Seewalds 24 - Bought the House from Grandma

[Fluffy14]

4 hours ago, singsingsing said:

know a lot of people have this idea that Ben is dumb as a box of bricks, but I don't think so. He's not very charismatic and he's not a great communicator, but he clearly gives a lot of thought to things, questions the status quo, and has shown a willingness and tendency for independent thought.

Yesssss to everything you said.I don't think he's dumb. I have watched him on videos discussing church stuff. I have noticed if he has studied something,  he can articulate it quite well. I watched his video at his first speaking engagement with Jeremiah cry. He stumbled around, but I gave him a pass because it was his first real gig. And he probably was nervous as heck.  Also think he and Jeremy have the  preaching , doctrinal thing in common and they probably talk a great deal together about stuff, and bounce stuff off each other. For Ben's sake I think Jeremy is probably quite influential on Ben.

I also think, Ben has learned not to say much. It's easier that waaaay. No bad press.

 

[Bad Wolf]

Good job matching the balls to their colored holes, Spurge. 

[SilverBeach]

Not voting for HRC, to me, was a vote for TT. None of the other candidates were viable and too much was at stake to cast a protest vote this time around. So, Ben not being in Trump's ass is good, but meh.

[MargaretElliott]

Jessa teaching Spurge how to turn on the radio and get his little boogie on is a far cry from that cringe-worthy "jumping for joy" excuse Jim Bob made in one of the earlier specials when one of the littles was dancing. Cute kid. And it looks like she's actually letting him BE a kid, as opposed to Derick's awful comments about Israel being manipulative...

Obviously most of their beliefs are still toxic, but they seem more tolerable than many of the other couples.

[metheglyn]

21 minutes ago, MargaretElliott said:

Jessa teaching Spurge how to turn on the radio and get his little boogie on is a far cry from that cringe-worthy "jumping for joy" excuse Jim Bob made in one of the earlier specials when one of the littles was dancing. Cute kid. And it looks like she's actually letting him BE a kid, as opposed to Derick's awful comments about Israel being manipulative...

Obviously most of their beliefs are still toxic, but they seem more tolerable than many of the other couples.

Toxic beliefs or not, Jessa and Ben *seem* to be more relaxed, yet still engaged parents than we've seen from Jill and Derick. Or JB&M. So here's hoping for that much, at least. And that if they are indeed reasonable parents, that they stay that way as their family expands.

It sounds like Jessa might have the radio dial tuned to the music station Spurge turn on, so she's apparently listening to more music than she was brought up with. Her clearly not being a fan of Christian rap may be more of a taste thing than a moral judgment at this point.

[SapphireSlytherin]

Was that T-Swizzle on her radio station?!??

[VineHeart137]

17 minutes ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

Was that T-Swizzle on her radio station?!??

Lol yeah right. It was Mandisa (a Christian artist). They play that song a lot on my local Christian station.

[SapphireSlytherin]

Oh. Lol! I don't listen to religious music and thought it sounded Swift-y.  Hahaha

[Mela99]

I could see him voting for Ben Carson

[kacarlton]

Re: the toy spurge is playing with in the instagram video, I continue to be impressed by the developmentally appropriate things Jessa and Ben do with their kids. I hope having eleventy billion kids doesn't affect this part of their parenting. [emoji6]

[VeryNikeSeamstress]

Somehow I missed the clip of Spurgie's baby driver ed lesson, but i just saw it, and it's adorable. You can hear the love in Jessa's voice, and Spurge seems like a normal (albeit unfortunately named) toddler.

I really hope that Benessa surprise us by taking a break between Wilbur and #3. It seems like Jessa's enjoying her hands on relationship with the boys. I could see her being ok if God decided to 'bless her' again later rather than sooner.

[SapphireSlytherin]

Maybe when Spurge is about 5 or 6, he will announce he wants to be called Elliott. I know several children who have done this--two of my cousins included. One had been called by his middle name from birth, but preferred his first name. The other had been called by a nickname and asked to be called by his real name. The family complied and all was well. 

[Carm_88]

Again, Ben impresses me. In a time where I was thinking that it would go the other way, he's reaching and trying to understand racism. No, he won't understand it completely but at least he's trying. Compared to Derick, Ben is branching out. I hope that Ben will be one of those people who is always learning and always willing to learn. 

