Erika Shupe *grim rictus* Large Families on Purpose Part 4

[anjulibai]

15 hours ago, ViolaSebastian said:

From the comments on her article about being a "freak" for having a large number of children (and yes, Erika, you are a freak, but it has nothing to do with the number of kids you have...)

Maybe, just maybe, those large parties called ahead for reservations or even just a heads up, as is the norm when you're part of a large group.  Maybe they look frazzled because you're taking up not one, but two or perhaps three tables pushed together, and thus they must wait for three groups of diners to finish their meal while your kids make themselves at home in your shop.  Then, they have to wait for your brood to finish while they take up three times the space.  Also, speaking as someone who has worked as a server in the past, a party with a large number of children and a small number of adults means more work in the form of cleaning up crackers ground into the carpet and mopping up spilled drinks.  And, of course, all of those kiddie meals cost less, which means less of a tip at the end for all that work.  So it may be prejudice, but those distressed looks don't come from nowhere.

Or maybe most large parties consist of adults, who are more likely to spend more and leave a big tip, not a family witha  bunch of small children who will order off the cheaper kids meal and thus not leave as big of a tip. The work for each will be the same, but the pay-off will likely be much different for restaurant and waiter. Plus, 2 parents and 9 kids means there's likely going to be behavior issues, Ericka's utter control of her children not withstanding. 

If I were a waiter I'd totally freak out at the idea of a table with 9 kids. 

[JillyO]

8 hours ago, Heathen525 said:

The pics of the girls trying to be active in skirts (especially jean skirts) make me sad. Some girls love climbing in skirts and dresses, but fundies don't get much of a choice. Although Karen seemed like she was wearing pants, so I don't know the rules.

I don't think the Shupe kids have any work-out clothes. There aren't a ton of pictures from the Church Olympics, but it looks to me like almost all other kids wear sports clothes except for the Shupes. Taking into account that they barely ever leave the house about 10 months out of the year, I truly think they don't even have anything appropriate to wear. How sad is that?

[princessmahina]

It's a little strange to see Karen and Melanie in jeans. She mentioned her in skirts only post that all the girls have a pair or two of pants for bike riding and such.

And count me in as another person who thought the shoe rack was a good idea.

[nickelodeon]

Melanie's pink shirt is from Answers in Genesis/The Creation Museum, incidentally.

[Loki]

I copied this from Erica's church site.

Its interesting to read their unusual take on the concept of 'equality'. ......especially the part where they state that as well as submitting to her husband, women are not to teach men or have authority  over men in the church!!

 

"The Scriptures teach that men and women are equally created in God’s image, and in relation to salvation and spiritual position in Christ, both genders are equal. Although equal, men and women have distinct roles in the home and church as designed by God. In the home the man is to provide loving headship and servant leadership. He is responsible to love, nurture, and protect his wife and children, as well as provide for the physical needs of his household. The priority for the woman is within her home. She is to submit to her husband and work at home serving her family (it is recognized that singles and women without children in the home have unique freedom for employment and perhaps more extensive ministry). In the church, men and women are to use their spiritual gifts in ministering to the body according to biblical design. One notable limitation is that women are not to teach men or have authority over men in the church."

Also, we've talked about Erica's annoying use of 'desire' instead of 'want', but look, it's used in the church wording so I  expect she uses it to conform to church language......

"We desire that every ministry position be filled by a growing disciple who is equipped, called, burdenede that every ministry position be filled by a growing disciple who is equipped..........."

I noticed the same thing in my office. The boss would start using phrases like 'going forward' instead of just in future, or 'sea change' etc and all the ass lickers would copy them until these phrases unfortunately became standard usage!

[LovelyLuna]

My headship thinks that the shoe rack is an awesome idea, I tend to agree. Its a great way to stay organize and keep scorpions out of your shoes. Its just the context and the person that makes it funny to me. 

[sawasdee]

6 minutes ago, LovelyLuna said:

My headship thinks that the shoe rack is an awesome idea, I tend to agree. Its a great way to stay organize and keep scorpions out of your shoes. Its just the context and the person that makes it funny to me. 

Isn't it annoying when someone who irritates the hell out of you actually has a good idea?

[mango_fandango]

5 minutes ago, sawasdee said:

Isn't it annoying when someone who irritates the hell out of you actually has a good idea?

