Duggars By the Dozen - General Discussion - Lucky 13

[Rescinded and Mended]

Good grief, Ben has lego hair exactly like Jim Bob's. :shock:

Is that Josiah next to Michelle? I try to not read too much into frozen appearances on camera, especially since pictures are often snapped while expressions are in transition, but Dear God, Josiah has a thousand yard stare on his face if ever I've seen one. Probably not helped by the fact that Jim Bob has a hand on his shoulders.

[JessaJessa]

Where is Marjorie? :think:

[Analytica49]

The official Duggar Facebook page also put up a video of Michelle skating backwards. The caption says, "Check this out. Our mom is so much fun! We had a blast skating together yesterday. Check it out. Her skills are mad! She out-skated the whole place…backwards! Jinger"

Does that mean they let Jinger use a computer and go on Facebook??

I'm a little late to comment, but after seeing that video I'm not at all impressed, even if Jinger is. Around where I live, almost everyone--children and adults--can skate like that. The only reason Jinger is blown away is that that idiot J-chelle never let her daughters learn to skate properly. Certainly she never let them have skating lessons. Just one more childhood activity that the J-Slaves missed out on.

[pamplemousse]

Where is Marjorie? :think:

I hope she's come to her senses and gotten herself far, far away from anything and anyone Duggar.

[Hikernana]

I just found this old video of out takes from when Hannah/Jackson were littles. I be she was pregnant with Jordyn in this one.

I have a whole new love for Hanny (Jackson is beginning to lose his spirit already)....

[Sheepgirl]

I hope the devoted fans are starting to see that the Duggars are not followers of Christ. They are in fact the wolves in sheep's clothing the Bible warns about. They've created an idol in themselves and the Almighty Dollar they worship. When you examine their "ministry", you see clearly that it is to promote themselves, aka "the Duggar brand", not God--but what's even worse is that they use God as a tool to promote themselves and take advantage of others. The Duggars take from the less fortunate and serve only themselves. They are masters of finding ways to scheme to grift and freeload, and they've made a career out of being completely focused on their appearance and maintaining the "perfect" image, all of which is completely contrary to the teachings of Jesus. I strongly object to the Duggars being held up as models in following Christ. The "Duggar" brand of so-called Christianity is nothing but a false religion of greed and narcissism.

[justbecause]

I hope the devoted fans are starting to see that the Duggars are not followers of Christ. They are in fact the wolves in sheep's clothing the Bible warns about. They've created an idol in themselves and the Almighty Dollar they worship. When you examine their "ministry", you see clearly that it is to promote themselves, aka "the Duggar brand", not God--but what's even worse is that they use God as a tool to promote themselves and take advantage of others. The Duggars take from the less fortunate and serve only themselves. They are masters of finding ways to scheme to grift and freeload, and they've made a career out of being completely focused on their appearance and maintaining the "perfect" image, all of which is completely contrary to the teachings of Jesus. I strongly object to the Duggars being held up as models in following Christ. The "Duggar" brand of so-called Christianity is nothing but a false religion of greed and narcissism.

B I N G O !

It infuriates me to the point of no end. Especially now after the show has been canceled. I guess that Jill and Dereck asked for donations too. It is unbelieveable. Such a negative reflection of Christ.

[2manyKidzzz]

I hope the devoted fans are starting to see that the Duggars are not followers of Christ. They are in fact the wolves in sheep's clothing the Bible warns about. They've created an idol in themselves and the Almighty Dollar they worship. When you examine their "ministry", you see clearly that it is to promote themselves, aka "the Duggar brand", not God--but what's even worse is that they use God as a tool to promote themselves and take advantage of others. The Duggars take from the less fortunate and serve only themselves. They are masters of finding ways to scheme to grift and freeload, and they've made a career out of being completely focused on their appearance and maintaining the "perfect" image, all of which is completely contrary to the teachings of Jesus. I strongly object to the Duggars being held up as models in following Christ. The "Duggar" brand of so-called Christianity is nothing but a false religion of greed and narcissism.

This is an excellent summary. And their twisted view of the "forgiveness" of God, led so many people to look at them and they were hiding Josh's action and deceiving their viewers and Josh was deceiving the people, crazy as they might be, that he worked for. All a big lie.

Having endless children is insane. To think Meechelle got pregnant again after Josie.....she and Josie almost died. Was God going to come down and take care of the 19 children if she had died in a subsequent pregnancy? Oooppss....Oh, I forgot, Jana, Jill, Jessa, Jinger and Joy would have taken care of the children.

There are millions of sincere Christians without 19 kids and a TV show spreading their faith. Better than the Duggies.

[formergothardite]

I just found this old video of out takes from when Hannah/Jackson were littles. I be she was pregnant with Jordyn in this one.

What a difference between this and the very first special where all she had to do is whisper and the kid stopped crying.

[MichellesCrunchyHair]

Doesn't Ben know that Justin Bieber's old haircut is no longer in?

ETA- aren't you not supposed to be on a trampoline when you're really pregnant? Hope Jessa didn't go on.

Ben sure does have quite a lot of Aussie! He's learned from the best.

My understanding is that trampolining while pregnant isn't really the best idea... there's of course the risk of falling off, and all that bouncing up and down isn't the greatest. It's not so bad if you really bend deeply into your knees to minimize the bounce. Still though - definitely risky.

[SassyPants]

Poor Jenny. She always looks unhappy.

[Cochise]

Since we sometimes talk about the Duggars' finances and their prospects for future money-making ventures, I thought I'd look some stuff up on amazon, which gives you an idea of how well books have sold.

I should say at the outset that I imagine the Duggars had experienced co-authors who helped them write their books.

Just as a reference point, I have an old friend who has had a best seller on the New York Times Book Review list for over a year. According to amazon, among all the books they've sold, it comes in as #29--there are 28 books that have sold better than it has, in the course of amazon's business. (Now, that's the kind of book that leaves a person rolling in dough. And he's a great guy, too.)

Here's how the Duggars' books have sold:

"The Duggars: 20 Kids and Counting" or whatever it is is #67,319 in books sold overall.

It's #65 in the "Books/Christian books and Bibles/Education/Homeschooling" category.

"The Duggars: A Love that Multiplies, Even If Our Kids Can't" is #54,869 in books sold overall.

It's #51 in the category of "Books/Christian books and Bibles/Education/Homeschooling." So it may have sold better than the first book among people who buy Christian books about education and homeschooling. It must have sold worse in other areas.

Here's the surprise, at least to me: the girls' book had better sales. Oh I bed Jim Bob was just THRILLED about that.

"Growing Up Duggar" is #15,457 among books sold overall. That's MILES better than their parents' books.

In the category of "Books/Christian books and Bibles/Education/Homeschooling" their book is #11.

Take THAT sock on the chops, Jim Bob and Michelle. A lot more people wanted to read about your daughters than about you. And their book has only been on the market for a year; the parents' first book has been on sale for 7 years, and their second book has been selling for 3. "Growing Up Duggar" came out last year. Yet the girls' book just whacked Mom and Dad.

There are any number of things this might lead us to think, but just a couple occur to me:

--After two books, Jim Bob and Michelle have nothing new to say unless they explain why people have treated Joshie badly and how they did the right things. No publisher would touch that, for all sorts of reasons. Jim Bob and Michelle can try writing and self-publishing, in which case we'll have a really good idea if they can write standard English. There was a market for their books among people who did homeschooling, not among people who like to watch creeps rationalize. No shows, no books, no nutthin'.

--Jim Bob and Michelle probably have come up with a million explanations and rationalizations blaming it on other people, 'cause that's what they do, but the bottom line is that readers want to read about the girls WAY more than they want to read about JB and wife. But from what I can gather, the parents' books were all about how to raise kids and how wonderful they are for raising their big family so successfully.

