Michael and Brandon Keilen

[Pretzel]

40 minutes ago, Melissa1977 said:

I deeply dislike Keller parents, but they seem to love their children no matter their way of life, and it's a good thing.

Except that they don't. The non-fundie Kellers have been shunned before. Daniel and Suze have both experienced being rejected by their parents for living a different lifestyle. Esther, though fundie, joined a different cult but is under her husband's umbrella of protection just as Rebekkah was when she and her ex-left IBLP behind. The Keller parents are head-deep in the cult. I suspect that they're quite simple people who really believe that they're changing the world for the better with their faith. They think in black/white schemes and have -supposedly- only in recent years taken some steps toward their kids. I appreciate that they've apparently taken it down a notch and re-integrated the non-fundie kids in the family, but just because they've mellowed with age doesn't make the great fundie-parents who love their kids no matter what. For the non-fundie Kellers it must have been an ardous fight on a rocky road to where they are now. This is not a sign of tolerant parents. 

[Georgiana]

10 hours ago, Pretzel said:

Except that they don't. The non-fundie Kellers have been shunned before. Daniel and Suze have both experienced being rejected by their parents for living a different lifestyle. Esther, though fundie, joined a different cult but is under her husband's umbrella of protection just as Rebekkah was when she and her ex-left IBLP behind. The Keller parents are head-deep in the cult. I suspect that they're quite simple people who really believe that they're changing the world for the better with their faith. They think in black/white schemes and have -supposedly- only in recent years taken some steps toward their kids. I appreciate that they've apparently taken it down a notch and re-integrated the non-fundie kids in the family, but just because they've mellowed with age doesn't make the great fundie-parents who love their kids no matter what. For the non-fundie Kellers it must have been an ardous fight on a rocky road to where they are now. This is not a sign of tolerant parents. 

Whenever we discuss the Keller parents, it's important to note that they REJECTED their daughter for leaving their religion and having a child out of wedlock but SUPPORTED Josh Duggar after he cheated on Anna but still professed to his religion.  From these two examples you can see that the key factor that determined whether or not the person was supported or rejected was whether or not they stayed in the cult, as otherwise, their sins were the exact same (sex outside marriage).   

Whether they admit it or not, whether they are aware of it or not, the Kellers' main determining criteria for how they handle a situation or treat others is their status and reputation in their cult.  They care more about what their peers think than about their own children.  Which is probably why they've accepted some of the formerly shunned kids back now:  NOW it looks GOOD for them to be forgiving.  That's whatever, but it doesn't change that they abandoned their children arguably when their children needed them most just for the sake of reputation.  

[Granwych]

On ‎7‎/‎19‎/‎2016 at 5:30 PM, VelociRapture said:

And I thought I had it bad with a father and BIL sharing a name... As well as a FIL and BIL sharing a name... And a brother and Grandpa sharing a name (nickname for Grandpa.) 

Grampwych's late mother and ex-wife have the same first name.  Grampwych's preacher ex BIL and my late father also have the same name.  There went two choices for Wych offspring names right from the get-go.  We refer to the ex by a different, not-very-nice-but-well-earned- name now.

[VelociRapture]

4 hours ago, Granwych said:

Grampwych's late mother and ex-wife have the same first name.  Grampwych's preacher ex BIL and my late father also have the same name.  There went two choices for Wych offspring names right from the get-go.  We refer to the ex by a different, not-very-nice-but-well-earned- name now.

 We're lucky because we all like my sister's husband a lot. So no mean nicknames for him.

And I forgot to mention that I have an uncle with the same name as my Grandpa, but who goes by a different nickname (otherwise there would be three family members running around with that name). Also, my mom and Grandma share the same first name, but mom has always gone by a nickname because she doesn't like it.

I feel exhausted typing all that.

We did rule out all the shared names for first names... But we picked first names with connections to my family and middle names connected to both families.

Anna was the middle name of my dad's two Aunts (one of whom was his Godmother and his favorite relative) and the Grandma who helped raise him, as well as a form of the middle name mom and I share. The middle name, Elizabeth, was the middle name of my mom's beloved younger sister who died when I was very young - honoring her was really important to me and my husband really loves the thought behind it.

Brandon isn't a family name, but it's from the British isles (I'm mostly Irish descent) and starts with the same two letters as the name shared by my dad and BIL. Middle name would be the first name shared by husband's dad and older brother.

