Michael and Brandon Keilen- Part 2

[Seren Ann]

I wonder though if this isn't Kelly's way of trying to keep Michael busy with always a child around so she doesn't feel so alone and miserable about not getting pregnant... If you try to use Fundie logic, if it's a woman's calling to raise children and Michael can't fulfill it, wouldn't it help her feel better to always have a little sibling she loves to take care of ? I don't know, I don't feel like this is Kelly trying to get rid of her children, i think she's genuinely doing her best to support Michael the only way she knows how. 

Goodness knows she doesn't need to send her kids to Michael. There are still a few sister-moms at home to do the job, which I'm sure they are. If she wants to have a break all she needs to do is go off to another conference with Gil.

[faraway]

It's very possible that Michael wants the kids to visit her. Brandon is at work during the day and I'm sure she thought that by this point she would have her own baby. 

[Kak]

You guys are nicer than me. I think Callie is there because it suits Kelly, not for Callie's or Michael's benefit. 

[QuiverDance]

I really don't see anything wrong with Callie visiting her sister, but this is no normal family, and they use their daughters. I recognize the undertones.  I know that in my own family, which is pretty large, it is fairly commonplace for siblings or cousins to visit one another's homes for extended periods.  

[TuringMachine]

47 minutes ago, Kak said:

You guys are nicer than me. I think Callie is there because it suits Kelly, not for Callie's or Michael's benefit. 

I agree. We're talking about a woman who:

• Can't name her children in order
• Assigned her children to sister moms before they were even born
• Used Ezzo's methods on them
• Sent her daughters to Gothard knowing full well what he did to girls
• Was ok "borrowing" money from her teenaged son to pay bills

Hell we have a whole thread dedicated to what a bad mother she is: 

 

[VineHeart137]

1 hour ago, faraway said:

It's very possible that Michael wants the kids to visit her. Brandon is at work during the day and I'm sure she thought that by this point she would have her own baby. 

This is what I was thinking. I would not be surprised if Michael is lonely and asks to have her siblings stay with her. She seems to genuinely enjoy having them around. I remember an episode of BUB when she and Brandon were still courting, she was getting ready to go pick him up from the airport for a visit and she said to Gil that she was going to ask Kelly if she wanted Michael to take some of the little kids with her. Both Kelly and Gil were home, there was really no reason for her to take little kids with her to go meet her boyfriend, but it seemed like she genuinely wanted to do it. Nobody asked her to. (Of course, instead of Kelly saying "No, leave the kids, go enjoy some time with your boyfriend!" Michael ended up in a van full of her siblings. But she's still the one that offered.)

[jacduggar]

16 minutes ago, TuringMachine said:

I agree. We're talking about a woman who:

• Can't name her children in order
• Assigned her children to sister moms before they were even born
• Used Ezzo's methods on them
• Sent her daughters to Gothard knowing full well what he did to girls
• Was ok "borrowing" money from her teenaged son to pay bills

Hell we have a whole thread dedicated to what a bad mother she is: 

 

Eh. Callie has basically been like Michaels own daughter since the time she was born. I remember on BUB before she got married and moved how hard it was on both of them. I actually felt so sorry for Callie, it was probably like her mom leaving her. So, while I'm positive it's very beneficial for Kelly, I would be more likely to say that both Callie and Michael were more than happy at the extended stay. 

Its totally Kelly's fault that their relationship is even like that to begin with, and Kelly is an atrocious human (let alone "mother") but I bet Callie and Michael had a big say in this. 

[BeccaGrim]

On 3/3/2017 at 10:55 PM, trustworthy said:

Wow ... you had an actual sighting!  I'm kind of in awe. 

I'm thinking they visited Tennessee for I Love You Day, stayed a whole week, then as always, Kelly gave them a child to take back with them, and this time it was Callie.  Most likely they got a cheap flight from Tennessee through Durham.  The Bateses do this so often and it still confounds me -- every time one of the married kids visits the family either in Tennessee or Florida, they get a kid to take home.  Or, when they were going to visit Alyssa in FL for a shower, it somehow made perfect sense to Kelly to fly to Chicago first, and then fly with Michaela to Florida because Chicago is of course on the way to Florida from Tennessee.  And then in returning from Florida I'm pretty sure Michaela got to take Katie to Chicago for a visit.  Because that makes perfect sense.

 

How do they return the kids? Like Alyssa had Warden for a bit. How do they get the kids back home? Who comes to get them? This has always confounded me. 

[Carm_88]

3 hours ago, Kak said:

You guys are nicer than me. I think Callie is there because it suits Kelly, not for Callie's or Michael's benefit. 

I agree. Does Michael love Callie? Sure. Does she want to spend time with Callie? Sure. Does Callie want to spend time with Michael? Sure. 

Does Kelly not want to raise her own kids? Most definitely! 

[luxfilia]

I for one think it is both. Kelly probably enjoy "pawning off" her younger kids on her older kids. At the same time, I think Michael enjoys it.

[VineHeart137]

33 minutes ago, luxfilia said:

I for one think it is both. Kelly probably enjoy "pawning off" her younger kids on her older kids. At the same time, I think Michael enjoys it.

