The Arndt Cycle Continues

[BigSandy]

I hadn't checked in on Arndt-world for a while, so I went to their website today, and sure enough, pretty much everything was the same.

 

I did see, though, that the boys have started eating the eggs of their ducks. It seemed strangely symbolic of what their mom does to them...

[Pond]

They've always fascinated me... In a creepy sort of way.

[precious_one]

This family just confuses me so much. They dress pretty normal, they play sports, they work out at that Y, the kids even play video games that my own son plays but I just don't get the infantile way they treat their children.

[Jana814]

This family just confuses me so much. They dress pretty normal, they play sports, they work out at that Y, the kids even play video games that my own son plays but I just don't get the infantile way they treat their children.

Agree! I honestly thought by now a few of them would be married.

[precious_one]

Agree! I honestly thought by now a few of them would be married.

Or even moved out on their own.

[longskirtlotsakids]

I hadn't checked in on Arndt-world for a while, so I went to their website today, and sure enough, pretty much everything was the same.

I did see, though, that the boys have started eating the eggs of their ducks. It seemed strangely symbolic of what their mom does to them...

Oh ew....

[mastercleaner]

It would be nice to see the older boys move out on their own. Even if it was together, at least they'd be out of the house.

[IReallyAmHopewell]

But to move out, they must be married. To get married they have to find someone. Repeat. It's the GUY who shows up on the girl's doorstep, not the other way around....... And they play sports AS A FAMILY and as a family ministry. That's different.

[nokidsmom]

But to move out, they must be married. To get married they have to find someone. Repeat. It's the GUY who shows up on the girl's doorstep, not the other way around....... And they play sports AS A FAMILY and as a family ministry. That's different.

They pretty much expect Princess Charming to come down from heaven. IIRC, one of them (or maybe two) expressed a wish pretty much on the order of being sent someone similar to a girl hoping for Prince Charming. Like they were waiting for it to happen as opposed to going out and making it happen. It was weird to hear a guy(s) say something like that. So I gather that none of the guys are making any effort. Now some of them get out and do some traveling sans controlling mom but I suspect they don't even think of chatting up some girl while out. They are super brainwashed into being passive about the whole thing. And that's all of them. Not just one or two. That's some brainwashing.

I also suspect that any girls who have some interest in them get shooed away by mama. Or word gets around to not bother, they're too weird.

[So Many Lies]

I found Mark's expectations of the perfect woman off-putting. It shouldn't come as any surprise really but the his " I want a girl whose hot, but totally modest, Godly, but totally approachable, fun but really sensible, wants to get married but doesn't want it too much.. yada yada" to be quite an immature outlook. He's in his 30s, I just think it's nice to have more of a "come what may" attitude and as long as someone's a good person, or in his case,a good Christian woman, and they have common goals then that's a good start. This laundry list approach is sort of arrogant. And oh boy I hate the criteria he's listed.

[Childless]

These guys are in serious need of an apartment. I wonder what they're all going to do when the parents kick off. I'm not sure if any of them can take care of themselves.

[keen23]

These guys are in serious need of an apartment. I wonder what they're all going to do when the parents kick off. I'm not sure if any of them can take care of themselves.

They won't have to take care of themselves. They'll still have Wizzy to take care of them.

[So Many Lies]

They won't have to take care of themselves. T hey'll still have Wizzy to take care of them.

I wonder if Wizzy will be married off? Maybe Mama might shoo off any potential brides but might be ok with Wizzy marrying.

[So Many Lies]

Agree! I honestly thought by now a few of them would be married.

And they are not at all physically unattractive.

[anjulibai]

I found Mark's expectations of the perfect woman off-putting. It shouldn't come as any surprise really but the his " I want a girl whose hot, but totally modest, Godly, but totally approachable, fun but really sensible, wants to get married but doesn't want it too much.. yada yada" to be quite an immature outlook. He's in his 30s, I just think it's nice to have more of a "come what may" attitude and as long as someone's a good person, or in his case,a good Christian woman, and they have common goals then that's a good start. This laundry list approach is sort of arrogant. And oh boy I hate the criteria he's listed.

To be fair to Mark, it's not like he's had any experience with women whatsoever, having never had a chance to interact with them on his own. His ideas are those of someone just starting the dating scene in their late teens, very early 20s, which, emotionally, is really how old Mark is.

If he were someone that was able to actually have a chance at a normal social life, I'd find it off putting, but to me, given his environment, I have to cut him some slack.

[TheJewAmongUs]

I just watched about 6 minutes of their video where Caleb gets braces and Mary Elizabeth sews a ruffle purse. The same purse that was posted on their blog over a year ago.

