Mortons: A new year of Marryin', Birthin', and Writin'

[ophelia]

6 hours ago, picklepizzas said:

So this leaves what, 3 at home? Gosh I keep hoping addie will get out of there somehow and not end up her parents’ live in help as they age!

Addie probably helps Katie a lot with her children. This will keep her occupied for the next years. By then her brothers quivers will all be pretty full with little ones (Andrew + Keni, Sam + Alyssa, John + Campbell) and she'll help them. And after that her parents are probably in need of support. Although I could also see them retiring in Paraguay with their older and still more fundie children. 

I hope Lise, who also was a little bit older than the average fundie bride when she got married, has some heart to heart talks with Addie every once in a while.

 

Alyssa, Keni and Campbell all married into the Morton clan and all three girls have known each other their whole lifes. That could actually be nice for them.

 

 

[Lurky]

I strongly suspect that Katie suddenly having to be raising 8 children alone has given them pause about the Quiverfull lifestyle.  Not that they'd expect anything as horrific as Alan Smith's crimes to happen again, but it's a reminder how close to disaster these large families all are, if anything goes wrong, even when they can move back to the compound.  I think especially the younger children will take note, especially as they rules have loosened as their parents have aged.  It's just a shame it's Katie and her children that have been the ones to suffer from the cult mentality.

[albireo]

8 hours ago, Lurky said:

I strongly suspect that Katie suddenly having to be raising 8 children alone has given them pause about the Quiverfull lifestyle. 

I'd love to agree with you, but haven't seen enough evidence to suggest that they are. The older 2nd-generation Mortons/spouses have been gradually slowing down, but to me it looks like the natural progression due to age. The younger ones, Martha aside, have been reproducing at a relatively fast clip, and I don't think Martha is intentionally preventing. Don't get me wrong, I want to have hope too, but I don't think the Mortons are there yet.

8 hours ago, Lurky said:

I think especially the younger children will take note, especially as they rules have loosened as their parents have aged.  It's just a shame it's Katie and her children that have been the ones to suffer from the cult mentality.

We'll see. The courtship rules are definitely loosening, but these families, and their friends, still love having a lot of kids around. I do think they're applying critical thinking skills and learning who can and can't be trusted in their communities, which is much better than just relying on who looks godliest (as the Smiths definitely did, with their reliance on ritual and faux-traditional theatrics).

[albireo]

Unrelated (will this merge into my previous post?), Campbell just posted pictures of dress shopping with Adeline and Jeanine and looks like she's already decided on one. Wow, that was fast.

[albireo]

Oh wait, it was actually Addie posting. Dammit, my fingers are faster than my brain, but point still stands.

[picklepizzas]

Speaking of not slowing down, per addie’s insta story I’m pretty sure Alyssa is pregnant again. She just had one on New Years, right?!

 

[HermioneSparrow]

35 minutes ago, picklepizzas said:

Speaking of not slowing down, per addie’s insta story I’m pretty sure Alyssa is pregnant again. She just had one on New Years, right?!

 

I just posted this on the babies thread lol... It's ridiculous, will she have three under two?

[NachosFlandersStyle]

2 hours ago, picklepizzas said:

Speaking of not slowing down, per addie’s insta story I’m pretty sure Alyssa is pregnant again. She just had one on New Years, right?!

 

I had to watch that twice because no way, right? Wow, she is really going full speed ahead.

[ophelia]

How are they going to manage feeding all these kids? All the Morton boys are employed in their father's construction business, but can they really all make ends meet with that? I know they don't have to pay back any student loans or mortgages and rural GA is probably affordable when it comes to cost of living, but it still doesn't add up IMHO. I don't live in the US so I might not realize how cheap food and other groceries can be though. 

Or maybe they just don't care?! The Morton kids were raised in poverty for at least some time of their life and perhaps they think since it didn't harm them it won't harm their offspring?! 