Oh yeah, I absolutely think it's both. Michael actually wants her siblings around and Kelly takes advantage.

[Karma]

All of this sending younger kids to stay with their sister moms is so much easier  when you home school.  If they were in the public school system getting a regular education it'd be much harder.

[JillyO]

15 hours ago, BeccaGrim said:

How do they return the kids? Like Alyssa had Warden for a bit. How do they get the kids back home? Who comes to get them? This has always confounded me. 

When Michael had all five of her underage brothers while Gil and Kelly were in Australia, she actually flew back with them to drop them off in Tennessee. I'm assuming she also picked them up in the first place. I actually travel quite a lot, but I still can't figure out how they of all people can afford all those trips.

[formergothardite]

44 minutes ago, JillyO said:

but I still can't figure out how they of all people can afford all those trips.

I wonder if they have figured out a way to get IBLP to pay for stuff like this.  Gil and Kelly have always lived a lifestyle that didn't seem to match up with their income. Even back when Lawson way buying them food and they wouldn't shell out money for insurance, they would take trips to Arizona or Gil and Kelly would go out and have date days(because the kids wanted to watch their siblings while Gil and Kelly had sweet fellowship* together).

Rachel Maddow when discussing Trump/Russia said that when things don't make sense on the surface, there is always a reason they do make sense if you dig deep enough, and I think this is the case here. Their lifestyle has never made sense on the surface, so something weird is going on. 

*actual quote

Quote

Gil took me to the Indiana Dunes State Park and the Holland Michigan State Park for a few nights of sweet fellowship together before picking up the girls and returning home.

The thing they were picking up the girls from was when Gothard paid for three Bates daughters to travel with him to Romania. It was Alyssa, Erin, and Tori who were invited by Gothard, not Michael. I guess Michael had to watch all the kids while Gil and Kelly had sweet fellowship. 

[fluffernutter]

3 hours ago, Karma said:

All of this sending younger kids to stay with their sister moms is so much easier  when you home school.  If they were in the public school system getting a regular education it'd be much harder.

I wonder if the kids get sent with their schoolwork and there is an expectation to do it when they go on these extended visits? 

[missegeno]

She said she thought she should go to the doctor to see if there are complications.
Brandon said they should leave it in God's hands.
 

When was this? I only saw the bit from January where she said they had to wait a while to go to the doctor and he said god is saying not right now. Did they address the fertility issue again?

[TuringMachine]

4 hours ago, formergothardite said:

The thing they were picking up the girls from was when Gothard paid for three Bates daughters to travel with him to Romania. It was Alyssa, Erin, and Tori who were invited by Gothard, not Michael. I guess Michael had to watch all the kids while Gil and Kelly had sweet fellowship. 

This makes me nauseous.

I guess when you believe it's the girls fault they were assaulted there's no problem sending your good kids off with Gothard.

[lumpentheologie]

3 hours ago, fluffernutter said:

I wonder if the kids get sent with their schoolwork and there is an expectation to do it when they go on these extended visits? 

This assumes that there's actual schoolwork being done with these kids.  I bet it's very touch and go with schooling now that Tori is courting and all girls older than her are gone. 

[Pasta]

They sent three girls with the pervert? That's terrifying. 

[CrazyMumma]

8 hours ago, lumpentheologie said:

This assumes that there's actual schoolwork being done with these kids.  I bet it's very touch and go with schooling now that Tori is courting and all girls older than her are gone. 

I would definitely assume that the kids are taking school work with them. My mum definitely sent school work with my little siblings when they went to visit our married sister

[LawsonBatesEgo]

I agree that it is both.

I think Michael genuinely enjoys having her little siblings around and Kelly enjoys having less of her own children to 'deal with', so is more than happy to ship them off to Michael's and doesn't raise a protest when Michael offers to take them. 

If Brandon is working outside the home while Michael isn't, she is probably feeling a bit lonely/bored, so it makes sense she'd be thrilled to have Callie come and stay for a few days. 

[formergothardite]

11 hours ago, Pasta said:

They sent three girls with the pervert? That's terrifying. 

Yes, multiple times.

[lumpentheologie]

12 hours ago, CrazyMumma said:

I would definitely assume that the kids are taking school work with them. My mum definitely sent school work with my little siblings when they went to visit our married sister

Yes, but the difference is that I imagine your family put at least SOME value on education, even if you happen to have been homeschooled. The extent to which we can extrapolate from our own lives to assume things about these people seems very limited to me, especially about how children are raised and really especially about education. (Except of course for posters who grew up fundie as well.)

[wandering woman]

On March 10, 2017 at 8:54 AM, JillyO said:

When Michael had all five of her underage brothers while Gil and Kelly were in Australia, she actually flew back with them to drop them off in Tennessee. I'm assuming she also picked them up in the first place. I actually travel quite a lot, but I still can't figure out how they of all people can afford all those trips.

They can afford the trips because the UP network is paying for them.

[formergothardite]

I doubt UP is paying for the IBLP trips.