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Meet the 11Smiths, aka the 11BoringFundies


nelliebelle1197

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I couldn't find a topic on this family here or on Yuku, though it may exist. Someone in another thread mentioned the 11Smiths blog so I went to check it out.

Turns out these Smiths (definitely IFB) live near where I grew up and visit places I frequented as a child. There is even a photo of them outside a cemetery that contains a goodly number of my ancestors. But that is not why I could not stop reading.

Seems that 7 of the 11 are adult daughters, one married 4 years and the other (oldest) just married. There are two sons, one kind of cute in a redneck way and the other at Fake Brook Law School. So FIVE adult SAHDs and one adult SAHS. They seem to own a chicken farm and babysit various children, some of whom are girls in pants. They play boardgames. They kill chickens. They make stuff and put it on Pinterest. They go to church. They vote for Mike Huckabee.

They are so boring they make the Seven Sisters look like Naomi Campbell on a bender. I can't stop reading; I don't know why.

11smiths.blogspot.com

Warning: a good strong double espresso is needed before attempting to operate this blog.

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You are right that is boring, but they are pictured playing games, the food looks mostly edible in the picnic pics, and the eyebrow situation is way better than the Maxwell family's.

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They've been talked about before. The eldest is about 38, and I could be wrong, but I think her husband has a kid.

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They are so boring they make the Seven Sisters look like Naomi Campbell on a bender. I can't stop reading; I don't know why.

Laughed out loud when I read this. Too, too funny.

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They've been talked about before. The eldest is about 38, and I could be wrong, but I think her husband has a kid.

Ooooo.... any idea where?

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Ooooo.... any idea where?

And Melissa married into a Catholic family. I am not sure if she is going "papist" or not, but I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall....

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Someone really likes their embroidery machine. In the Ross and Melissa wedding photos, the bridesmaid dresses appear to be handmade and have embroidery (note, elastic waists do not belong on formal dresses). The bride's dress is very pretty, but it strongly resembles a linen tablecloth between all the lace and embroidery.

Edit - on close up - that's not elastic, those are weird cummerbund type things on the girls' dresses with ruffles around the edges and a button in the back.

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Awww maybe it's because I grew up not far from them & know many families very similar to them but they are kind of endearing. Very boring but they seem like a sweet family.

I'm curious why their father, as educated as he is, hasn't encouraged any of them to branch out & get an education or career of some sort especially when it became clear that NONE of them were going to get married any time soon. I mean, I get that most fundies don't encourage higher education for girls but personally speaking, the families I knew or grew up with did value education & weren't big fans of the SAHD trend.

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Well they would be great to have on a church group to the zoo, cause you'll definitely bring your minimum!

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Mamie Eisenhower bangs don't look good on anyone, particularly for a young maiden searching for a godly young headship.

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Melissa appears to have been married in an actual Catholic church and it also appears that the crucifix above the altar was 'shopped out. In Wedding Post #4 (dated March 26, 2014) check out the second and third pics: second pic no crucifix, but in the third pic you can see the bottom of the cross and the feet. In all subsequent pics there's no crucifix.

ETA: In some pics you can see small sections of the crucifix where 'shopping wouldn't have been easy. Also, her father didn't walk her down the aisle; the bride and groom came in together. I haven't been to a Catholic wedding in a few years so I don't know if this is common practice now. Anyone? Or could it have been her father's protest: I'll be there, but I'm not walking you down the aisle of this pagan building.

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Melissa appears to have been married in an actual Catholic church and it also appears that the crucifix above the altar was 'shopped out. In Wedding Post #4 (dated March 26, 2014) check out the second and third pics: second pic no crucifix, but in the third pic you can see the bottom of the cross and the feet. In all subsequent pics there's no crucifix.

And in one pic you can see the priest's robes. I grew up about 45 minutes from these people and know that Catholics and Jews are not exactly in abundance. My cousin Ralph scandalized the family when he converted in the 50s! Oddly, his homosexuality never raised an eyebrow...

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Melissa appears to have been married in an actual Catholic church and it also appears that the crucifix above the altar was 'shopped out. In Wedding Post #4 (dated March 26, 2014) check out the second and third pics: second pic no crucifix, but in the third pic you can see the bottom of the cross and the feet. In all subsequent pics there's no crucifix.

They didn't shop out the statues either side of the altar, though, oddly enough. And in some of the photos of the congregation, you can see several of the Stations of the Cross up on the side wall. Definitely a Catholic wedding (or come to think of it, maybe a 'high church' Episcopal wedding? I don't know if statues and stations are part of the Episcopal tradition. :think: )

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Someone really likes their embroidery machine. In the Ross and Melissa wedding photos, the bridesmaid dresses appear to be handmade and have embroidery (note, elastic waists do not belong on formal dresses). The bride's dress is very pretty, but it strongly resembles a linen tablecloth between all the lace and embroidery.

Edit - on close up - that's not elastic, those are weird cummerbund type things on the girls' dresses with ruffles around the edges and a button in the back.

