy's shirts as a joke.  Too bad they don't line them up in birth order.

[HerNameIsBuffy]

Just now, MatthewDuggar said:

I wonder how many of the shirts they digitally recolored?  There is a youtube video regarding doing this on a previous year's Christmas card to one of the Manboy's shirts as a joke.  Too bad they don't line them up in birth order.

Heh - I looked for that, too.  

At least Jude isn't in pink - we know how upsetting that was.

[anjulibai]

2 hours ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

Jacob.  

Thanks. Interesting that one of the younger ones went with a beard. 

Also, the one in the purple (I need to learn their names :P) looks like his shirt was changed color. 

[Jana814]

16 minutes ago, MatthewDuggar said:

I wonder how many of the shirts they digitally recolored?  There is a youtube video regarding doing this on a previous year's Christmas card to one of the Manboy's shirts as a joke.  Too bad they don't line them up in birth order.

I remember seeing that video. 

[16strong]

I spy at least one photoshopped shirt. They just can't take a photo without changing the color or someone's shirt, can they? Don't the manboys all own the rainbow in shirts by now?

ETA: Cathy sure dresses sexy for a fundie. Trying to bring all the (man)boys to the yard.

[JenniferJuniper]

10 minutes ago, 16strong said:

Cathy sure dresses sexy for a fundie. Trying to bring all the (man)boys to the yard.

She looks damn good for a woman who birthed 14 babies (and been pregnant at least 20 times). Especially considering the oldest is turning 36 this year.  

[formergothardite]

The one in the photoshopped purple shirt looked better when he had a beard. When did he shave?