Between Cathy's awkward hand holding and stomach rubbing on Caleb and Mary Elizabeth's awkward comment that he's like her older brother because he's taller, but now she can tease him about his braces, I was just done. Considering that video has 31 views, I guess I'm not alone in that.

[rural juror]

I just watched about 6 minutes of their video where Caleb gets braces and Mary Elizabeth sews a ruffle purse. The same purse that was posted on their blog over a year ago.

Between Cathy's awkward hand holding and stomach rubbing on Caleb and Mary Elizabeth's awkward comment that he's like her older brother because he's taller, but now she can tease him about his braces, I was just done. Considering that video has 31 views, I guess I'm not alone in that.

I just watched the video too. And actually made it to the end! A couple of points:

- Caleb's speech is terrible, and the others must be aware of it because he got subtitles.

- Surprisingly, Mary's speech seemed pretty normal to me. This is odd because, in general, the speech seems to get progressively worse with each kid. Mary's two closest-in-age brothers, Nathan and Caleb, are barely intelligible.

- When Cathy was teaching Mary to sew, she made a remark about teaching the kids important skills that they can use later when they get married and start families. I wonder if she and Rick are oblivious to how the older guys are failing in the "getting married" department.

- I feel embarrassed for those older manboys who pretended to be reporters during the ping pong tournament.

[Escapefromfundiedom]

These people remind me of a family that used to be pretty big in the ATI circles - they were pretty much held up by everyone as The Example. They did all the Russian missionary trips, the IBLP stuff, they had their touring brothers quartet (which was AWFUL, btw)...I always thought they were squicky and weird and they were the most determined and obnoxious flirts ever. Plus they had this weird obsession with their mommy. Like she was the family princess (all boys).

Turns out...one or more of them was a major sexual predator, preying on young (from what I heard, under 10) girls. He is now in jail (or may have been released by this point...he was jailed several years ago). A huge part of this is because their mother brainwashed them into believing that older girls were out to seduce and defraud them and that they should be avoided at all costs...They were so utterly twisted. I have sort of lost touch with what happened to the others, except I think two of them are not really in with the mother because they called out pedophile bro. The mother made excuses and was basically totally in denial.

Also - I have been to weddings where they were there and their antics were SO MUCH like what the Duggars do - ridiculous stunts and attempts to make someone else's wedding ALL ABOUT THEM. It was super embarrassing.

But yeah, any time I see a family with lots of boys who are in their 20's and still happily living at home acting like princess charming will just drop in their lap one day....it raises HUGE warning flags for mommy issues.

[nokidsmom]

When Cathy was teaching Mary to sew, she made a remark about teaching the kids important skills that they can use later when they get married and start families. I wonder if she and Rick are oblivious to how the older guys are failing in the "getting married" department.

I suspect that may be the case. I think that when the kids were younger, she thought of "getting married and starting families" as something that was for the future and therefore something she didn't have to face because it was in the future. I think she and Rick are one of these parents that over identifies with their role as a parent, as being in control, makes them feel special and they are loathe to give it all up now that many of their children are adults.

[happy atheist]

Wait… Wizzy?

[miffy]

I feel sorry for them, they are all such nice easygoing guys & really quite harmless for fundies, because they are so insular.

Wizzy will be the only one to marry. I think she is closer to her dad, than her mum. So she will probably be pushed out in the world. It going to look very strange when one of her great grandchildren does the family tree in 100 yrs.

[socalrules]

I don't think of the Arndts as fundies so much as isolationists. I don't doubt that they carry fundies views about abortion and whatnot but they don't really do anything else fundy. We don't know anything about their dating or courtship beliefs because they obviously don't intend to marry off their kids. Their only concern seems to be keeping everyone together forever.

I just want to know how Ma and Pa are able to make their adult kids so happy and willing to stay childlike. We rarely see anyone who seems to want to move on with their life. Even the Duggar and Bates children sometimes seem over it all. The Arndts act as if they are perpetual 10 year-olds on the way to Disney World. I just don't understand. They seem to have some contact with the outside world because of the court reporting and travelling alone, yet they seems to have no desire to be in the company of anyone who doesn't share their DNA. It's just freaky. The outside world seems to have had no effect on them at all. Whoever was in charge of the brainwashing should be on the CIA payroll.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

Wait… Wizzy?

The only daughter. Is that what you're asking?

[already hungover]

Wait… Wizzy?

Right, her given name is Mary Elizabeth but the family calls her Wizzy. I seem to recall that it's because one of the younger boys couldn't pronounce her name properly.

[happy atheist]

Right, her given name is Mary Elizabeth but the family calls her Wizzy. I seem to recall that it's because one of the younger boys couldn't pronounce her name properly.

What an unfortunate nickname. Poor thing.