[snickers34]

1 hour ago, Carm_88 said:

No, he won't understand it completely but at least he's trying. Compared to Derick, Ben is branching out.

Ben has grown to annoy me less and less too. If you get married at freakin 18/19 into this cult, it seems like it likely goes one way - towards becoming even dumber and more insular. Kudos to him for not letting that happen entirely. He does seem to be maturing the way you'd expect a 21 year old to.

[KeshetParparNesicha]

14 hours ago, SilverBeach said:

Not voting for HRC, to me, was a vote for TT. None of the other candidates were viable and too much was at stake to cast a protest vote this time around.

Not much depended on the Seewalds' votes. Arkansas isn't exactly a swing state.

[nastyhobbitses]

2 hours ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

Maybe when Spurge is about 5 or 6, he will announce he wants to be called Elliott. I know several children who have done this--two of my cousins included. One had been called by his middle name from birth, but preferred his first name. The other had been called by a nickname and asked to be called by his real name. The family complied and all was well. 

Dweezil Zappa (son of Frank, virtuoso guitarist in his own right and now heads a cover band that plays his dad's songs) was officially named Ian Donald Calvin Euclid because the hospital wouldn't let Frank put "Dweezil" on the birth certificate. When Dweezil (what he was always called despite his legal name) found out at five that his legal name wasn't Dweezil and was very put out, his parents happily went down to the courthouse to officially change it.

[Drala]

On 8/25/2017 at 4:41 PM, calimojo said:

<snip> But with the Duggars,  people just turn a blind eye to the cultish aspects of their lives. 

(please note that individually the duggars aren't all that interesting.  Their personalities are mostly dull, but it is more the concept of the duggars and their social impact that is interesting.)

I am also fascinated by cults.  I would agree that in the beginning the Duggars didn't appear all that cultish, but didn't a lot of that have to do with how they were presented by TLC and People magazine?  At first, I was surprised at how non-judgemental they appeared to be, considering the fact their lifestyle separated them from more "worldly" Christians.  All I knew was what I saw on TLC or in People.  Then I dug a little deeper. (Kudos to FreeJinger!)

Yes, the public personalities of individual Duggars are dull, but I often have been intrigued by the facial expressions of Jana and Jinger as they spew some bit of cultish pablum in the face of cognitive dissonance.

[seraaa]

16 hours ago, metheglyn said:

It sounds like Jessa might have the radio dial tuned to the music station Spurge turn on, so she's apparently listening to more music than she was brought up with. Her clearly not being a fan of Christian rap may be more of a taste thing than a moral judgment at this point.

I thought it was this song - she's a Christian contemporary singer (and former American Idol contestant :D)

Yes - @VineHeart137 got there before me!

[Rachel333]

23 hours ago, SilverBeach said:

Not voting for HRC, to me, was a vote for TT. None of the other candidates were viable and too much was at stake to cast a protest vote this time around. So, Ben not being in Trump's ass is good, but meh.

To me it makes a difference who they would have normally voted for. If someone usually votes Republican and never Democrat but couldn't bring themselves to vote for Trump so chose a third party candidate I think that's different from a liberal choosing a third party candidate because HRC wasn't perfect. In the latter case I definitely think that was virtually the same as voting for Trump, but in the former I don't see it quite that way since the Democrats were never going to get their vote anyway.

[Greendoor]

On 8/25/2017 at 1:43 PM, feministxtian said:

I am an only...and I resent it. When I was taking care of my mother, there was nobody to share the load with. Now there's nobody to share the memories with. That's why I knew I wanted more than one. I really wish I'd had a sibling that lived. But, that's now neither here nor there...but that's just my opinion. 

I was one of two.  I always wanted kids.  In the end things didn't work in my marriage and I had one.  My son was always wanted a sibling (brother prefered, but a sister would be ok even when he was young).  It could be a long lonely road for him when I die if he doesn't marry and have kids himself. 

We are all introverts in this family.  

[Carm_88]

This is from early August but I needed to bring it here for Henry! Lol

[samurai_sarah]

Please continue here: