Joy and Austin: Switzerland to the Backwoods of Arkansas

[Irishy]

I've really enjoyed reading this thread and the marriage and career talk. I feel like I relate to every post.  It took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to study in college. I'm 38 and just starting in September. Social & politics course.

While I was trying to figure that out, I got married young, 24 (that is crazy  young in Ireland) and while I was thinking and figuring out what was my passion, I had my babies. Four of them. And I figured out (as mentioned up thread) that I was already living my passion. Being a mother. I'm very glad I had my kids youngish and in quick succession. We are now at a stage where I love their company, life is easy, parenting is actually enjoyable, and I'm finally ready to go to college. My eldest will be ready to begin college when I graduate. I hope I'll be a huge help to them choosing their paths at this stage.

However, having said all that, my marriage did not work out. We were too young, we grew up and apart. But I wouldn't change a thing. But having just gone through a divorce, I did wish several times that I had my education under my belt already, so I had better earning potential striking out on my own. I would advise any woman choosing to be a SAHM not to leave herself in a vulnerable position. You never know what's coming down the tracks. Always have the funds or the wherewithal to leave if you want or need to. It worked out ok for me in the end thank goodness but I was, for a while, in a position I did not enjoy

[SPHASH]

42 minutes ago, KelseyAnn said:

I remember crying in sixth grade because me new teacher looked at me and said, "My God, another (Insert last name)." 

I was a fantastic, obedient student at the time and it broke my heart to be judged because of the four siblings before me. 

 

I know what you mean.  My first grade teacher hated me just because of my older brother and sister.  All of us had some form of ADD.  My brother also didn't get the best grades either.

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 hours ago, karen77 said:

IC strips... super cheap and show super early too (been through the fertility struggle....that saved me 100's of bucks , i'm sure.)

Yes! Loved those! I bought a pack of 50 for crazy cheap and when I got pregnant with my last kid I gave the leftovers to my friend. 

[Nikedagain?]

36 minutes ago, viii said:

No way! I am also from Saskatchewan! 

Listen, those of us who are American would love to work out a deal with you. We will send you Trump, Pence, Ryan and McConnell for Trudeau!

Easy Peasy!  This is a great opportunity. 4 for 1? A BARGAIN

You need to jump on this...

[Iamtheway]

1 hour ago, KelseyAnn said:

I remember crying in sixth grade because me new teacher looked at me and said, "My God, another (Insert last name)." 

I was a fantastic, obedient student at the time and it broke my heart to be judged because of the four siblings before me. 

WOrst of all was when I took my rapist to court and he got off scott free because I was just another lying (last name). 

Oh no! I'm so sorry that happend to you. 

I know my sister hated having my old teachers. I was also a great student with good grades and she always felt they expected the same from her and she didn't have it as easy as me. 

[HarryPotterFan]

13 minutes ago, Iamtheway said:

I know my sister hated having my old teachers. I was also a great student with good grades and she always felt they expected the same from her and she didn't have it as easy as me. 

That's the problem I had. My brothers are really smart, especially in mah and science, and teachers would expect the same from me. They were basically straight A students, one of them seemed to pull it off with ease. They both went to Ivy League schools. I didn't even bother to apply because I figured I wouldn't get in.

[sawasdee]

My mother deliberately sent the three of us to different grammar schools (high school) - we lived in London, and in those days could choose any school on the London County Council district. We were all very different, and she didn't want teachers to compare us.

 

[HOTW]

6 hours ago, HereticHick said:

For F**ks sake, a 1 month long honeymoon trip on 3 continents? Beats working, doesn't it?

My husbands uncle who had a farm knew that his honeymoon would probably be the only vacation of duration he and his wife would have, spent a month traveling the USA by car. The worst part was one of the wedding jerks put limberger cheese on his engine before they left the wedding!!!

[mango_fandango]

I don't think my brother was ever compared to me at primary school, we had different teachers mostly. Then we went to different secondary schools. (I went to an all-girls secondary so he couldn't go )

[VelociRapture]

6 hours ago, AlwaysExcited said:

#Allthesehashtagsarejustsoannoying #Pleasestop 

#cantstop #wontstop #imliketotallylikearebelbabe 

 

5 hours ago, Daisy0322 said:

Lol first response claims 5 days before missed period. But they're pricey definitely wouldn't be considered buying used and saving the difference.

I used first response - got positives over a week early with both pregnancies. I want to say 8 and 9 days past ovulation each time. They are pricey, but it can be worth the extra money if you're having symptoms, know when you likely would have conceived, and you're impatient like I am.

[LuckyShot]

2 hours ago, Nikedagain? said:

Listen, those of us who are American would love to work out a deal with you. We will send you Trump, Pence, Ryan and McConnell for Trudeau!

