FamTeam Update

[MatthewDuggar]

And they are off on the yearly filming trip to NY on Monday.  No mention if the entire family is going, but I have a feeling several manboys will stay behind to keep the income flowing.  I hope Rick figures out that it's 2016 and he can post updates to his diary remotely.  Usually he waits until they are back home and backfills everything.

I'm betting on a few of the usual boring update:

- some sort of mishap/hiccup while driving there.

- a visit to a waterfall

- many new locations and concepts for VV shots

- not enough snow/too much snow

- constant updates as to what the "left behind" manboys are doing

- The Lord speaking to Rick in a multitude of "natural" settings

- Cathy as Wonder Woman single-handedly keeping them all fed and in clean underpants while smiling and humming in her angelic-lip-glossiness.

- Wizzy having a good time despite she's the only girl

[OodOnTheLoo]

I can't seem to find the offsprings ages on their site anymore.  You used to be able to click on their main photo and get the name and birth year.   Is it possible they don't want people knowing how many thirty-something's they have? 

And did anyone catch Seth's op-Ed piece on Sanders?   I wanted to look up his age as my eleven year old forms better arguments.

[Elegant Mess]

44 minutes ago, OodOnTheLoo said:

I can't seem to find the offsprings ages on their site anymore.  You used to be able to click on their main photo and get the name and birth year.   Is it possible they don't want people knowing how many thirty-something's they have? 

 

Yeah, they've gone silent on all of the ages.  It's been that way for the last few years.

Thanks to the Wayback Machine, however, you can still get that info.  Seth turned 24 this past December.

[salex]

http://www.famteam.com/newfamilyprofiles.html takes you to an old page with all their birthdates and info listed from several years ago.

 

Can the mods put a screenshot of this in the SOTDRT since it is a question that pops up from time to time AND is getting harder to find?

[quiversR4hunting]

57 minutes ago, salex said:

http://www.famteam.com/newfamilyprofiles.html takes you to an old page with all their birthdates and info listed from several years ago.

 

Can the mods put a screenshot of this in the SOTDRT since it is a question that pops up from time to time AND is getting harder to find?

Thanks @Salex!

Why do they all have hyphenated names? (Rhetorical question because I am sure we all don't know for sure)*. Seriously, each person has 3 names. And it's not like the names were Jim Bob or Bobby Jo or Mary Anne or Mary Jo or John Paul or BIlly Joe, etc. And then some of the kids have the same middle name or 2nd name as another sibling. So weird!

*I am aware this was probably discussed before in a long buried thread. I was too lazy today to go look for it.

[nausicaa]

Wow, Cathy was only 18 when they got married. I didn't know that. 

 

"Is a hit with kids wherever he goes, as he dispenses jokes, impersonations and tricks non-stop to anyone who will stop to listen."

Does anyone else think Mark sounds exhausting to be around?

 

"Her brothers have long ago pledged to accompany her on her first date, right alongside of Dad."

So all the siblings can experience their first date at the same time?

 

[HRM1216]

38 minutes ago, quiversR4hunting said:

Thanks @Salex!

Why do they all have hyphenated names? (Rhetorical question because I am sure we all don't know for sure)*. Seriously, each person has 3 names. And it's not like the names were Jim Bob or Bobby Jo or Mary Anne or Mary Jo or John Paul or BIlly Joe, etc. And then some of the kids have the same middle name or 2nd name as another sibling. So weird!

*I am aware this was probably discussed before in a long buried thread. I was too lazy today to go look for it.

This part bothered me more than the hyphenated names. Which are crappy enough anyways since they're not hyphenated names that make sense. Ugh. 

[gustava]

1 hour ago, nausicaa said:

So all the siblings can experience their first date at the same time?

[SolomonFundy]

1 hour ago, nausicaa said:

Wow, Cathy was only 18 when they got married. I didn't know that. 

 

"Is a hit with kids wherever he goes, as he dispenses jokes, impersonations and tricks non-stop to anyone who will stop to listen."

Does anyone else think Mark sounds exhausting to be around?

 

"Her brothers have long ago pledged to accompany her on her first date, right alongside of Dad."

So all the siblings can experience their first date at the same time?

 

Oh, God. I just got a horrific mental image of the course of Wizzy's life, should she actually ever go on this mythical date. All of them with her on a date; then the whole family crouched behind a shrub as she accepts an engagement ring. Further along, they are all in an adjoining hotel room when she goes on her honeymoon. Later, the whole gaggle of them hover around her in a hospital room as she gives birth to the first and only grandchild. 

