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Anna and the M Kids Pt 9: M5 Expected


samurai_sarah

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@Kangaroo I love your post! I love stats. By the time my son was 3, he was obsessed with baseball and he knew the stats, which is when I realized baseball is amazing. I eventually dated a professional baseball player and he called me a "stat rat." I think my boyfriend was alarmed at how well my son knew baseball stats, but the child can't help it, he has my DNA. 

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As far as explaining where Josh went on the show, TLC doesn't need to explain anything. All of the viewers know he is in exile, and plenty of reality shows have unseen parents, husbands, kids, and siblings. The audience is mostly women aged 18-49, and they're tuning in for the women, not the pompous, doughy, nothing-to-look-at-here, men. Even before the scandals, Josh was annoying, but viewers liked Anna, and liked to watch the dynamic between Anna and Josh's sisters.

The only redemption narrative with any appeal is that the J's supported Anna. Who has a sister-in-law that awesome? My SILs were all evil and would side against me no matter how heinous my ex behaved. I WISH I had a SIL like the J's. That's one of the elements where I sit on the fence between gawker and fan. A nice Sister-in-Law? Women supporting other women? In real life? WTF? I must know more about this. 

A female cast driven show makes more sense anyway. Joe is boring. Look at Kangaroo's stats. Joe has the lowest response. Once we get some Kendra time, she may drive those numbers up, but he certainly won't. The 'Real Housewives' show husbands as after thoughts, and that's a good model. A show focused on the women relating to each other without the histrionic personalities and yelling, like the Real Housewives, has appeal. They can talk about their husbands and kids like women do, but I think the less we see of their husbands, the better the ratings will be. I could totally do without ever listening to Derick or Ben again. (Or for the love of all things holy, please TLC, do not let Jim Bob speak again. About anything. Ever.)

The sister J's with their sister-in-laws is more appealing than Joe or Jed buying cars. I can watch Fast and Loud if I want to see that. Fast and Loud makes that stupid  Duggar  "car light is on, call Pastor Paul,"  scene reek with stupid. Bad, bad writing. 

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I have zero interest in seeing Jim Bob, Michelle, or Josh on the show ever again.  Especially Josh... I do not want there to be some massive rug-sweep where he creeps back in and becomes normalized.  JB and Michelle... if they are in the background or have a very minor speaking part, okay, but I'm over TLC giving JB another platform to act like the big dog.  The only way I'd want to see Josh at all is if he renounces the Gothardism and testifies to the dangers of this cult and the impact it had on him personally.

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Was on AskReddit and saw a question asking ex-cult members how they escaped. I opened the thread offhandedly, wondering if I might see ATI references and sure enough, there's a poster who left and says she knew Anna. The rest of the thread is easy enough to find if you're interested....

IMG_0071.PNGIMG_0070.PNG

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16 minutes ago, Beyganengvall said:

Was on AskReddit and saw a question asking ex-cult members how they escaped. I opened the thread offhandedly, wondering if I might see ATI references and sure enough, there's a poster who left and says she knew Anna. The rest of the thread is easy enough to find if you're interested....

IMG_0071.PNGIMG_0070.PNG

Just saw this and was coming over here to post this! lol A few of the other unnamed cults mentioned sounded a lot like ATI as well.

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I hope the Reddit commenter, the ATI escapee, does write a book. I knew TLC didn't show the creepy cult side of things, but I wonder how many families saw the Duggars and were drawn to ATI? TLC's portrayal of the Duggars could have misled people into a favorable impression of ATI.

I'm new here, so forgive me if this has a separate thread, but does anyone follow the Micah J Murray blog, written by the blogger who escaped ATI? He just posted a 30 minute short film on his blog about a week ago. I haven't watched it yet, but his other articles were haunting. Especially talking about Bill Gothard's one on one counseling sessions with young girls behind locked doors. Yuck. Who were some of the fundie girls that worked for him? 

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Well I said a few weeks back we were going to hear chatter about Josh and Anna. At the time it was the divorce rumors. While interesting the general concensus was basically not going to happen. I'm not horribly suprised, but I will say I'm suprised by Josh ' s social media restraint. Since getting out of prayhab he had barely appeared on social media. Before his fall he was constantly going on about stuff on social media. I haven't had cable in a few years, so no TLC for me. I will say from the episode breakdowns all I can think is what a snooze fest to watch. Honestly how long will the paint drying rinse rather and repeat story lines go on? On a side not I will say Jinger out of the Duggar girls to get married is the only one to put significant distance between her and her family while remaining stateside. I thought for sure Jana's tattoo place they bought would turn into a strip mall church for Jeremy. Unrelated, when typing strip mall church I heard Matthew from In the Name of God podcast going "This week's Strip Mall Church of the WEAK" I wonder what size the current house is and how cramped it is going to get. The whole thing is a slow moving train wreck with predictable outcomes, but I'll be damned I keep coming back for more.


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An AskReddit question on leaving cults was answered by an ex-ATI, and it's pretty interesting!

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/60csf1/excult_members_of_reddit_how_were_you_introduced/df5k95r/ 

Some interesting nuggets about the Duggars in there (taken with a pinch of salt).

Mods, please merge if there's already a thread on this!

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As far as the Reddit conversation goes, here's some advice -

Don't take everything said as absolute truth unless you can personally verify it. I don't know if this person is legit or not and I don't want to jump to conclusions either way (because I don't have time to go looking st he things they wrote). My general rule would be if it sounds too good to be true and they aren't offering any evidence at all, either they're trying to protect their identity (understandable) or they're being deceptive for some reason. So just be careful and don't just accept what they say as the truth.

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On ‎3‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 1:03 PM, CorbinsMommy said:

I still can't believe Josh managed to get someone else to sleep with him... sometimes I think no one could possibly do that with him and they consider the porn addiction to be the cheating.... but I doubt it.

I can't believe another baby is going to be born into this catastrophe.

I was reading a few pages of this thread, & someone had the perfect analogy: Band-Aid baby. I'd never heard that term before, but it fits (sadly, but it fits).

All I can say about it is that I hope all goes well with the baby.

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Anna is going to birth the next Messiah for sure.  I mean - a godly woman having babies without any man involved according to TLC?  All the hallmarks of an immaculate conception....

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47 minutes ago, LadyCrow1313 said:

I was reading a few pages of this thread, & someone had the perfect analogy: Band-Aid baby. I'd never heard that term before, but it fits (sadly, but it fits).

When a couple only has a few kids and decides to have one more to save the marriage I can see using the term band-aid baby.  Since these two don't believe in birth control then the pregnancy is just a natural outcome of not using protection.  I can see them (most likely just Anna) interpreting this pregnancy as a sign from god that the marriage has been restored.  This pregnancy is really nothing more than business as usual for them though.

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14 hours ago, VelociRapture said:

Husband and I had testing done with our daughter. We wouldn't have terminated the pregnancy except if we were told that my life was in danger or if we were told our child would die at or soon after birth. 

That said, we wanted as much time as possible to absorb and accept any diagnosis she could have been given. My sister is a teacher and she's adamant that her students with extra needs that excel the most are the ones whose parents accept their diagnosis and have done a good job navigating the mourning process that can accompany a diagnosis. Finding out ahead of time that our daughter would have a condition would have meant extra time for us to handle those things.

(We are fortunate that she did not have any of those conditions and was relatively healthy at birth.)

You put this better than I could have.

My husband's brother has Down's so we felt we were very prepared for that particular diagnosis. I would have been very upset about something like CF because that's a "health" issue whereas Down's is just an everyday reality and doesn't affect lifespan in the same way. Ironically that's partly why they kept pushing us to get it (because of the small possibility of a genetic component that would increase my likelihood of having a baby with Down's). One particular doctor kept having wide eyed chats with us about Downs. We were like, no we get it! It just doesn't freak us out! Lol.

I definitely agree with your sister. MANY parents of kids with disabilities do them a disservice by assuming they can do less than they can, or not offering proper interventions and help. My husband's brother had literacy tutors and job coaching from the time he was small...He now fully supports himself and lives alone, takes public transit to work, etc. People are shocked but his particular IQ level is actually somewhat in the middle or lower end of the typical spectrum for Downs. Every disabled child should have access to those services through family or social services. (Fuck you Betsy DeVos.)

Congrats on your beautiful baby!! I'm halfway done. 

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I used to have a lot of sympathy for Anna. Then I thought to myself that this is the age of information so ignorance is a choice. I think Anna is right where she wants to be. She has often said she made a promise  to God first and then Josh on her wedding day so there you have it. In her mind leaving her husband would be breaking her covenant with God. So me thinks she goes nowhere. There will be no ah ha moment or I've had enough moment for her even if it happens again...and again. Josh would have to be the one to bow out and even then I highly doubt she would readily sign papers. 

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38 minutes ago, sunshine said:

ME: Waiting for the Duggar siblings to post a congratulations video for Josh and Anna for their 5th bundle of joy. :popcorn:

Right?!

Where is that Duggar Solidarity?

**crickets**

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I just came over to say. UUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH

I was really hoping they wouldn't have another kid but it was inevitable. I am super curious as to where they are living (still in the guest house?) and where Joshy is working to support his large family. (I am sorry I missed it in the many, many threads, I don't check Duggar threads as often as I once did and if his work and living arrangement has been confirmed beyond working for daddy and living in the guest house, please send me to the prayer corner for not searching better!  

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15 minutes ago, quiversR4hunting said:

I just came over to say. UUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH

I was really hoping they wouldn't have another kid but it was inevitable. I am super curious as to where they are living (still in the guest house?) and where Joshy is working to support his large family. (I am sorry I missed it in the many, many threads, I don't check Duggar threads as often as I once did and if his work and living arrangement has been confirmed beyond working for daddy and living in the guest house, please send me to the prayer corner for not searching better!  

I think he works at White Spot as the dishwasher because he is in the prayer closet for life 

as for Anna - I can't I have no words that not get me sent somewhere 

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If either Anna or Josh "left", would we actually know? They could separate, live in different houses, have no contact with one another and Josh could see the kids at JB and M's home or Jessa's home. They could, one day, being living totally separate lives but would keep up the illusion of a big ole happy family. It's all about appearance for them.

Obviously this is not happening now since Anna is pregnant. But I could see it happening one day. Anna staying under JB's umbrella and being forced to "keep sweet" for the cameras while she lives in the Duggar compound.

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While I think they would procreate uncontrollably no matter what, I think since this is the first child after the scandal, there will be a lot of pressure on this kid. Because they got pregnant, obviously God has blessed them, and their marriage is restored, right? This child is a symbol of them, moving on, right? Everything will be all right from here on out, right?

Wrong. A child is a product of two people having sex. Whether they would have had more kids or not, this particular child will (probably) still face the pressures of "fixing" a marriage. Which sucks for everyone involved.

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1 hour ago, Chickenbutt said:

If either Anna or Josh "left", would we actually know? They could separate, live in different houses, have no contact with one another and Josh could see the kids at JB and M's home or Jessa's home. They could, one day, being living totally separate lives but would keep up the illusion of a big ole happy family. It's all about appearance for them.

Obviously this is not happening now since Anna is pregnant. But I could see it happening one day. Anna staying under JB's umbrella and being forced to "keep sweet" for the cameras while she lives in the Duggar compound.

This is actually what I was expecting to happen, for awhile at least, if not forever. That's what made me a little surprised by the announcement so soon. I'm also speculating Anna is 18-20 weeks, which means a summer birth. It's very logical to have testing done so that you can be prepared for any problems, but fundies generally follow the belief that genetic testing is only for pro-aborts. That's why they're so in favor of "anti-abortion" laws that require doctors to lie to their patients about genetic anomalies. 

M5 will be just about 2 years younger than Meredith...from looking at the spacing between kids, it's as if nothing even happened in between.

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3 hours ago, SweetFellowshipper said:

(snip)

I definitely agree with your sister. MANY parents of kids with disabilities do them a disservice by assuming they can do less than they can, or not offering proper interventions and help. My husband's brother had literacy tutors and job coaching from the time he was small...He now fully supports himself and lives alone, takes public transit to work, etc. People are shocked but his particular IQ level is actually somewhat in the middle or lower end of the typical spectrum for Downs. Every disabled child should have access to those services through family or social services. (Fuck you Betsy DeVos.)

Congrats on your beautiful baby!! I'm halfway done. 

Someone go tell this to Kimi from Adoptive "Mothers" infamy (I feel like I take every opportunity to bring up that thread, so bear with me).

I think I may have asked this in the Dillard thread, but how do you all think the Duggars would handle a disabled child? I think something minor(ish) like a learning disability would be easily overlooked (unless it interfered with their ability to to memorize Bible verses), and I'd imagine they'd handle stuff like Asperger's or ADHD through their brand of "training" (ugh). But for profound disabilities, where a child may not talk at all or respond to stimuli, or who might otherwise require extensive care... I don't know if it'd be physically possible for anyone in the family to pull off "keeping sweet" for the cameras, what with their other children and the financial strain. Sure, any of the Duggar offspring could keep up an image in Instagram about the specialness and fragility of their blessing, but it wouldn't last. It's taxing enough for 50/50 parents to raise one profoundly disabled child, let alone with a gaggle of other children (who may also be disabled), a rigid religious philosophy, no real job(s), and most of the burden put on the mother. Compound this with the dwindling assistance for the married couples since all of the remaining older daughters are getting married and will soon have their own families to worry about (and Jana can't do it all). I think it's something that could truly break someone in this family.

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3 hours ago, Chickenbutt said:

If either Anna or Josh "left", would we actually know? They could separate, live in different houses, have no contact with one another and Josh could see the kids at JB and M's home or Jessa's home. They could, one day, being living totally separate lives 

Ha, maybe its not his.  That would sure help ratings :my_biggrin:

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