Easy Peasy!  This is a great opportunity. 4 for 1? A BARGAIN

You need to jump on this...

As far as I'm concerned you can have Trudeau. He is easy on the eyes but not so easy on us farmers. You will have to find someone else to take Trump and his cronies though, we don't need any of that, lol.

Small towns can be insular and ostracize people for no reason. I have seen it happen in other small towns I've lived in, but my town now is very open and welcoming. I think being so small people have learned that they have to be that way so that newcomers will actually want to live here, otherwise the town will die. Of course everyone still knows your business, even in a friendly town. I've been married for three years and haven't had a baby yet so if I eat a large meal people will start wondering if I'm finally pregnant. There are pros and cons to small town life but for me it works. I lived in a city of almost 1,000,000 for five years, and although I enjoyed some aspects of it I still chose to come back home in the end.

[viii]

Yep, you can keep your cronies AND have Trudeau. Win/win hey?! 

We'll take Bernie Sanders...

[HereticHick]

So Duggar honeymoons get more and more lavish. I guess we can look forward to African photo safaris and Antarctic penguin viewing next. 

The TLC money isn't going to last forever. The heyday of basic cable in the US is past, and Counting On is far from being a hit show.

I know that a lot of people think Jim Bob Duggar is a rolling in money--but every year, that money is getting divided between more and more dependents.

As far as I can reckon, Jim Bob's businesses +TLC payments are having to support THIRTY people: himself & Michelle, Josh, Anna and soon to be five kids, the Seewald clan (4), the Dillard clan (soon to be 4), and 13 Duggarlings. And a new wife, Kendra, will be added to the crowd in a few months, and she won't be bringing in any income.

I'm basing this on a couple of assumptions: Whatever Josh is doing isn't making enough money to take care of a family of 7; Jeremy is making enough money ( probably just barely) to take care of Jinger; JD is making enough as a pilot to take care of himself (although I'm a little dubious that he's making enough to cover all the expenses of the family planes) and Austin is now taking care of Joy (although how they will find the $$ to build a house is a mystery to me).

So just think about a couple of million dollars, having to take care of 30ish people.  It isn't going to last forever. Or even long enough to send the lost girls on lavish honeymoons.

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

I'm not going to snark on Joy & Austin getting this trip of a life time, this is  the ONE chance they will ever get to do anything with out eleventy kids in tow from here on out.  They are two kids who married because that was all they were allowed to do, they have no education and no support if they don't follow orders, so they better enjoy it as it will be their last.  I just hope they don't turn into self-righteous pricks like Derrick & Jill.  

[JoyJoy]

37 minutes ago, HereticHick said:

As far as I can reckon, Jim Bob's businesses +TLC payments are having to support THIRTY people: himself & Michelle, Josh, Anna and soon to be five kids, the Seewald clan (4), the Dillard clan (soon to be 4), and 13 Duggarlings. And a new wife, Kendra, will be added to the crowd in a few months, and she won't be bringing in any income.

I'm basing this on a couple of assumptions: Whatever Josh is doing isn't making enough money to take care of a family of 7; Jeremy is making enough money ( probably just barely) to take care of Jinger; JD is making enough as a pilot to take care of himself (although I'm a little dubious that he's making enough to cover all the expenses of the family planes) and Austin is now taking care of Joy (although how they will find the $$ to build a house is a mystery to me).

 Austin flips houses, works at his family's camp and I think he was an EMT or volunteer firefighter? Ben claims to work. He and Jessa make money speaking. Is Joe doing construction? I have a hard time believing that the married couple aren't getting their own TLC paychecks. Kendra and Joe will be on the TLC payroll. 

 

I can see the Duggars getting specials and maybe spinoffs after "Counting On" is cancelled.TLC seems to have a hard time letting go of its " stars". LPBW was cancelled in 2010, but they're back. Kate and her eight children keep coming back.

[HereticHick]

Why do we assume that the TLC payroll is ever expanding? Counting On's ratings are not great. TLC doesn't have an infinite amount of money-- no tv network does. Cable tv viewing has been declining for several years, as we consumers switch to Internet and streaming content.

According to this, TV viewership in the US has declined 33% in 4 years: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-05/fed-up-advertisers-stop-paying-more-for-declining-tv-audiences

Why do I begrudge Joy and Austin's month-long honeymoon? Because it was handed to them on a silver platter, and they are told every day that they deserve to be showered with $$, gifts and praise because they are more "godly" than the rest of us.

 

[JoyJoy]

37 minutes ago, HereticHick said:

Why do we assume that the TLC payroll is ever expanding? Counting On's ratings are not great. TLC doesn't have an infinite amount of money-- no tv network does. Cable tv viewing has been declining for several years, as we consumers switch to Internet and streaming content.