Yet people want to read what the girls have to say a lot more. How does THAT fit into his idea of headship?

--TLC's a business and is interested in making a profit. When a company like that realizes that some cast members are much more popular than the supposed stars--in this case, JB and Michelle--they change their strategy. They focus a lot more on the more popular cast members. So the specials about gender reveals, wedding, girls girls girls, become the focus. And Michelle can't join in on the fun. She's not exactly good friends with the girls, and the only way she knows how to react is to compete and try to win. So she and Jim Bob renewed their wedding vows, or whatever, and I betcha that the viewing figures were WAY down compared to the views of the shows focusing on the girls. And she can't seem to get pregnant, do a gender reveal, give birth, and have the whole crew around her worshiping; she can't compete. That ship has sailed.

--If Jim Bob squelched episodes just about the girl since they wouldn't involve the pariahs, Jim Bob, Michelle, and Josh, that's because he's an angry, jealous little pissant. Not that that's news.

--Michelle is unlikely to be acting like a loving, supportive grandma.

When there are kids in the double digits and two overbearing, authoritative parents who go sour on some of the siblings, the other relatives take sides and a family fractures. There may not be big bond between the boys younger than Josh and their sisters, but the show got cancelled and the speaking engagements died and some of the boys are big enough to know why. When you're a little kid you think Daddy's wonderful because you've got no comparison, and in their case, lots of vacations and good stuff came their way. It's gone. If some of the older boys feel trapped and realize what's happened and how their parents weaseled around protecting the never very likable Josh, there are likely to be some splits and some defections.

Sorry for the long post. But I realized that if Jim Bob shat on the girls' show, it's probably not the first time he's been a jealous two-year-old towards them.

[calimojo]

Everyone has been making really good points on this thread. My observation is a bit more superficial.

I just personally find it odd that Jessa and Ben are literally always with the family. In every picture, they are there, except in the goodbye video with Jill. But they are there. I think they truly have no independent life at all.

I think they just married because they wanted sex, but she never really wanted to leave her family. In my experience, newlyweds, tend to want some alone time. But I don't see that with these two

[Cochise]

Everyone has been making really good points on this thread. My observation is a bit more superficial.

I just personally find it odd that Jessa and Ben are literally always with the family. In every picture, they are there, except in the goodbye video with Jill. But they are there. I think they truly have no independent life at all.

I think they just married because they wanted sex, but she never really wanted to leave her family. In my experience, newlyweds, tend to want some alone time. But I don't see that with these two

It must have been a huge transition: she's in the Duggar house, there's no space you can call your own, the noise is constant, there are lots of demands on your time, and you're getting ready for this big, televised wedding, so the cameras are always running and, since it's your wedding, of course the rest of the family is there, but by default you (and to a lesser degree your husband) are the star. Honeymoon excitement, sex, return home . . . to a quiet house. She's never lived in a quiet house. Maybe she loves it and puts music on and plants herbs; I would. Maybe she feels kind of unmoored and has no idea what normal wives do. Maybe Jim Bob calls them and tells them to come over for a photo and they do, but she doesn't have to stand near Josh.

What's it like to be a young married Duggar daughter?

Jessa thinks that a recipe for a pretzel cheesecake is worth sharing, and she gets all dressed up to make it. Why was that such a gift to the world? I should probably make it; maybe it's great. But the emphasis seemed to be on how easy it was. I'd love to see a Duggar woman make something that took some time and patience and was really worth all the effort, rather than do a quick and easy task so she can . . . what?

A from-scratch recipe is probably not something you'd make if you had 15 kids, but for a young childless married woman, taking some pride in her cooking and realizing she can cook something from scratch that was really rewarding could be pretty pleasant for her and her husband. I don't think Michelle is capable of that; it would be nice if the daughters decided to take some small steps towards being more accomplished than Michelle, who can only take pride in her cast iron uterus.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

I posted this in WWoS but will post it here:

I just saw that Duggar friend, Tim White, Franicia's husband, is the commander of that naval center in chatanooga where five servicemen were killed. He was there that day AND he returned fire on the shooter! He is ok. The seewalds just posted it on Instagram and then @timandfranicia did too. They are Duggar friends, been to their house many times, and they're most well known for naming their daughter Heistheway, pronounced Hi's the way.

[Callipygian]

I went to the mall and popped into the Hallmark store yesterday. On their clearance shelves, carefully hidden behind other stuff, was a stack of at least 8 copies of their 20 and Counting book. The price? $2. :lol:

[LovelyLuna]

I would have bought it on a whim and It would have made my day. I have yet to snark on their books. I need to start looking for them in thrift stores.

[ShepherdontheRock]

I would have bought it on a whim and It would have made my day. I have yet to snark on their books. I need to start looking for them in thrift stores.

I think Amazon.com is selling them used. I've seen them advertised "from $0.01." Yeesh. I guess Amazon's not quick to make a cheap buck off these people either.

But what I think is both funny and sad at the same time: the 3rd result when I typed in "used duggar" was bar coasters. The 4th was Jaycee Dugard's memoir "A Stolen Life." And that just made me very sad, thinking about how much the lives of Jaycee and the JSlaves have in common.

[justbecause]

Ben sure does have quite a lot of Aussie! He's learned from the best.

My understanding is that trampolining while pregnant isn't really the best idea... there's of course the risk of falling off, and all that bouncing up and down isn't the greatest. It's not so bad if you really bend deeply into your knees to minimize the bounce. Still though - definitely risky.

If you think about it, if Jessa follows in her mom's footsteps she will pretty much be pregnant for the rest of her life, so maybe they just live life whether they are pregnant or not in a perpetual state of possible pregnancy or even like they are not pregnant. I mean seeing her mom pregnant every year, must take most of the newness of 'whatever' out of the experience and it's not like they get special attention (like a big deal is made out of it) I think it's like 'no big deal' type of thing.

[justbecause]

Since we sometimes talk about the Duggars' finances and their prospects for future money-making ventures, I thought I'd look some stuff up on amazon, which gives you an idea of how well books have sold.

I should say at the outset that I imagine the Duggars had experienced co-authors who helped them write their books.

Just as a reference point, I have an old friend who has had a best seller on the New York Times Book Review list for over a year. According to amazon, among all the books they've sold, it comes in as #29--there are 28 books that have sold better than it has, in the course of amazon's business. (Now, that's the kind of book that leaves a person rolling in dough. And he's a great guy, too.)

Here's how the Duggars' books have sold:

"The Duggars: 20 Kids and Counting" or whatever it is is #67,319 in books sold overall.

It's #65 in the "Books/Christian books and Bibles/Education/Homeschooling" category.

"The Duggars: A Love that Multiplies, Even If Our Kids Can't" is #54,869 in books sold overall.

It's #51 in the category of "Books/Christian books and Bibles/Education/Homeschooling." So it may have sold better than the first book among people who buy Christian books about education and homeschooling. It must have sold worse in other areas.

Here's the surprise, at least to me: the girls' book had better sales. Oh I bed Jim Bob was just THRILLED about that.

"Growing Up Duggar" is #15,457 among books sold overall. That's MILES better than their parents' books.

In the category of "Books/Christian books and Bibles/Education/Homeschooling" their book is #11.

Take THAT sock on the chops, Jim Bob and Michelle. A lot more people wanted to read about your daughters than about you. And their book has only been on the market for a year; the parents' first book has been on sale for 7 years, and their second book has been selling for 3. "Growing Up Duggar" came out last year. Yet the girls' book just whacked Mom and Dad.

There are any number of things this might lead us to think, but just a couple occur to me:

--After two books, Jim Bob and Michelle have nothing new to say unless they explain why people have treated Joshie badly and how they did the right things. No publisher would touch that, for all sorts of reasons. Jim Bob and Michelle can try writing and self-publishing, in which case we'll have a really good idea if they can write standard English. There was a market for their books among people who did homeschooling, not among people who like to watch creeps rationalize. No shows, no books, no nutthin'.

--Jim Bob and Michelle probably have come up with a million explanations and rationalizations blaming it on other people, 'cause that's what they do, but the bottom line is that readers want to read about the girls WAY more than they want to read about JB and wife. But from what I can gather, the parents' books were all about how to raise kids and how wonderful they are for raising their big family so successfully.

Yet people want to read what the girls have to say a lot more. How does THAT fit into his idea of headship?

--TLC's a business and is interested in making a profit. When a company like that realizes that some cast members are much more popular than the supposed stars--in this case, JB and Michelle--they change their strategy. They focus a lot more on the more popular cast members. So the specials about gender reveals, wedding, girls girls girls, become the focus. And Michelle can't join in on the fun. She's not exactly good friends with the girls, and the only way she knows how to react is to compete and try to win. So she and Jim Bob renewed their wedding vows, or whatever, and I betcha that the viewing figures were WAY down compared to the views of the shows focusing on the girls. And she can't seem to get pregnant, do a gender reveal, give birth, and have the whole crew around her worshiping; she can't compete. That ship has sailed.

--If Jim Bob squelched episodes just about the girl since they wouldn't involve the pariahs, Jim Bob, Michelle, and Josh, that's because he's an angry, jealous little pissant. Not that that's news.

--Michelle is unlikely to be acting like a loving, supportive grandma.

When there are kids in the double digits and two overbearing, authoritative parents who go sour on some of the siblings, the other relatives take sides and a family fractures. There may not be big bond between the boys younger than Josh and their sisters, but the show got cancelled and the speaking engagements died and some of the boys are big enough to know why. When you're a little kid you think Daddy's wonderful because you've got no comparison, and in their case, lots of vacations and good stuff came their way. It's gone. If some of the older boys feel trapped and realize what's happened and how their parents weaseled around protecting the never very likable Josh, there are likely to be some splits and some defections.

Sorry for the long post. But I realized that if Jim Bob shat on the girls' show, it's probably not the first time he's been a jealous two-year-old towards them.

Very interesting point of view, particularly about the book sales since you know someone who makes profits and know what kind of revenue their books may have created.

Reading this has me again thinking 'where is the money?' because if the 'girls' wrote the book, where are the profits from that and 'whose' bank account has said profits. We can actually see now two of the girls married, mothers and on their own, but they are living in dad's house/s (or until missions trips) and seem to not be able to build anything (ie.. financially, like start a small business, or invest in eduction, ect), so

who got the profits from the girls book?

Who got the profits from the show that each child actually starred in as characters?

It is such an odd thing. They have these revenue sources (past or present or both) but yet their are 'donation' buttons on newsletters and Facebook and for 'Duggar Entertainment' video production. This is really, really crazy from a financial point of view. Jim Boob is like a deranged control freak who has controlled financially this family like a cult.

I wish someone would do an article that knows how to check finances and donations and revenue streams and open bank records and these 'corporations' that have all been started. I bet that this is a crazy ride and pretty damn illegal (just my point of view because their such shiesters).

I find the finances almost more fascinating then the people, because besides cults, I have never seen so much control in one person's hands of EVERY facet of people's lives. Then add the airplane and the non-profit 'missions' that Jill and Deryk registered and this is like some fictional novel of crazy.

[justbecause]

This is an interesting point.

Maybe their 'claim to fame' has always been this 'frugalness' and they know that's their brand or maybe they just don't even think like us at all (I really believe that they could be so limited to what they feel that they can do psychologically).

It would make sense to 'us' that they may want to go to Barnes and Noble and buy some books to learn to do new things. That's what I would do. Maybe container gardening or herb gardening or painting old furniture or interior decorating, watercolor painting, whatever, like a hobby. But it would seem that they do not choose to or for some reason stay close to the 'Duggar' jello mold.

Can you imagine though if they did something that 'upstaged' J'Chelle? I wonder how that would go down? I don't think any betterment of the children over their parents would go down well because that would set a precedent and the littles would see that and 'Holy Batman!' that would trickle like a river flowing into the sea.

Like for instance (taking from one of your examples) let's say Jessa made a dinner of homemade Pork Fried Rice and took a big bowl over to the house for everyone to try, how do you think they would react? (mainly J Boob and J'chelle)

What do you guys think?

I think (starting the point of view off) that they would be seen as non-frugal and although nice, not something encouraged for her to do again.

[SassyPants]

Very interesting point of view, particularly about the book sales since you know someone who makes profits and know what kind of revenue their books may have created.

Reading this has me again thinking 'where is the money?' because if the 'girls' wrote the book, where are the profits from that and 'whose' bank account has said profits. We can actually see now two of the girls married, mothers and on their own, but they are living in dad's house/s (or until missions trips) and seem to not be able to build anything (ie.. financially, like start a small business, or invest in eduction, ect), so

who got the profits from the girls book?

Who got the profits from the show that each child actually starred in as characters?

It is such an odd thing. They have these revenue sources (past or present or both) but yet their are 'donation' buttons on newsletters and Facebook and for 'Duggar Entertainment' video production. This is really, really crazy from a financial point of view. Jim Boob is like a deranged control freak who has controlled financially this family like a cult.

I wish someone would do an article that knows how to check finances and donations and revenue streams and open bank records and these 'corporations' that have all been started. I bet that this is a crazy ride and pretty damn illegal (just my point of view because their such shiesters).

I find the finances almost more fascinating then the people, because besides cults, I have never seen so much control in one person's hands of EVERY facet of people's lives. Then add the airplane and the non-profit 'missions' that Jill and Deryk registered and this is like some fictional novel of crazy.

The trillion dollar questions, that have never been answered.

It seems to me, if the girls had been paid individually [and Josh before he was employed in DC], one of those folks would have moved away from the compound....bought or rented their own place. Josh was renting in DC, so the Duggars are obviously not anti-renting.

As much as I think quitting WM was a dumb idea on Derick's part, at least he got his family unit away from JB Duggar. I hope the Dillards continue to live far away from JB and his soul sucking, controlling ideas. Hopefully once baby Seewald is on scene, the Seewalds will do the same.

[Cochise]

Wanting to stay on good terms with the parents might be an incentive to keep sweet and stay close to JB and M. On the other hand, someday one of them is going to have enough contact with the world outside to think "WTF? Other people's parents don't control every bit of their lives" or "WTF? Things were supposed to work out perfectly because they were great and godly, but then everything fell apart because of Josh and how they handled that" or "WTF? I've made friends with other people and their parents don't boss them around and tell them what to do and where they can live; they love their folks and their folks love them but they're FREE! Why can't I be?" or even "My parents royally SCREWED UP! They're controlling JERKS! They don't OWN me! Bye Mom! Bye Dad!"

[SassyPants]

OR WTF, I'm a 30 yo parent of multiple children and I had better start using the brain that my creator endowed me.

[calimojo]

JB and M have ensured that these kids will never fully grow up. They seem to be frozen at a developmental age of about 14. Able to do basic care for themselves, but not able to really be on their own. The thought processes are black and white, and their insight is minimal. They have been socialized to keep sweeter than most normal 14 year olds, but at the expense of masking their emotions with all kinds of weird legalistic guilt trips.

The kid's only hope is to escape, but at this point, there isn't much incentive since they have been living a pretty good life courtesy of JB and M's generosity.