I agree. My main point was that it's so fucking Erika. 

Wonder what they did with Happy sleeping-wise? Where was he??

[princessmahina]

2 hours ago, sawasdee said:

Isn't it annoying when someone who irritates the hell out of you actually has a good idea?

It's kind of a "bitch eating crackers" situation for me. Sometimes it bugs me how many good ideas I've gotten from Erika's blog. Like the hair- I curl my hair most nights with the rag curlers (using a small bottle of bubble bath instead of a pencil for bigger curls), and it's the only thing I've found that makes my hair stay curled all day. 

She's abhorrent (and I would LOVE to see the way she spells that word), but she's brought some things to my attention that I've really liked- virtually none of which have been her own ideas, but still...

[apandaaries]

1 hour ago, princessmahina said:

It's kind of a "bitch eating crackers" situation for me. Sometimes it bugs me how many good ideas I've gotten from Erika's blog. Like the hair- I curl my hair most nights with the rag curlers (using a small bottle of bubble bath instead of a pencil for bigger curls), and it's the only thing I've found that makes my hair stay curled all day. 

She's abhorrent (and I would LOVE to see the way she spells that word), but she's brought some things to my attention that I've really liked- virtually none of which have been her own ideas, but still...

Agreed.  I tried her gingerbread cookies recipe, slightly modified, but it was great.  Bringing a shoe rack camping?  Takes up space while packing, but quite useful once camping.  It's a combination of "bitch eating crackers" plus even a stopped clock being right twice daily... Makes Erika one of the most fascinating fundies...

[nickelodeon]

1 hour ago, princessmahina said:

She's abhorrent (and I would LOVE to see the way she spells that word)

abhoarint? abortiont??

[picklepizzas]

they celebrated karen's 17th birthday! only one year left until she could break free! i wonder if she will, particularly after this tantalizing taste of sunshine and fresh air.  there is a world beyond that 1100 sq foot prison!

[iweartanktops]

10 minutes ago, picklepizzas said:

they celebrated karen's 17th birthday! only one year left until she could break free! i wonder if she will, particularly after this tantalizing taste of sunshine and fresh air.  there is a world beyond that 1100 sq foot prison!

I think I've said this before, but I think it would be great if her and Melanie were able to escape together. They could be talking about it now, and it might really help them get through tough days. Once they are both 18, perhaps they could run. I'm really hoping so. I have a soft spot for them. 

[Mango]

32 minutes ago, nickelodeon said:

abhoarint? abortiont??

abwhorent, defnitely.

[princessmahina]

3 minutes ago, Mango said:

abwhorent, defnitely.

Because whores who wear immodest clothes that reveal their crotches and shoulders are abwhorent.

-Definition from the non-exist fundie dictionary that someone totally needs to create.

[Paperplate]

19 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

<snip> And that photo of the kids is odd- those clothes look more Romanian than Norwegian, although I'm not au fait with Norwegian national dress. The names aren't that Scandinavian either... although, of course, they could be immigrants. </snip>

The father is Romanian, the mother is Norwegian. Some quick googling told me that apparently the whole Christian world is up in arms about this ...

[mango_fandango]

The likes are coming thick and fast on the LFOP FB page. She'll soon hit 10,000.

10,000 who like the page... some will be FJers, some will be people who genuinely like her stuff... weirdos

[JemimaPuddle-Duck]

4 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

The likes are coming thick and fast on the LFOP FB page. She'll soon hit 10,000.

10,000 who like the page... some will be FJers, some will be people who genuinely like her stuff... weirdos

You have no idea how frustrated I am by the number of friends who like that page. Ladies who are nothing like Erika. Maybe that's why? I'm hoping it's just for the organization ideas. 

[DaffyDill]

6 hours ago, picklepizzas said:

they celebrated karen's 17th birthday! only one year left until she could break free! i wonder if she will, particularly after this tantalizing taste of sunshine and fresh air.  there is a world beyond that 1100 sq foot prison!

I'm pretty sure Karen's 17th birthday was a few months ago in 2015. If you look at Erika's post, she's saying Facebook won't let her change the date of the album to 2015 instead of 2016. Karen is 18 this year IIRC.