According to this, TV viewership in the US has declined 33% in 4 years: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-05/fed-up-advertisers-stop-paying-more-for-declining-tv-audiences

Why do I begrudge Joy and Austin's month-long honeymoon? Because it was handed to them on a silver platter, and they are told every day that they deserve to be showered with $$, gifts and praise because they are more "godly" than the rest of us.

 

The rating may be bad, but the stars(guest etc) of tv shows usually get paid something?????? Tv ratings are not only thing networks care about.

 

I just don't believe that they get one big paycheck that everyone has to share. I've never heard of it done that way. I think the adult kids, especially the married couple get their own paychecks.

[seraaa]

23 hours ago, Screamapillar said:

Maybe I'm just in a mood but #holyland and #loveyouforeverandalwaysbabe together in the same instagram post just made me laugh SO hard. #fundieslovehashtags

#GodblessIsrael annoys me, perhaps irrationally. Not because I don't want God to bless Israel, but the relationship certain fundamentalist Christians have with it is odd and I can't quite place my finger on why. What is the deal?

Perhaps this is just me being BEC

As for them having a long Honeymoon - good for them, it looks fantastic, and who knows when they'll get another opportunity.

[Georgiana]

1 hour ago, JoyJoy said:

Kate and her eight children keep coming back.

Technically, only 7 of Kate's 8 children have been back since one of them has issues so deep he needs to live away from home...but that hasn't stopped Kate and TLC from pimping out the kids that remain

[backyard sylph]

1 hour ago, seraaa said:

#GodblessIsrael annoys me, perhaps irrationally. Not because I don't want God to bless Israel, but the relationship certain fundamentalist Christians have with it is odd and I can't quite place my finger on why. What is the deal?

Perhaps this is just me being BEC

As for them having a long Honeymoon - good for them, it looks fantastic, and who knows when they'll get another opportunity.

A number of these groups fetishize Israel. In the 80s I was sort of inadvertently part of the genesis of Kansas City Fellowship, which sort of sidled into the Vineyard later on. This whole thing. I never fit in because I refused to speak in tongues. And some other stuff. Anyway. They were very turned on by Jewish Christians, and thought that was a perfect state of being, and that Israel was under God's special sanction, regardless of what went on there. For me, it's a way of interpreting the New Testament that is akin to being able to perform algebraic equations without being any good at arithmetic, but there you are.

[Exposedknees]

41 minutes ago, backyard sylph said:

A number of these groups fetishize Israel.

Israel is key in the Fundie endgame....bible prophecy and all that jazz. I explained it all in a post last year but you can google "fundamentalist christians and israel" and reap a ton of articles on the subject

 

[Fluffy14]

Personally I don't think TLC is footing the whole bill for this honeymoon. It would be too costly to follow them around for a month. Besides the couple may have said you get a week of filming and then that's it. They may get reimbursed when they get home. 

What I do see is a young man who worked hard flipping houses. By the sound of it he made his own cash. I got the impression he followed the rules and did what it took to gain his freedom to be his own man making his own decisions.  Heck if he and Joy want to take 5 months travelling go for it. 

They have too much family interference. Too many authority rules and family obligations at home. Any time this couple can do anything alone I will be happy.

travelling is good for people. It changes their world views. Changes how they see people and culture.

 

1 hour ago, backyard sylph said:

In the 80s I was sort of inadvertently part of the genesis of Kansas City Fellowship, which sort of sidled into the Vineyard later on.

You were apart of this? We were very much apart of the beginning of the first Vineyard in Canada in 86. I remember the whole intro into Kansas City by Wimber . Interesting times. I no longer have anything to do with any of it.

 

[backyard sylph]

7 minutes ago, Fluffy14 said:

You were apart of this? We were very much apart of the beginning of the first Vineyard in Canada in 86. I remember the whole intro into Kansas City by Wimber . Interesting times. I no longer have anything to do with any of it.

Yes, starting as a teen with my mom in the mid 80s or thereabouts. I've repressed a lot of it, but plan to write memoirs someday, and include how we went in ten years from nuns with guitars to people praying for my mother's resurrection at her funeral. Might turn me into a heavier drinker, though. (j/k) (mostly)

[seraaa]

Thanks, @backyard sylph and @Exposedknees  This is interesting. I knew there had to be some story or reason behind it!

[Exposedknees]

16 minutes ago, Fluffy14 said:

travelling is good for people. It changes their world views. Changes how they see people and culture.

I agree wholeheartedly with the statement.  BUT it doesn't seem to change the Duggar world view.