Sparkling Adventures Blog

[meda]

I always thought the "handling circular saw blades" was a joke referencing her crap parenting. But no, it's real. How does this woman still have custody of her kids? I don't get it.

[Koala]

He scraped the blade against his skin. It cut.

I know this to be true because I have managed to cut myself with a pair of safety scissors. Don't even ask. I'm a klutz.

[August]

She would doubtlessly take the lost girls swimming jumping off the bridge into the Torrens, let them walk barefoot down Hindley street (I did it as a teenager - never again), and then let them climb the mall's balls. What an authentic experience.

FTFY

What, was David Waller enough for you?

[Freyacat]

Is this the sister to whom you are referring? This one seems quite smug and judgemental to me?

nestinginskyscrapers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/prayer-for-prodigal.html#comment-form

Yes, that's the one. I agree that entry's a bit judgmental - but considering she's seeing what Lauren is doing to her kids, I can understand why she'd be feeling judgmental. I read through a couple more pages of the blog, and she generally comes off IMO as being very dedicated to her kids, loving the chance to live in and explore Hong Kong, and a pretty nice person. She does seem pretty religious, but not in a crazy way to me, not compared to a lot of the bloggers discussed here!

[lilith]

What exactly happened in "poolgate?" Did one of the girls almost drown?

Not that time.

She was staying with her sister, and the girls managed to jam the gate of the pool fence (which is required by law to meet certain requirement, chief among which is a childproof gate) open with a stick and some string.

Lauren promptly posted a photo of it as an example of how sparkly and innovative her kids are. I am sure her sister (who is a GP) was highly unimpressed that Lauren allowed her kids to place all the children and danger and put her at risk of fines from her local council.

[freejoytoo]

I think the children were at risk prior to the awful haircuts and clothes - it was just camouflaged better.

[lilith]

So she actually changes the content of the posts? Re-writes them, so to speak?

That is bizarre. I have a habit of making my older blog posts private as I am quite a private person and am worried about having too much personal info on the www (knowing full well however that it may still remain accessible through internet archives and such). But to actually go back and change what I wrote weeks, months or years ago? That is so weird. Makes me wonder if she keeps a copy of the original posts or if she fools herself into only remembering the edited versions of events.

What I find crazy is what she chooses to scrub and what she chooses to leave.

She'll have falling outs with friends and family and go back and edit past entries to bolster her point, but she's left up videos of David in a clearly delusional state, the family when she left them without telling David, the circular saws and fire baths and Aisha going missing,and camping in a drug infested suburb when they could have parked anywhere in Sydney.

It's like she gets so focused on whatever matters to her at that moment that she doesn't even think about how other things appear.

[August]

Yes, that's the one. I agree that entry's a bit judgmental - but considering she's seeing what Lauren is doing to her kids, I can understand why she'd be feeling judgmental. I read through a couple more pages of the blog, and she generally comes off IMO as being very dedicated to her kids, loving the chance to live in and explore Hong Kong, and a pretty nice person. She does seem pretty religious, but not in a crazy way to me, not compared to a lot of the bloggers discussed here!

That entry shows no concern whatsoever forvthe safety and wellbeing of Lauren and her children. It's all about her makikal Jesus. If Lauren was toesing the scriptural line the suster would be fine with the saw blade juggling.

[chaotic life]

So....

one sister is a highly successful doctor, married to a doctor with an amazing house and four well cared for children.

the other sister is living the high life in Hong Kong where her husband is teaching and they will return to Australia having accomplished something amazing. She too has three well cared for children.

Lauren married a crazy man who escaped from a cult and his living was flooring. When she quit her job to stay home, she lost all of the success and glamour she thrived upon and sunk deep into depression as a SAHM. They were ostracized by friends, by church and it appears potentially by family--not the least of which was prompted by her husband's sink into deep insanity whereby he got into physical altercations with church members.