One of the daughters, Emily, has a home business making children's clothes with lots of smocking and embroidery. There's a link on the blog. She also has some pretty cute puppets and blanket buddies. What I found a little different is that she has several sets of handmade preemie gowns in several different preemie sizes, including ones for 1 lb. I wonder if she has a close friend or family member has had extreme micro-preemies, because it seems like a pretty unusual thing to make, especially in such detail ( she has six different gowns, 3 each for boys and girls, in sizes for 1 lb, 2-3 lb and 4 lb. the puppets and ice pack holders are really cute though.

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They didn't shop out the statues either side of the altar, though, oddly enough. And in some of the photos of the congregation, you can see several of the Stations of the Cross up on the side wall. Definitely a Catholic wedding (or come to think of it, maybe a 'high church' Episcopal wedding? I don't know if statues and stations are part of the Episcopal tradition. :think: )

Someone mentioned upthread that she married a Catholic which begs the question of how did they meet? How would a sheltered IFB woman even come across a Catholic man let alone get to know him well enough to fall in love and marry him? And wasn't she probably instructed at some point that Catholics weren't "real" Christians? As someone else said, oh to be a fly on the wall.

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Looks Catholic to me. They didn't try to hide the crucifix in the social hall or anything Catholic in the rehearsal and prep pictures. Holy water fonts, Catholic literature rack, statues, stations of the cross, priest, and properly set up altar. Yes, couples can walk in together for a wedding.

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(snip) Also, her father didn't walk her down the aisle; the bride and groom came in together. I haven't been to a Catholic wedding in a few years so I don't know if this is common practice now. Anyone? Or could it have been her father's protest: I'll be there, but I'm not walking you down the aisle of this pagan building.

I don't know how it works out elsewhere, but in my Catholic tradition, bride and groom always walk down the aisle together. Anything else would be considered weird. As I said, I don't know how it works amongst Catholics elsewhere, only that it's definitely not traditional amongst my lot, for a father to walk a daughter down the aisle.

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Someone mentioned upthread that she married a Catholic which begs the question of how did they meet? How would a sheltered IFB woman even come across a Catholic man let alone get to know him well enough to fall in love and marry him? And wasn't she probably instructed at some point that Catholics weren't "real" Christians? As someone else said, oh to be a fly on the wall.

I am reading through and will post if I can figure it out. I am wondering if the groom may be an IFB convert- they do mention this is his parents' church, not his.

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I don't know how it works out elsewhere, but in my Catholic tradition, bride and groom always walk down the aisle together. Anything else would be considered weird. As I said, I don't know how it works amongst Catholics elsewhere, only that it's definitely not traditional amongst my lot, for a father to walk a daughter down the aisle.

I have never seen the bride and groom walk down the aisle together in any of the many catholic weddings I have been in or attended (probably 20-25 over the years). My dad accompanied my sister down the aisle just last year. It might be a regional thing?

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I find their blog interesting because there are just so many of them and practically none of them are married yet even though they seem to be quite a bit older than most stay at home daughters.

I do think they seem like very sweet people...and the parents seem to legitimately enjoy their (adult) children.

Unlike the maxwells, they seem to have a little relaxing/enjoyment time as a family, playing board games, giving Christmas presents, actually doing things for fun..

And this is a big one: they seem to actually KNOW their kids and what the kids like and don't like.

In the maxwell family, it's all just "she enjoys cooking and helping her family and serving the lord".

At least these people, the Smith family, they say a little more about the personality with likes and dislikes....for example this one really hates being late, this one thinks little kids with fresh haircuts are so cute, etc and they even include some funny tidbits from when the kids were young.

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^ You know things are dire when one of the few positives is that they treat their children more like individuals than the Maxwells do. :D

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The different levels of frumpity in their clothing is interesting. In their main, denim photo, the woman on the far left doesn't look frumpy at all. Her clothing is something I could see a teacher or flower shop owner wearing. The woman on the farthest right is frumpy, but in a nerdy way; I could see a secular MIT student dressed like that. The woman second to the right is actually wearing a frumper and screams "religious fundamentalism!" The boy is cute.

Interesting in the church pictures all of the kids look modernly dressed, some girls in pants, some in shorts, boys without sleeves. The fact that a lot of girls are wearing skirts doesn't mean they always wear skirts; a lot of women will only put a skirt on for church.

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Someone mentioned upthread that she married a Catholic which begs the question of how did they meet? How would a sheltered IFB woman even come across a Catholic man let alone get to know him well enough to fall in love and marry him? And wasn't she probably instructed at some point that Catholics weren't "real" Christians? As someone else said, oh to be a fly on the wall.

IIRC, a Catholic is permitted to marry a non-Catholic under the condition that any resulting children be raised Catholic. Don't Gothardites think Catholics are going to hell? Actually, I think I remember that lady in Mexico whose husband cheated on her saying that she's sure that some Catholics are in heaven, but it's despite their Catholicism and not because of it.

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