[JermajestyDuggar]

6 hours ago, ophelia said:

How are they going to manage feeding all these kids? All the Morton boys are employed in their father's construction business, but can they really all make ends meet with that? I know they don't have to pay back any student loans or mortgages and rural GA is probably affordable when it comes to cost of living, but it still doesn't add up IMHO. I don't live in the US so I might not realize how cheap food and other groceries can be though. 

Or maybe they just don't care?! The Morton kids were raised in poverty for at least some time of their life and perhaps they think since it didn't harm them it won't harm their offspring?! 

I’m guessing the Campana parents won’t let Alyssa and her children starve. I wouldn’t be surprised if they helped support the growing family. 

Edited July 31, 2018 by JermajestyDuggar

[picklepizzas]

7 hours ago, NachosFlandersStyle said:

I had to watch that twice because no way, right? Wow, she is really going full speed ahead.

Same. I kept being like wait, am I sure it’s not just post partum bump? But when you watch it there’s clearly no mistaking it. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

So she got married 3/25/16

1st baby 12/29/16

2nd baby 1/1/18

3rd baby most likely before her 3rd anniversary

Plus I don’t think they had a long courtship. These two had very little time to just be a couple. 

I’m not saying these two will divorce at some point, but young marriage + low income + short courtship + 3 babies in less than 3 years is not a good start. I wouldn’t be shocked if they or any other fundie couple in a similar situation did end up divorcing though.

Edited July 31, 2018 by JermajestyDuggar

[VBOY9977]

3 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

So she got married 3/25/16

1st baby 12/29/16

2nd baby 1/1/18

3rd baby most likely before her 3rd anniversary

Plus I don’t think they had a long courtship. These two had very little time to just be a couple. 

I’m not saying these two will divorce at some point, but young marriage + low income + short courtship + 3 babies in less than 3 years is not a good start. I wouldn’t be shocked if they or any other fundie couple in a similar situation did end up divorcing though.

Victoria was actually born dec 31st 2017. Here’s Alyssa’s birth announcement:

Spoiler

I think it’s crazy that even though she had a baby in late December 2016 she managed to have another one in 2017 and maybe another one in 2018 (if she has Irish twins). 

I don’t know about the divorce though. It’s sad but I think it has to take something like Katie’s situation for them to divorce and i really don’t want that to happen to anyone else in the family. 

 

[lexiloumarie]

The Mortons have almost always taken advantage of the land and used their farm to well...farm during various blog posts over the years.  They've had cows and chickens and gardens at various points. Enough that they sold produce to a coop. They are definitely not models of child safety or child rearing but unless something has drastically changed they have the means to feed their children rather cheaply. Never understood why the Duggar didn't do something similar other than it took too much work before Jana was free to do it. 

[NachosFlandersStyle]

By my count this makes 32 grandkids plus 4 on the way. And I think Alyssa is only 23 or 24?

I think the Mortons make it work better than some of these mega-families because most of them are essentially living communally. They are all working in the kitchen or on the job site or farm together. And I have no idea how much homeschooling is actually taking place, but I would imagine that those duties get shared as well. I'm sure that makes it a little easier to keep the baby factory going.

[lexiloumarie]

8 minutes ago, NachosFlandersStyle said:

By my count this makes 32 grandkids plus 4 on the way. And I think Alyssa is only 23 or 24?

I think the Mortons make it work better than some of these mega-families because most of them are essentially living communally. They are all working in the kitchen or on the job site or farm together. And I have no idea how much homeschooling is actually taking place, but I would imagine that those duties get shared as well. I'm sure that makes it a little easier to keep the baby factory going.

Plus they used to maintain a communal baby and kids clothes....closet? Store? In the barn attic that all the clothes would get put into when a kid didn't fit it so that the other sisters in law could use them.

I've said before that I sometimes see them as the most dangerous of the fundies families for these reasons. They have just enough resources to provide for their families while keeping everyone so interwoven and connected. It was like that with the smorton marriages and the latter continues with the three bff's marrying the younger Morton men. These youg ladies (Alyssa, Campbell, Kennedy) have grown up best friends and friends with the Morton girls. They all get to live together on the compound now and raise their children together. The pressure they'd be under if they did have any change of heart would be immense.