 

[OodOnTheLoo]

1 hour ago, SolomonFundy said:

Oh, God. I just got a horrific mental image of the course of Wizzy's life, should she actually ever go on this mythical date. All of them with her on a date; then the whole family crouched behind a shrub as she accepts an engagement ring. Further along, they are all in an adjoining hotel room when she goes on her honeymoon. Later, the whole gaggle of them hover around her in a hospital room as she gives birth to the first and only grandchild. 

 

You are definitely not alone in getting a clear picture what Wizzies life will look like should she date, let alone marry.  The level of enmeshment in this family is staggering.  What happens when Mom and Dad pass?  It's always kind of curious when it's a pair of siblings that live together their whole lives but how many of these guys are going to spend their whole lives in bunk beds?  

I kind of breaks my heart because even with the super conservative and Fundie thinking these seem like genuinely good guys who want and deserve a wife, family, and their own lives.

How many kids left under 18?  Two?

[nausicaa]

12 minutes ago, OodOnTheLoo said:

You are definitely not alone in getting a clear picture what Wizzies life will look like should she date, let alone marry.  The level of enmeshment in this family is staggering.  What happens when Mom and Dad pass?  It's always kind of curious when it's a pair of siblings that live together their whole lives but how many of these guys are going to spend their whole lives in bunk beds?  

I kind of breaks my heart because even with the super conservative and Fundie thinking these seem like genuinely good guys who want and deserve a wife, family, and their own lives.

How many kids left under 18?  Two?

One turns 18 this summer, the penultimate Manboy is turning 16 and the youngest is 13. So yeah, no little kids left and shortly there will only be two who are minors. I'm curious as to how Cathy will deal. Not that her life really changes at all once they become adults.

[gustava]

I don't know that we should label them as fundies.  I think they are in a category all of their own.

Intellectually, I understand the other fundies we snark on, even though I disagree with their beliefs.

The Arndts, however, are their own special brand of craycray.

[socalrules]

How would wizzy even meet someone to date? Does she even leave the house? At least the boys are allowed to work as court reporters. Will Wizzy? For some reason I think she will be kept at home to take care of her brothers for the rest of her life. If they were going to start allowing people to date, why would they start with the only girl? Pick a random boy, it isn't as though they don't have replacements should he decide to run off for a life of his own. 

[JenniferJuniper]

4 hours ago, gustava said:

I don't know that we should label them as fundies.  I think they are in a category all of their own.

Intellectually, I understand the other fundies we snark on, even though I disagree with their beliefs.

The Arndts, however, are their own special brand of craycray.

And aside from their declining softball "classics" and feeble website with it's Breitbart News links, they don't do much to spread their special brand of crazy.  Aside from the businesses, they don't do much of anything outside of the family unit.  The only time you see or hear any of them doing good works is when we get glimpses of Cathy's Vine Valley character hauling around her Little Red Riding basket to deliver a few food items to the elderly.  The Arndts themselves do nothing for the less fortunate. Rick's ministry is focused only on Rick and his odd personal relationship with Christ.  

But trousers and shorts for women and less rigid gender roles aside,  I would still consider them fundie.  Isolated homeschooling, courtship (or more accurately in their case, "waiting on God's best"), belief that the End Times will be here any minute now, adult children, all at home, required to work only for family businesses.  In many ways, I find the world of the Arndts more frightening than those of the more obviously snarkable fundies.  I hope I'm wrong, but I sense a current of tension in that family that could get ugly quickly.  

[Ursula]

Using the great link provided by salex, (and because I'm bored - read, trying to put off putting away the clean laundry) here's a list of the Arndt's birthdays followed by their current ages in brackets:

 

DICK Arndt, April 1st 1956 (59)

Cathy Arndt, January 21st 1960 (56)

 

Paul-Matthew Joseph Arndt, September 13th 1980 (35)

John-Andrew Michael Arndt, April 2nd 1982 (33)

Mark-David Timothy Arndt, July 29th 1983 (32)

Luke-Joseph Peter Arndt, February 8th 1985 (31)

Jude-Peter Matthew Arndt, March 23rd 1987 (28)

James-Michael Philip Arndt, September 19th 1988 (27)

Philip-Thomas Luke Arndt, May 15th 1990 (25)

Seth-Benjamin Mark Arndt, December 25th 1991 (24)

Jacob-Timothy John Arndt, August 27th 1993 (22)

Nathan-Stephen Paul Arndt, April 16th 1995 (20)