We think we did a fairly good job - we picked names that are easy to spell, sound good with our last name, and give our kid their own identity while still honoring family.

[JermajestyDuggar]

There are lots of people in my family with the same name or similar names. It's a good thing we are big on nicknames. That way we don't get confused.

[OrchidBlossom]

I mock the Duggars all the time but on one side of my family, 8 or 9 of us have the same first initial... and it's J...

But it was coincidental, not a scheme. And they're all very normal names. No Jubilees or Jingers over here.

[Casserole]

1 hour ago, OrchidBlossom said:

I mock the Duggars all the time but on one side of my family, 8 or 9 of us have the same first initial... and it's J...

But it was coincidental, not a scheme. And they're all very normal names. No Jubilees or Jingers over here.

My childhood best friend was one of 9 kids, all girls, all J-names. They were also the party house during high school while mom went away with her boyfriend and left us with alcohol and dancing, so certainly NOT fundie. But I still giggle when I think of the coincidence. And that none of their 9 girls share a name with the J-slaves. So many better J-name choices than the Duggars chose. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

3 hours ago, Casserole said:

My childhood best friend was one of 9 kids, all girls, all J-names. They were also the party house during high school while mom went away with her boyfriend and left us with alcohol and dancing, so certainly NOT fundie. But I still giggle when I think of the coincidence. And that none of their 9 girls share a name with the J-slaves. So many better J-name choices than the Duggars chose. 

I've thought about so many good J names that are way better than the Duggars. 

Jane, Jacob, Josephine, Jarrett, Jasper, Juliette, Julian, Jude, Jenson, Jemma, Jameson, and of course.......

 

JERMAJESTY!

[Casserole]

14 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I've thought about so many good J names that are way better than the Duggars. 

Jane, Jacob, Josephine, Jarrett, Jasper, Juliette, Julian, Jude, Jenson, Jemma, Jameson, and of course.......

 

JERMAJESTY!

This family had a Janice, Jade, Julianne, Jody, Jessica, Jaclyn, Jamie, Joanna, and I'm blanking on the 9th but I think it was in the Jeanette/"Jen" sounding family (she was oldest and married and moved out before I became a friend so I only met her like once lol)

They said it started with family names (the first 3) and then they didn't want to leave out kid #4 of the accidental trend. And they didn't plan on 9 kids, so with each one they worried about having one black sheep so they never changed it. Really, if they changed at #4, they would have ended up with more non-J names than J-names.

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 hours ago, Casserole said:

This family had a Janice, Jade, Julianne, Jody, Jessica, Jaclyn, Jamie, Joanna, and I'm blanking on the 9th but I think it was in the Jeanette/"Jen" sounding family (she was oldest and married and moved out before I became a friend so I only met her like once lol)

They said it started with family names (the first 3) and then they didn't want to leave out kid #4 of the accidental trend. And they didn't plan on 9 kids, so with each one they worried about having one black sheep so they never changed it. Really, if they changed at #4, they would have ended up with more non-J names than J-names.

Oh god that's the same thinking as the Duggars! They just liked the names Joshua, John, and Jana.  And they didn't want  kid feeling left out so they just went with it!

[marmalade]

On 7/20/2016 at 1:20 PM, season of life said:

I'm afraid of Susanna and Rebekah coming back too. I'm sure Susanna likes her freedom and remembers how stifling her childhood was, but Rebekah is going through a divorce and probably does want some support. 

I don't think Suze is going back. She lives in sin with her boyfriend and wears clothing waaaay beyond what's acceptable in Gothardland (ie Daisy Dukes and bikinis). 

Rebekah has been very quiet. But if she has joint custody of those kids, she needs a job. I think she was working, at least part-time, during the marriage, so not too much of an adjustment, again, just very anti-Gothard. 

After those 4 Kellers left (Esther counts, even though her headship took  her off the deep end), Ma and Pa have keep David and Nathan on a VERY short leash to ensure they will never leave. The 20 year old (Nathan, I think) apparently gave his first sermon last week. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

9 hours ago, marmalade said:

I don't think Suze is going back. She lives in sin with her boyfriend and wears clothing waaaay beyond what's acceptable in Gothardland (ie Daisy Dukes and bikinis). 