Rather than try to have a normal life, which she was clearly failing at, Lauren ran away, embraced alternative as if it is wonderful and sparkly and cut off her family, neglected her kids and is barely recognizable to the woman she once was. Ultimately, the descent left her with a dead baby and four little girls so bedradded and neglected that everyone who sees them feels their heart break for them.

She needs to GO HOME, GO BACK TO WORK and PUT HER CHILDREN INTO SCHOOL WHERE THEY CAN FIND A NORMAL LIFE. Yes, daddy dearest was gay but clearly he and mom raised those girls well enough to actually FUNCTION in life.

Her descent into crazy is even more depressiong when you balance it against her two sisters and realize that she comments all over Renee's blog so clearly she spends time comparing their lives herself.

[freejoytoo]

I can see why she did a total u-turn. She must think the conservative lifestyle was the reason behind her and David's unhappiness. I've read some of the older posts and I don't think she was that normal then.

[B5SnowDog]

She'll have falling outs with friends and family and go back and edit past entries to bolster her point, but she's left up videos of David in a clearly delusional state, the family when she left them without telling David, the circular saws and fire baths and Aisha going missing,and camping in a drug infested suburb when they could have parked anywhere in Sydney.

It's like she gets so focused on whatever matters to her at that moment that she doesn't even think about how other things appear.

I think it's because those things are so normal to her, it doesn't occur to her that they're concerning to most people until someone points it out.

[Libby Liberal]

I can see why she did a total u-turn. She must think the conservative lifestyle was the reason behind her and David's unhappiness. I've read some of the older posts and I don't think she was that normal then.

No, but she put a better face on it and the girls' were better cared for. Their playroom was featured on a design blog and it seemed like they had a nice, ordered little kid existence. I can't even IMAGINE the cognitive dissonance experienced by the older two girls and the drastically different lifestyles they've led in their short lives.

[SouthCarolinaGirl79]

No, but she put a better face on it and the girls' were better cared for. Their playroom was featured on a design blog and it seemed like they had a nice, ordered little kid existence. I can't even IMAGINE the cognitive dissonance experienced by the older two girls and the drastically different lifestyles they've led in their short lives.

Complete 180 she has done is the most troubling to me. Most people find balance somewhere in the middle. You can have structure and schedule with spontaneity. I really think she needs professional help.

[happy atheist]

It may not seem like it now, but I’m a natural home-bod. When living in a house, I was happy to stay at home most of the time, and I considered outings to be an inconvenience to my placid life. I think the girls could easily turn into home-bods too, and that’s why our current mode of living and learning works well — we’re out experiencing life instead of just reading about it or watching it go by on a screen.

She prefers being at home -- in a house. The girls would be fine with it, too. So of course the only sensible thing to do is the exact opposite of that. The post I quoted goes on to talk about all the stuff they like about being in a house, like baths and toast. She is so evil to deprive her kids of those things for no good reason.

[freejoytoo]

No, but she put a better face on it and the girls' were better cared for. Their playroom was featured on a design blog and it seemed like they had a nice, ordered little kid existence. I can't even IMAGINE the cognitive dissonance experienced by the older two girls and the drastically different lifestyles they've led in their short lives.

The playroom wasn't that safe. It showed a two-year-old chasing a marble and a bed for the youngest one to sleep overnight in with toys she could injure herself with.

[Abi]

I think Lauren has made me angrier than anyone else that has been discussed on here.

She is putting her kids in SERIOUS danger every day and she seems to think it makes her somehow speshul and innovative.

I've got news for you Lauren- it doesn't. Fucking stupid, is what it makes you.

I've got words for her that are probably too strong to be posted, even here.

:angry-cussing:

[CheeseDeprived]

Complete 180 she has done is the most troubling to me. Most people find balance somewhere in the middle. You can have structure and schedule with spontaneity. I really think she needs professional help.

So was there an event that triggered the 180 turn, or did it just happen gradually? Is there a blog post that explains it in a nutshell?