Mary-Elizabeth Anne Arndt, January 5th 1997 (19)

Caleb-Nicholas David Arndt, November 1st 1998 (17)

Peter-John Benjamin Arndt, July 26th 2000 (15)

David-Paul Andrew Arndt, January 21st 2003 (13)

 

A couple of observations:  They ran out of names and started the repeat trend by their FOURTH CHILD.  Every MALE that was still under 14 at the time of that posting had the year listed as to when they'd be eligible to join the family softball team.  M-E did not (though to be fair she has been pictured playing with the team, I think.  She wears the same uniform as them so hopefully they let her play if she wants to and she's not just their towel girl or something)

Big mile stone birthdays this year: DICK turning the big 6-0 (and still grandchildless despite having four sons in their 30s), Caleb becoming a legal adult in November leaving only two minors left in the family, youngest becoming a teenager (but still one year away from being able to join the softball team)

I suppose there's still two, possibly three, more boys being home fooled if Caleb hasn't graduated yet.  I'd imagine he would finish this summer if he hasn't already.  Then there will be only two boys left.  I do wonder if, in five years time, when NOTHING has changed other than DICK and Cathy having children ages 40, 38, 37, 36, 33, 32, 30, 29, 27, 25, 24, 22, 20 and 18 years  of age all still living at home, they'll finally take a good hard look in the mirror, realize all their kids are now legal adults and ask themselves "what the fuck have we done" but I doubt it.  Safe at home safe at home!

To think that about 10 years ago when their Kids by the Dozen episode aired I didn't think it was that odd that the older boys (I believe the oldest was 26 at the time) still lived at home because they were working and I just assumed hey, good way to save money and build a nest egg before moving out on your own and starting your own family away from your parents and many siblings.  It didn't seem that odd back then.  BUT NOW

 

W

T

F

 

Still, as weird as you guys are, Luke baby, call me!  I'm vehemently pro-choice but you can't knock me up anyway - I've already been sterilized   Plus I doubt you'll know what to do....you need a teacher, and I'm willing

[SolomonFundy]

2 hours ago, socalrules said:

How would wizzy even meet someone to date? Does she even leave the house? At least the boys are allowed to work as court reporters. Will Wizzy? For some reason I think she will be kept at home to take care of her brothers for the rest of her life. If they were going to start allowing people to date, why would they start with the only girl? Pick a random boy, it isn't as though they don't have replacements should he decide to run off for a life of his own. 

It's a valid point, and one we won't know the truth of until the End of Days, when one of them actually DOES manage to find a partner. I personally think that Wizzy may get to break out before the others simply because she is a female. It seems that Cathy is hugely instrumental in the perpetuation of the Forever Child thing with the "boys", but by contrast, Mary-Elizabeth has been allowed to grow up a bit more. Wizzy has lots of privileges the others don't by virtue of being the only girl, including the great benefit of PRIVACY. She's literally the only person in the entire house that has their own bedroom. That would put her in the enviable position of being able to cultivate some sense of individuality and self in a way that the others couldn't. In contrast, the man-boys are stacked like cordwood in a few bedrooms, and are treated exactly the same regardless of age; 35-year olds share bunk beds with 13-year olds, and everyone plays with Legos. 

The way that I see it, Cathy probably doesn't feel quite the same sense of possession with Wizzy that she does with her tribe of boys. The boys will never be allowed to be treated as equals with Rick, but Wizzy seems to be granted the same deference that Cathy has within the household. This distinction may result in the family supporting her desire to socialize with males, and even get married at some point since she isn't really one of the Band of Brothers. 

Many of the FJ's here have pet theories about who will leave first, and what would have to happen for that to take place. Others have theories about the unlikelihood of things changing (for instance, if the eldest reaches the age of 40 without a courtship, none of the others will ever get out, or if the youngest reaches the age of 18 without a departure in the family, none will ever leave, etc.). My personal pet theory has always centered around Wizzy. I think that IF she enters into a serious relationship/courtship, even if it doesn't result in marriage, some of the others will quickly follow suit. 

On a side note, it's always interested me that the Arndts have kept that "accompany her on her first date" blurb up for so long on the website. The use of the word "date" instead of "courtship" or similar is what's interesting about it to me. 

[Handmaiden of Dog]

That list of names is like the basis for a dystopian novel set in the future when civilization has fallen and a small tribe bases their entire culture around a fragment of paper-- a telephone directory that only has 20 names listed.  Each child must be named using a combination of those names, so every boy in the tribe is named something like Paul-Luke Matthew or John-Michael James and every girl is named Elizabeth-Mary Ann or Mary-Ann Elizabeth.