Here's Karen's birthday - August 2015.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.943104615732640.1073741875.171658456210597&type=3

[refugee]

12 hours ago, Loki said:

I copied this from Erica's church site.

Its interesting to read their unusual take on the concept of 'equality'. ......especially the part where they state that as well as submitting to her husband, women are not to teach men or have authority  over men in the church!!

 

"The Scriptures teach that men and women are equally created in God’s image, and in relation to salvation and spiritual position in Christ, both genders are equal. Although equal, men and women have distinct roles in the home and church as designed by God. In the home the man is to provide loving headship and servant leadership. He is responsible to love, nurture, and protect his wife and children, as well as provide for the physical needs of his household. The priority for the woman is within her home. She is to submit to her husband and work at home serving her family (it is recognized that singles and women without children in the home have unique freedom for employment and perhaps more extensive ministry). In the church, men and women are to use their spiritual gifts in ministering to the body according to biblical design. One notable limitation is that women are not to teach men or have authority over men in the church."

This sounds an awful lot like it came out of boilerplate published by the Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, or John Piper, or someone like that.

[apandaaries]

they celebrated karen's 17th birthday! only one year left until she could break free! i wonder if she will, particularly after this tantalizing taste of sunshine and fresh air.  there is a world beyond that 1100 sq foot prison!

I'm pretty sure Karen's 17th birthday was a few months ago in 2015. If you look at Erika's post, she's saying Facebook won't let her change the date of the album to 2015 instead of 2016. Karen is 18 this year IIRC.

Here's Karen's birthday - August 2015.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.943104615732640.1073741875.171658456210597&type=3

The whole post seems dated by half a year. This side of the hemisphere, camping is a COLD proposition...

[JillyO]

5 hours ago, JemimaPuddle-Duck said:

You have no idea how frustrated I am by the number of friends who like that page. Ladies who are nothing like Erika. Maybe that's why? I'm hoping it's just for the organization ideas. 

I'm sure it is. I think a lot of people like her for her organization ideas and just kind of skip over the Christian blah blah. If you don't dig too deep and just focuse on the good ideas (and she has some good ideas, and is very good at collecting and putting into practice others' good ideas also), then I guess you might not notice all the red flags. I doubt that most of the people who like her page are anywhere close to her level of crazy/fundie.

[picklepizzas]

9 hours ago, DaffyDill said:

I'm pretty sure Karen's 17th birthday was a few months ago in 2015. If you look at Erika's post, she's saying Facebook won't let her change the date of the album to 2015 instead of 2016. Karen is 18 this year IIRC.

Here's Karen's birthday - August 2015.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.943104615732640.1073741875.171658456210597&type=3

Ahh thank you! This makes more sense! When I was flipping through those pictures I thought that Karen had _already_ turned 17, and was disappointed to find these pics suggesting she was farther from freedom than I thought. What a relief! 

[nellautumngirl]

The picture of Bob and Karen holding hands is sweet. I think she's his favorite. 

But I agree that Bob mostly looks resigned and kind of checked out, especially in pictures with Erika. I don't say that to be mean, I think he genuinely has a look of "Well, guess it's that for the rest of my life" in his eyes.

[THERetroGamerNY]

Okay... I just now braced myself to read this woman's blog for the first time. Made sure I had a damn fine cuppa Joe by my side and was mentally prepared...

Her use of those *grin* and other such texty emotes are indeed, as you all have said, THE most jarring thing I have ever read! It like stops me dead in the middle of the paragraph, and I get this ghastly mental image of this ultra-rigid, unemotional QF mom ... like a droid with breeder functionality built in ... and it knows all the proper muscles to move to produce said smile, but has no proper programming on how to do it naturally...

This is a mildly disturbing mental image, because it reminds me of the almost bi-polar spins of personality my mother would do. She would be busy beating the living shit out of one of us, the doorbell on the house would ring from - say - the postal delivery - and she would just abruptly stop the beating, put this happy smile on her face, walk to the door like nothing happened, answer it all brisk and chipper (like it was just a "beautiful day for the Lord, isn't it?" sort of attitude), put the mail package down on the table... and then it all just melted away in 1.3 seconds when her eyes flicked back to me...

That is what this woman's blog stirred up in me ... certainly not saying that she is like that ... but ...

I don't trust people who can flick-through emotions like that. It kinda unnerves me...