Rebekah has been very quiet. But if she has joint custody of those kids, she needs a job. I think she was working, at least part-time, during the marriage, so not too much of an adjustment, again, just very anti-Gothard. 

After those 4 Kellers left (Esther counts, even though her headship took  her off the deep end), Ma and Pa have keep David and Nathan on a VERY short leash to ensure they will never leave. The 20 year old (Nathan, I think) apparently gave his first sermon last week. 

I agree that they will cling to those boys like lifeboats in a storm. Those poor kids. Having to hear all about their heathen siblings and then they have no choice but to hang around josh when he and Anna visit. They live there. They have no choice but to interact with that POS.

[elliha]

Out of 11 nieces and nephews, 5 have J-names. My brother and his wife ended up with 3 J:s. The first one they had decided on a J-name if it was a girl which it was and for the second they had decided on a combination of names but not which one to call him. They agreed that the J-name was more him than the K-name they also chose. With the third one they said "no J-name" but they could only settle on one name before she was born for a girl and they were in agreement that they wanted this name as a middle name. I am to blame for the third J-name. When they were trying to decide I just blurted out "I know you don't want to hear this but your chosen name works very well with Johanna".  A couple days later it was decided that she was in fact a Johanna. 

I have actually influenced a further sibling in their name choice. My middle brother and his wife had the first names decided but wanted a middle name for one of their twins that worked with her name but also had a family connection since the middle name of of twin 1 was a family name from his wife's family. I suggested that since twin one got his wife's paternal grandmother's name that the second twin should have our paternal grandmother's name to have a theme and actually that worked out very well with her first name and they had a theme but not one that is too obvious and strange. 

[brogue]

On 23/07/2016 at 6:50 PM, OrchidBlossom said:

I mock the Duggars all the time but on one side of my family, 8 or 9 of us have the same first initial... and it's J...

But it was coincidental, not a scheme. And they're all very normal names. No Jubilees or Jingers over here.

Yeah, myself and my four siblings, plus both parents, have a middle name starting with the same initial. It was coincidental until baby #4 came along. Then they decided to just roll with it. 

[HereticHick]

I'm still mystified that Brandon and Michael haven't moved to Big Sandy yet. Maybe it is being filmed by/was filmed by UP and being kept under wraps.

I noticed on the fabulous Pecan Thief David Waller's twitter a few days ago that he mentioned that the Staddon-Neely newlywed couple will be living "near him" (ie Big Sandy).

[Nikedagain?]

On 7/23/2016 at 6:25 PM, JermajestyDuggar said:

I've thought about so many good J names that are way better than the Duggars. 

Jane, Jacob, Josephine, Jarrett, Jasper, Juliette, Julian, Jude, Jenson, Jemma, Jameson, and of course.......

 

JERMAJESTY!

Two years ago, we had twins at our middle school named Jermajesty and Urmajesty. I SWEAR. 

[infooverload]

Glad to see someone asked about her graduation, which is supposed to happen this month. I am sure we will see the one year instagram post here soon.

[QuiverDance]

8 hours ago, Nikedagain? said:

Two years ago, we had twins at our middle school named Jermajesty and Urmajesty. I SWEAR. 

If it's good enough for Jermaine Jackson's kid...

[Melissa1977]

On 24/7/2016 at 1:33 PM, JermajestyDuggar said:

I agree that they will cling to those boys like lifeboats in a storm. Those poor kids. Having to hear all about their heathen siblings and then they have no choice but to hang around josh when he and Anna visit. They live there. They have no choice but to interact with that POS.

But these boys are watching that Daniel and Rebeka are having good lives (as far as we know), and Suzanne is doing her best (at least, she has a healthy baby and is not living in poverty as Schraders) . And at the same time, they are watching  Esther living that freak life, the Joshgate, Pecan, etc. I know they are probably brainwashed and cannot critical think, but no doubt their ungodly siblings are having better lives than the godly ones. So be careful Kellers, maybe your little boys will also leave.

