Family Living on Purpose (FLOP) : Erika Shupe Pt 11

[Anonymousguest]

49 minutes ago, Gobsmacked said:

What is Karen's Facebook page called? I can't find it!

Karen Shupe. it's public

[lauraloralara]

12 hours ago, Gobsmacked said:

What is Karen's Facebook page called? I can't find it!

It's her personal page. You can just search her name and should be able to find it. It is public. 

*hope this did not come off as rude! just woke up. 

[popcorn_luv]

Have been following this thread for a while and reading her blog on and off for a couple years...

So I guess Erika has totally abandoned the whole blog revival thing at this point but I would say she is missing out on a golden money making opportunity.  She could re-brand again a her tag line could be "Why I kissed the Fundie lifestlye good bye !"  Even better if she had Karen be a guest blogger.

[So-Virgin-It-Hurts]

 I agree @popcorn_luv and I'm honestly worried about Erika (in a FJ way).  I wish she'd throw this dog a bone and give us a clue as to what has transpired - as if she owes us .  I cannot imagine living through such a paradigm shift that is occurring so rapidly (seemingly).  Super excited for Karen though!

[Gobsmacked]

17 minutes ago, So-Virgin-It-Hurts said:

 I agree @popcorn_luv and I'm honestly worried about Erika (in a FJ way).  I wish she'd throw this dog a bone and give us a clue as to what has transpired - as if she owes us .  I cannot imagine living through such a paradigm shift that is occurring so rapidly (seemingly).  Super excited for Karen though!

Just hoping that it's not major illness or anything horrible that has caused the change. Hopefully Erika and Bob are both ok. Also all the kids.

[defraudingjezebel]

Soooo... It seems like Erika can't be bothered to post in the FLOP group other than to promote her Lila Rose hair-thingies MLM "business." I searched the group for her posts and the last three months, at least three-quarters of her posts have simply been posts promoting a Lila Rose sale. 

I don't know if its because Erika is too busy to post anything else, or if it was her master plan to turn the FLOP group into a sneaky way to shill Lila Rose. If it's the latter, I'm supremely disappointed. Well, either way I'm disappointed that we're hearing less from Erika *grin* Shupe but I'm kinda peeved if she's using the group ONLY to sell her hair trinkets. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

Karen was supposed to move out yesterday. Hope all goes well for her on her own.

[Howl]

Well, Erika is going through some major changes.  The primary sister mom is out of the house, now it's summer and Erika has a house full of young children that she actually has to freed and raise.  Must be a shock after a school year of kids being gone from 8 am to 3 pm or so. 

[formergothardite]

21 hours ago, defraudingjezebel said:

I don't know if its because Erika is too busy to post anything else, or if it was her master plan to turn the FLOP group into a sneaky way to shill Lila Rose.

I bet she just doesn't know what to post. My impression was that she was trying to rebrand herself as a know it all public school mother, but that was a FLOP because her base is homeschooling mothers of many and they all know she just started sending her kids to public school. Nobody is interested in reading a mother who just started sending her kids to public school pretend she is an expert. She isn't even posting any new or original ideas. Her blog posts are basic stuff almost everyone who sends their kids to school already knows. 

[So-Virgin-It-Hurts]

To make matters worse for the poor younger children, we are under an air quality warning right now.  There are massive forest fires burning in British Columbia and the winds have deposited the smoke, etc. in Washington's coastal area.  It's a bizarre hazy mess out there and young children, elderly, and anyone with respiratory issues are advised to stay indoors for the next several days.  This coincides with expectations of near-record high temps.  Many homes do not have AC here because it's used so infrequently.  

[elliha]

OK, the smoke thing makes me feel a little bad for Erika. A mom not being able to let the kids out in summer heat is tough. Awful views or not, I don't wish that on any parent. Going out in summer is what makes me survive summer at all (I am a working mom when I am not on maternity leave like now but in summer I am usually the one to stay at home taking care of the kids on my own since my husband only has seasonal work and I have a job where I can take out vacation days without suffering financially so I usually play SAHM for 4-5 weeks a year).

[Flossie]

Erika could have an interesting blog if she wrote about the drastic changes in her family's life.  What they used to believe and why, what happened to make them change, and how they're adjusting.

"Our family used to believe this and that, and lived our lives accordingly.  We home schooled our children, and didn't socialize a lot outside of family and church.  As our family grew, our home seemed to get smaller and I learned the value of scheduling our activities and how to make do in a too-small house.  I blogged about it extensively.  My life was a warm cocoon where I felt powerful and safe.

But then SOMETHING HAPPENED.  A massive shift occurred and we retreated for a while to figure out what to do.  I stopped blogging because we needed all of our resources available to deal with our NEW NORMAL.  

Except it's not normal for us right now, but I've gone back to blogging.  The validation I got from my readers has been sorely missed.

Now our children go to public school.  Our oldest child has a job and has moved out of our home.  I like to be in control and I don't feel like I am anymore.  I thought I had all the answers and now I know I don't.  I want to be looked up to and admired, but now I'm floundering in a sea of insecurity. 

I spent years trying to craft the perfect life and telling others how to do the same, now I'm having to learn completely new skills and feel like I've fallen behind.   When something comes up that I haven't dealt with before, I try to figure out what to do.  When I feel like I've really hit upon something, it turns out it's something that everyone else already knows.  For example, I posted detailed instructions of how to pick kids up from school, but there wasn't much admiration from my readers.  

I could use this blog to get help and encouragement, but I'd really rather pretend that I'm back in charge and all-knowing.  I want to tell people what to do, not ask other people for advice on how to handle things.  Life sucks."

