Alyssa Bates/Webster is wearing PANTS!!

[jerkit]

I think it's just the shape of the sweatshirt.

[quiversR4hunting]

30 minutes ago, jerkit said:

I think it's just the shape of the sweatshirt.

I hope it's just the shape of the sweatshirt!

[MissBitters]

Her stomach is pretty flat in the pictures she posted before the sweatshirt one. I think Whitney will be announcing a pregnancy before Alyssa.

[Georgiana]

If there's one thing I've learned from FJ, it's that hooded sweatshirts evidently make EVERYONE look pregnant.  

If these fundies ever wanted to mess with us, they'd all wear hoodies for a month.  The pregnancy speculation would go through the roof!

[FaithAndReason]

I'm going to jump on the "she's pregnant" bandwagon. If you look back at the last 5-6 IG photos, all the clothing is very blousy in just the right place. I haven't noticed that so much as I have recently.

[princessmahina]

It wouldn't surprise me if she were pregnant, but I'm not going to assume she is based on a sweatshirt. I dress kind of frumpy and blousy like that when I'm bloated. She may too.

 

[HereticHick]

On 12/2/2015 at 7:47 PM, SassyPants said:

I think both Erin and Alyssa look older than their stated ages. Maybe it's because they want to appear older. Alyssa has the life of someone 10 years older than she.

I can't speak for Erin, because I haven't seen her in person, but I have seen Alyssa in person from only about 3 feet away, and she looked her age. I think the camera ages her.

[SledCat]

On 12/1/2015 at 11:04 AM, formergothardite said:

They have loosened the rules about pants a whole lot. Back when I was at training centers pants were a hug no-no. I'm not sure exactly when they changed the rules, but around 2005ish there was a bit of drama when, for the newsletter, they photoshopped skirts onto girls who were actually wearing jeans. I think they realized that being skirts only was going to prevent some people from joining and by the 2000's they were so desperate for members that it was a "standard" IBLP was willing to drop. 

Holy cricket! I suppose the photoshopping-of-skirts should come as no surprise, but...  Our IFB church instituted a skirts/dresses only rule for women in positions of "leadership" (ie, piano player, Sunday School teachers). It went over like a lead balloon for some of the women.

[singsingsing]

She doesn't look pregnant in the sweatshirt photo, at all... she's leaning in to her husband and her stomach appears completely flat.

[jerkit]

I called her pregnancy correctly last time. We'll see if I can go 2 for 2

[actuallyjessica]

She doesn't look pregnant in the sweatshirt photo, at all... she's leaning in to her husband and her stomach appears completely flat.

My theory isn't based on that picture (or just her stomach) alone and I'm not saying she's far enough along that she has a big ol' bump.

She didn't announce until 20 weeks with Allie and clearly had a belly and some people around here were still denying it. I could personally tell in her face from very early in her pregnancy, as I can with this one. She went from looking quite sick to a little bit fuller in the face, wearing more flowing tops and now with this particular picture, I am convinced there's a bump under there.

Same as Whitney, she's knocked up. Michael and Erin are not (from what I can tell!)

[Milly-Molly-Mandy]

I dreamt last night Micheal was pregnant. 

Im not sure about Alyssa but believe the PP's who can tell so will go along with it.

[Rhetorica]

On 12/1/2015 at 1:04 PM, formergothardite said:

They have loosened the rules about pants a whole lot. Back when I was at training centers pants were a hug no-no. I'm not sure exactly when they changed the rules, but around 2005ish there was a bit of drama when, for the newsletter, they photoshopped skirts onto girls who were actually wearing jeans. I think they realized that being skirts only was going to prevent some people from joining and by the 2000's they were so desperate for members that it was a "standard" IBLP was willing to drop. 

Alfred(I can't remember his last name) who is one of Gothard's biggest defenders and is deep into ATI has a wife who wears shorts and sleeveless shirts. The new faces of ATI/IBLP typically aren't skirts only and many wear regular bathing suits. My parents still get IBLP newsletters and in one of the recent ones boys were wearing shorts, something that, not that long ago, wouldn't have happened.

This is very interesting, formergothardite! I have been following some families like the Pierponts and wondering about their changes over the past few years. (My family wasn't in ATI, but we homeschooled and attended IBLP seminars every year from the mid '80s to the mid '90s.) I've been out of all that since the late '90s, but my morbid fascination continues. I've been confused about how they could be talking up skirts-only modesty at one point and in a few years be wearing short-shorts and pretending nothing has changed. And it's not just their daughters who now look like fashion models, but their sons are going in for lumberjack/hipster/long-hair looks. And the parents appear to be totally chill with these developments--while still endorsing IBLP too. This all in contrast with someone like Ashley Easter, for example, who is very clear about the changes she is making. Given how performative their beliefs seems to be, it just seems odd to me that they don't think about the way this appears to on-lookers. If you have insight into how these dynamics play out, I'm all ears.

[singsingsing]

I'm not denying it: I also thought that Alyssa was pregnant the first time around based... pretty much only on her face. The only thing I'm saying is that I don't think she looks pregnant at this point. In my opinion, her photos don't suggest pregnancy. I have no opinion about whether she's actually pregnant or not, and I'm not telling anyone to stop speculating.