[Guest Anonymous]

So was there an event that triggered the 180 turn, or did it just happen gradually? Is there a blog post that explains it in a nutshell?

It was gradual so you'd need to look through the blog at many posts to get a feel for it. Maybe "institutional church" would be a good search term, but I honestly couldn't point to a post for you without serious digging. David was asked to leave the church in ?2009 because he had a few episodes where he shouted across the speaker with a differen viewpoint to the church party line, and consequently was removed from the building and told to stay away for a few weeks to cool off. Later on Lauren attributed that as being the catalyst to them leaving the institutional church, but said it was something they needed to do anyway and it took that episode to shake them out of their complacency. Up until Elijah's death they still retained many traditional Christian beliefs although they had become 'homechurchers', but it seems likely that David himself would not recognise her current belief system from where it was in June of last year.

[bbfreethinker]

I think Lauren's child rearing methods were decided on purely for her benefit. When she lived in house, strict schedules were the easiest because they gave her lots of free time to blog and do whatever else she wanted. Now that she's on the move, living out of an RV, letting the girls do whatever they want is easier.

[SouthCarolinaGirl79]

I think the children were at risk prior to the awful haircuts and clothes - it was just camouflaged better.

I agree something is so not right in that family.

[NovemberRain]

I've read all of the previous thread and all of Lauren's blog. I am so frightened for those little girls I don't even know how to express it. She is just running away from her problems and grief. I fear she'll have a psychotic break and do something horrible.

[heidi]

I think Lauren's child rearing methods were decided on purely for her benefit. When she lived in house, strict schedules were the easiest because they gave her lots of free time to blog and do whatever else she wanted. Now that she's on the move, living out of an RV, letting the girls do whatever they want is easier.

I agree. It's all about what makes her life easier--not what's best for her children.

[lilith]

I agree that David's deteriorating mental health and breaks with the church were what triggered the change. Lauren wasn't keen on travelling or giving up her stringent routines, but she did cause David was head of the household, even though she must have seen his condition worsening. Maybe she thought travel would help.

And for a time it seemed to. They travelled and unchurched and connected with alternative Christians, and David kept looking after the kids and cooking for them all.

But Lauren seems drawn to extremes, so she had to be the hippiest, the sparkliest, the most nomadic. The family went veggie, so she had to go vegan. She stopped buying fashion mags, so she had to wear all red and spend long hours maintaining her dreads. She wanted a different birth experience, so she had to birth without attendants or prenatal care, in the bush without mobile reception or an accessible road. The woman has no concept of a middle ground.

I do think David would be horrified by her move away from Christianity. In his own way he was devout and searching for biblical answers to the end.

[Morton Fan]

I agree that David's deteriorating mental health and breaks with the church were what triggered the change. Lauren wasn't keen on travelling or giving up her stringent routines, but she did cause David was head of the household, even though she must have seen his condition worsening. Maybe she thought travel would help.

And for a time it seemed to. They travelled and unchurched and connected with alternative Christians, and David kept looking after the kids and cooking for them all.

But Lauren seems drawn to extremes, so she had to be the hippiest, the sparkliest, the most nomadic. The family went veggie, so she had to go vegan. She stopped buying fashion mags, so she had to wear all red and spend long hours maintaining her dreads. She wanted a different birth experience, so she had to birth without attendants or prenatal care, in the bush without mobile reception or an accessible road. The woman has no concept of a middle ground.

I do think David would be horrified by her move away from Christianity. In his own way he was devout and searching for biblical answers to the end.

Did David ever contribute meaningfully to the blog? I remember posters referencing comments he made, but did he ever actually post?

[happy atheist]

Did David ever contribute meaningfully to the blog? I remember posters referencing comments he made, but did he ever actually post?

Not that I ever saw. He posted a lot of videos on youtube, though. His username is SaviorOfTheWorld, or something pompous like that.