[gustava]

My grandfather was the oldest of 17.  All had two, unique names.

[Screamapillar]

All of the boys share at least one name with one of their brothers. I nearly went cross eyed reading through that list to come to that conclusion.

[Suz8710]

@Ursula LOL at your last paragraph.  I can't imagine how the ones 25+ aren't just going nuts in that house (maybe they have?). It's interesting only a couple of them appear to have fb. I wish one, just one, would be the oversharer of the family on social media. There's gotta be a treasure trove of stories there.

 

[nokidsmom]

15 hours ago, Ursula said:

<snip>To think that about 10 years ago when their Kids by the Dozen episode aired I didn't think it was that odd that the older boys (I believe the oldest was 26 at the time) still lived at home because they were working and I just assumed hey, good way to save money and build a nest egg before moving out on your own and starting your own family away from your parents and many siblings.  It didn't seem that odd back then.  BUT NOW

W

T

F

 

Exactly, it looked so nice and still on an OK level back then, but seeing 8 men mid twenties to mid thirties still at home looks very, very odd even when you are not looking for any weirdness.   I suspect that might be the reason why the ages/birthdates are not on the site anymore.   There had to have been some reactions / questions from people.  

[refugee]

On 2/22/2016 at 11:43 AM, nausicaa said:

Wow, Cathy was only 18 when they got married. I didn't know that. 

 

"Is a hit with kids wherever he goes, as he dispenses jokes, impersonations and tricks non-stop to anyone who will stop to listen."

Does anyone else think Mark sounds exhausting to be around?

 

"Her brothers have long ago pledged to accompany her on her first date, right alongside of Dad."

So all the siblings can experience their first date at the same time?

 

:suppressing sudden image of a horde of people spilling out of a clown car:

[nokidsmom]

18 hours ago, socalrules said:

How would wizzy even meet someone to date? Does she even leave the house? At least the boys are allowed to work as court reporters. Will Wizzy? For some reason I think she will be kept at home to take care of her brothers for the rest of her life. If they were going to start allowing people to date, why would they start with the only girl? Pick a random boy, it isn't as though they don't have replacements should he decide to run off for a life of his own. 

This is my feeling about Wizzy.   I think she helps Cathy take care of Rick and the manboys but as Cathy ages, no doubt she will rely more and more on Wizzy if she is not already.   Sure, Cathy looks good and healthy, she doesn't seem to be slowing down but no doubt she welcomed having her daughter take on some household responsibilities as she grew up.  Right now it's a convenience to have additional help in the form of Wizzy but eventually it will become a need and thus be much harder for Wizzy to up and marry, leaving the family without some of their household help.   

The more I think about it, I think the reason why none have left home is all those kids are brainwashed into sticking around and helping support their parents.   Several of the manboys are given the keys to unlock themselves out of their prison allowed to leave the family home and yet return.  They obviously give of their wages, efforts and time to keep the household going at a time they should be using those things to forge their own lives.  They have been programmed to put Mom and Dad's needs ahead of their own, a hallmark of an enmeshed family. 

Even if a manboy found someone to marry, how many women, especially ones who are closer in age to the older manboys, be willing to play second fiddle to Mom and Dad?

 

[JenniferJuniper]

I'm not so sure it's all or even mostly Cathy's doing.  I came across this very old (2002) diary entry from Rick around the time they were building the new house.

Quote

I see the land as a God-given location in which this full team of boys and young men (as well as Mary-Elizabeth) can live out their lives together, building themselves, by the power of the Holy Spirit, into the individuals whom God has created them to become, in every dimension 

My bold, but it's creepy to think the oldest was only about 21 at the time he posted this, yet he was thinking already about them living the entire rest of their lives together on the homestead.

I'm not sure what to make of the fact that Mary is in parentheses. 

[gustava]

43 minutes ago, JenniferJuniper said:

I'm not so sure it's all or even mostly Cathy's doing.  I came across this very old (2002) diary entry from Rick around the time they were building the new house.

My bold, but it's creepy to think the oldest was only about 21 at the time he posted this, yet he was thinking already about them living the entire rest of their lives together on the homestead.

I'm not sure what to make of the fact that Mary is in parentheses. 

The reason I think that Cathy is deeply complicit is the birthday photos of the kidult males in the parental bedroom with Cathy's hand across the stomach of the b'day boy.  Creepy.