And honestly look at their success rate so far. Katie's marriage didn't work out for horrifying reasons, but every single child has courted, and married within a very short relationship. They've got 3 of 12 at home now not counting Katie's family. The duggars and Bates families are catching up but even then, it's become obvious that a few may not fall perfectly into line. Every Morton child so far has done exactly as expected, raising larger quiverful, patriarchal children with admittedly limited homeschooling and understanding of safe parenting. We're only a few short years from the oldest grandchild courting if all goes to plan. That's the scary factor. They've set this up to last for generations and realistically, the ones most likely to succeed imo - they don't have the duggars or Bates level Fame and exposure to tempt them away.

[JermajestyDuggar]

27 minutes ago, NachosFlandersStyle said:

By my count this makes 32 grandkids plus 4 on the way. And I think Alyssa is only 23 or 24?

I think the Mortons make it work better than some of these mega-families because most of them are essentially living communally. They are all working in the kitchen or on the job site or farm together. And I have no idea how much homeschooling is actually taking place, but I would imagine that those duties get shared as well. I'm sure that makes it a little easier to keep the baby factory going.

The way they describe growing up, I honestly wouldn’t say they did even a middling job at parenting. And I imagine the homeschooling was not good.

[JermajestyDuggar]

I will add that nobody expects divorce in fundieland. But it happens. Who would have guessed the fundie royal couple Peter and Kelly Bradrick would divorce? 

[JMO]

Who are the 4 on the way? I only know of Kennedy, Darth and Alyssa. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

3 minutes ago, JMO said:

Who are the 4 on the way? I only know of Kennedy, Darth and Alyssa. 

Kressant is pregnant with a girl. I believe she’s due in Sept.

[albireo]

Alyssa may be due December 8th, but the link on the site goes to an old registry: https://registry.thebump.com/alyssa-morton-samuel-morton-december-2018-fl/16199224

[JMO]

2 hours ago, albireo said:

Alyssa may be due December 8th, but the link on the site goes to an old registry: https://registry.thebump.com/alyssa-morton-samuel-morton-december-2018-fl/16199224

That's crazy if she's actually due then. Honestly with 3 kids in n 3 yrs she should just be hoping for lots of diapers and wipes. Various sizes. She'll have 3 in diapers. 

Edited August 1, 2018 by JMO

[ophelia]

17 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I’m guessing the Campana parents won’t let Alyssa and her children starve. I wouldn’t be surprised if they helped support the growing family. 

The Campana family really interests me and I'd like to know how they came to fundamentalism despite their Italian (catholic ?) heritage. From their older children's IG accounts it looks like they loosened up or lot or might even logged out of their kids lifes entirely. They are never shown and the kids seem to do whatever they want. Of course - some of their time is still spend protesting against abortion so everything is probably fine for their parents.

By the way - I guess there will be another Campana - Morton marriage in the future.

[SolomonFundy]

Unless it's a distant future match between Gracia and either Paul or Edwin, I personally don't really see another marriage between the two families. At least, not with the current adults to choose from. Addie and Nick seem to be on very different wavelengths, and Gabriella doesn't strike me as the type of person to go for a younger partner. (I think she's about two years older than Edwin.) At one point, I thought that Mariah and John may end up in a courtship, but clearly I missed the mark on that.

 

[JermajestyDuggar]

5 hours ago, SolomonFundy said:

Unless it's a distant future match between Gracia and either Paul or Edwin, I personally don't really see another marriage between the two families. At least, not with the current adults to choose from. Addie and Nick seem to be on very different wavelengths, and Gabriella doesn't strike me as the type of person to go for a younger partner. (I think she's about two years older than Edwin.) At one point, I thought that Mariah and John may end up in a courtship, but clearly I missed the mark on that.

 

I think Gabriella just turned 18 less than a week ago. How old is Edwin? I was thinking he was 17. Paul just turned 15.