[usmcmom]

Even if Erika had just made a brief blog post asking for suggestions, instead of giving them, she would have had a lot of encouraging comments and advice, in my opinion. 

"This is all new to me. I'd love suggestions on how to handle the morning rush, homework, after school activities, etc.". 

Something like that would have drawn a lot of new readers, I think.  I also think she would have found that public school moms aren't so bad after all. 

But, as with most fundies, pride has stopped her from seeking help and opening her mind to new ideas. 

[Howl]

22 hours ago, Flossie said:

Erika could have an interesting blog if she wrote about the drastic changes in her family's life.  What they used to believe and why, what happened to make them change, and how they're adjusting. <snip>

Yes, this YES, a thousand times YES everything in your post. Erika, Lisa Pennington, and all the other adamant Christian life-style bloggers who have had earthquakes in the foundations of their lives and adjusted accordingly.  Instead, Lisa protects her brand with cheerful drivel and Erika is faced with becoming irrelevant to her followers.  

Digression: True, Lisa Pennington is protecting the privacy of her now adult children by not discussing their lives, but she started out firmly promoting patriarchy, SAHD only, skirts only, yada yada and then life happened.   Some insight into what she thinks now and how she adapted would be fascinating.  

In my mind I link Lisa and Erika together to a certain extent because they are both adamant fundy Christian mom bloggers with some degree of OCD.  

[Lurky]

@Howl Yeah, and the Jeubs, who kicked out their oldest daughters, and then later on did that 180º and sent most of their kids to school!

I've said this before, but I really feel for all the kids, who've been brought up in extreme ways, and have to process the fact public school was evil and dangerous for years, but now is A-OK.  But most of all, the oldest kids, like Karen and Melanie, who bore the brunt of the first change to extreme-Fundyism, their teenage years sacrificed to sister-mom duties, and now don't even get eg the chance to graduate...

[Hisey]

On her googleplus account, Melanie says she is watching a webinar on Digital Marketing and Entrepeneurship, because she believes these things will provide her with a way to earn money for college. She says its a better route than a minimum wage job. She adds that her parents are "very enthusiastic" about her career path, but don't have the money to help her much with college.

[Howl]

On 8/4/2017 at 8:11 AM, Lurky said:

Yeah, and the Jeubs, who kicked out their oldest daughters, and then later on did that 180º and sent most of their kids to school!

Did the Jeubs end up sending the younger kids to ebil gubmint schools?  If so, not sure how I missed it! 

[Eternalbluepearl]

18 minutes ago, Howl said:

Did the Jeubs end up sending the younger kids to ebil gubmint schools?  If so, not sure how I missed it! 

Yes, they did and the Shupes and the Jeubs are friends, I believe. It's interesting how Chris Jeub and Erika were both teachers briefly, then became staunchly anti-school for their own kids, and now have both suddenly become okay with school again.  

[Howl]

19 minutes ago, Eternalbluepearl said:

Yes, they did and the Shupes and the Jeubs are friends, I believe. It's interesting how Chris Jeub and Erika were both teachers briefly, then became staunchly anti-school for their own kids, and now have both suddenly become okay with school again.  

Well, knock me over with a feather!   I guess even the horrible Jeubs realized they might alienate all of their children if they didn't right the ship. 

[mango_fandango]

3 hours ago, Hisey said:

On her googleplus account, Melanie says she is watching a webinar on Digital Marketing and Entrepeneurship, because she believes these things will provide her with a way to earn money for college. She says its a better route than a minimum wage job. She adds that her parents are "very enthusiastic" about her career path, but don't have the money to help her much with college.

Oh wow. That's definitely a change from when Erika said she wouldn't send her kids to college. I guess Melanie sees it as, well, Karen's moved out and my siblings get to go to public school, why can't I go to college? And Erika's agreed because Melanie is the only one at home now. 

[Anonymousguest]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

Well, knock me over with a feather!   I guess even the horrible Jeubs realized they might alienate all of their children if they didn't right the ship. 

They did at least make a public announcement about it and explained how their thoughts had changed. 

[Lurky]

I was looking for Chris Jeub's blog about sending the kids to school, and this mistake  jumped out...

Anyway, here's the blog where he talked about sending the kids to school - it was some then, but all of the school-age kids were at school this year, it seems

https://www.chrisjeub.com/our-first-day-of-school-after-23-years-of-homeschooling/

Cynthia had a blog response, but her site is down because she's migrating sites, so I can't link.

 

[elliha]

I think Brandon has a Google+ account now too. Good for him!

[ActualReality]

On 8/6/2017 at 10:53 PM, mango_fandango said:

Oh wow. That's definitely a change from when Erika said she wouldn't send her kids to college. I guess Melanie sees it as, well, Karen's moved out and my siblings get to go to public school, why can't I go to college? And Erika's agreed because Melanie is the only one at home now. 

Wait - did you say that Karen had moved out!?  That seems like a massive change.  She's what, 19.  That seems pretty young.  Good for her for seeking her independance.

 

I'm reading Latter Day Virgin by Nicole Hardy right now.  I love books about other evangelicals who flew the coup like I did.  Run Karen Run!

[JermajestyDuggar]

9 minutes ago, ActualReality said:

Wait - did you say that Karen had moved out!?  That seems like a massive change.  She's what, 19.  That seems pretty young.  Good for her for seeking her independance.

 

I'm reading Latter Day Virgin by Nicole Hardy right now.  I love books about other evangelicals who flew the coup like I did.  Run Karen Run!

Yes, lots of changes in the Shupe house. This will be the second public school year for the younger Shupe kids. They aren't skirts only anymore. And Karen moved out. The Shupes are pretty mainstream these days.