[LawsonBatesEgo]

On 7/24/2016 at 8:47 AM, Casserole said:

This family had a Janice, Jade, Julianne, Jody, Jessica, Jaclyn, Jamie, Joanna, and I'm blanking on the 9th but I think it was in the Jeanette/"Jen" sounding family (she was oldest and married and moved out before I became a friend so I only met her like once lol)

They said it started with family names (the first 3) and then they didn't want to leave out kid #4 of the accidental trend. And they didn't plan on 9 kids, so with each one they worried about having one black sheep so they never changed it. Really, if they changed at #4, they would have ended up with more non-J names than J-names.

Not quite 9, but as a kid, I was good friends with a girl named Jennifer who was #3 of 6 siblings who all had J names and for the exact same reason. We're still Facebook friends today, so I was able to check the names for reference by looking at the tagged photos on Facebook.

The oldest was James and I think it was a family name, because the father is also named James. For the second, they chose Jessica and then Jennifer for the third simply because the parents liked the names (yes, I was born in the 1980s!). It was a coincidence both J names and they'd created a 'J' trend. 

Then they found out they were pregnant again and had the same 'well, we can't leave this one out' logic and named her Jade. Same thing happened a couple of years later when they got pregnant with twins who then got named Jonathan and Jeremy. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

1 hour ago, Melissa1977 said:

But these boys are watching that Daniel and Rebeka are having good lives (as far as we know), and Suzanne is doing her best (at least, she has a healthy baby and is not living in poverty as Schraders) . And at the same time, they are watching  Esther living that freak life, the Joshgate, Pecan, etc. I know they are probably brainwashed and cannot critical think, but no doubt their ungodly siblings are having better lives than the godly ones. So be careful Kellers, maybe your little boys will also leave.

I'm not a former fundie but I've seen how they think and twist things to fit their narrative. So the Keller parents won't let the boys see the situations for what they really are. They probably portray Esther as godly and happy because she's following her husband and is blessed with 10 kids, Daniel is an angry unhappy heathen since leaving the cult and his punishment was infertility, I'm sure they portray him as losing his way and hope he will one day come back, Rebekah is getting a divorce so obviously her leaving the cult broke up their marriage, Silly and Pecan are so happy and in love because they stayed in the cult, Anna's marriage is still intact because of the cult, and now Suze lost her way and has struggled because she left the cult. They probably feel sorry for her and hope she will find her way back to the cult.

[CorruptionInc.]

These boys could possibly stray.

My catholic mother forced religion down out throats as children and now my siblings and I are not religious.

I'm the closest at agnostic. I know there is something up there, I'm just not sure what or who.

I was a pretty nutty catholic child... oh how times have changed!!!

[Melissa1977]

Back to Michael, I find it interesting that any relative has post about her graduation, not even Kelly. Michael is Cinderella, a Cinderella with Stocolm syndrome because Kelly shows affection to her, but when Michael does something important (out of courting), she's not praised. I wonder if Michael feels that way, if she think she's less important than Erin or Carlin. 

[mango_fandango]

4 hours ago, Melissa1977 said:

Back to Michael, I find it interesting that any relative has post about her graduation, not even Kelly. Michael is Cinderella, a Cinderella with Stocolm syndrome because Kelly shows affection to her, but when Michael does something important (out of courting), she's not praised. I wonder if Michael feels that way, if she think she's less important than Erin or Carlin. 

I dunno. As I mentioned previously, some of the Bates bios on their family-run blog (ie not the Lily and Ellie one) have been updated, and the fact that Michael has graduated is now in Michael's bio. Also, Michael is quite shy and content to stay out of the limelight. Like she didn't want to be involved with the Erin/Chad wedding but eventually had to escort Callie (the flower girl) down the aisle. So maybe Michael just doesn't want a huge fuss made of the fact that she's graduated. But don't take me for granted on that.

[HereticHick]

I continued to be baffled about why Brandon  & his helpmeet haven't moved to Big Sandy yet. The end of the article article about Gothard headquarters in this month's Chicago magazine certainly implies that the headquarters is totally empty now:

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/July-2016/Institute-in-Basic-Life-Principles-Hinsdale/

"On a recent afternoon at the colonnaded building in Hinsdale, the future did not look exciting. More like abandoned. No girls in ankle-length skirts floated in and out or strolled in the nearby park; no boys in dark suits and crisp white shirts tended the gardens or climbed on shuttle buses to destinations unknown. The parking lot stood empty. The normally well-manicured lawn looked a little forlorn. Even the sign that had once provided the lone hint of what the building represented was gone."