JinJer 47: Sparking J-O-Y

[lumpentheologie]

9 minutes ago, Ms. Brightside said:

I live in LA and just looked up the area where Grace Community Church is... while it's not going to be Laredo prices, it's really on the outskirts of LA and relatively cheap compared to living a few miles south in southern San Fernando Valley, which is considerably cheaper than living a few more miles south across the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles proper. It's also a pretty isolated area... I don't know anyone who lives that far north (unless you count people who live much farther north in Santa Clarita) and my impression of the area is that it's mostly immigrants (they'll still get to put the five Spanish words they know to use!), and apparently, conservative Christians who don't want to risk being influenced by the city folk. 

I was hoping they would end up in an area that would challenge their beliefs a bit more, but it looks like they'll be able to remain quite isolated. 

I have family that live right there and while it's on the edge of the city I'd hardly call it isolated.  It's very much part of LA.  The 5 goes right through it. And prices are high. My family bought in the 70s, and despite being middle to upper-middle class, there's no way they could afford what they have now (4 bedroom house with a yard and pool). I think if JinJer want to stay in LA the price of real estate alone will keep the size of their family down. 

[Rik_Bik]

Is it bad I’m actually kind of...happy isn’t the right word but maybe excited for Jinger? After Jill all those years ago told her to work on her contentment, that her dreams of living in a big city where unrealistic, and now she gets to fulfill that dream? Fundie women especially have, to me, very little joy in their lives. How many of them have fulfilled any dream that isn’t being a wife/mother? 

[Ms. Brightside]

17 minutes ago, lumpentheologie said:

I have family that live right there and while it's on the edge of the city I'd hardly call it isolated.  It's very much part of LA.  The 5 goes right through it. And prices are high. My family bought in the 70s, and despite being middle to upper-middle class, there's no way they could afford what they have now (4 bedroom house with a yard and pool). I think if JinJer want to stay in LA the price of real estate alone will keep the size of their family down. 

Apologies, I should have chosen a better word... I just meant that's it's not really the "Los Angeles" a lot of people who don't live here think of... there aren't lots of movie stars and huge huge homes, not tons of the influencers and ultra-liberal types that feel at home in West Hollywood or Venice. While it's still part of a big city and not cheap, the feel up there is much more like small cities anywhere in the country; they will be isolating themselves from the "LA experience" as most people think of it. Many people who live here do (myself included- I live across from a park in an area with plenty of parking and quiet streets. I love living less than an hour from anything I could ever want to do, but I also want my home to feel like a place I can unwind.), I just didn't want someone to read that they were moving to LA and picture them fraternizing with celebs and seeing drag queens on the street on their way home from the local brunch cabaret. Their lives probably won't change all that much, in reality.

[nokidsmom]

Well this is news.  Actually it makes sense that they would have to move so Jeremy could complete his seminary training.  Had a neighbor that did the same thing.  He started online but eventually had to move to the state / town where the seminary was located to finish.    But in his case he was moving from a HCOL area (Chicagoland area) to LCOL relatively speaking, somewhere in TN.  This was about 12 years ago though. 

Maybe they will rent out that nice house in Laredo while he finishes then move back for a time until he gets his big break.   

[Snarkasarus Rex]

I don’t think they’re going back to Laredo.  He doesn’t seems to be personally invested in his church plant, and they have visited LA several times in the past two years.  This was his plan all along, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he is also working part time for them.

[lumpentheologie]

26 minutes ago, Ms. Brightside said:

Apologies, I should have chosen a better word... I just meant that's it's not really the "Los Angeles" a lot of people who don't live here think of... there aren't tons of movie stars and huge huge homes, not tons of the influencers and ultra-liberal types that feel at home in West Hollywood or Venice. While it's still part of a big city and not cheap, the feel up there is much more like small cities anywhere in the country; they will be isolating themselves from the "LA experience" as most people think of it. Many people who live here do (myself included- I live across from a park in an area with plenty of parking and quiet streets), I just didn't want someone to read that they were moving to LA and picture them fraternizing with celebs and seeing drag queens on the street on their way home from the local brunch cabaret. Their lives probably won't change all that much, in reality.

No apologies needed!  That celebrity idea of the "LA experience" seems kind of like the idea of New York as Midtown + Lower Manhattan...very famous, lots of rich people, but not the experience of most people who live in the city at all. 

The area they're moving to definitely has a less "urban" feel than central parts of big cities do, and is probably more conservative than more inner parts as well.  But compared to Laredo, I think they'll be having a much more cosmopolitain experience. There are lots of immigrants in Laredo but probably all from across the Mexican border. Right near the area they'll be living in LA are established Vietnamese and Armenian communities, as well as Hispanic families (like mine) who have been in the US for generations.  And they're really still a pretty short drive from Chinatown, etc. I think they'll just inevitably end up interacting with more different kinds of people there.

They also won't be important compared to other people there, like at all.  Knowing that this will irk Jeremy is giving me some schadenfreude right now. 

[JordynDarby5]

8 minutes ago, Rik_Bik said:

Is it bad I’m actually kind of...happy isn’t the right word but maybe excited for Jinger? After Jill all those years ago told her to work on her contentment, that her dreams of living in a big city where unrealistic, and now she gets to fulfill that dream? Fundie women especially have, to me, very little joy in their lives. How many of them have fulfilled any dream that isn’t being a wife/mother? 

I don't think so. That's really the only thing I'm happy about. She wanted to live in a big city and had her answer "corrected" as if there was something wrong with it.  I question how they'll be afford to live there or how Jeremy will handle being in a bigger pond. I know their moving for his classes but I don't see him making it very far in his chosen field.   

[CaricatureQualities]

All I can think of is Michelle explaining that all Jinger meant by wanting to live in the city was she wanted to be 15 mins from a walmart. 

Because you can get everything a city has to offer at a walmart. Well, in Michelle's very small world I bet a walmart is all you could ever want or dream of. 

I bet Jinger has barely set foot in a walmart since leaving Arkansas. 

 

[frugalitymom]

Will be interesting to see how things change in regards to Jinger once she is further away from her family. I don’t expect their beliefs to change but maybe we will see less kids. 

[FrozenSmile]

I wish i had been a fly on the wall when they told JB. I wonder if his head exploded? He didn’t seem too happy with Jeremy when they moved to Laredo, so i imagine this didn’t go over very well. 

[Snarkasarus Rex]

Oh I definitely think fewer kids is Jeremy’s plan...I think they will tap out at 3 reasonably spaced blessings, maybe even 2 if the next one is a boy.  More kids = less time and money for Jeremy, and we can’t have that.  Jinger has never expressed a desire for eleventy kids, and she’s about to watch Jessa deal with 3 under ( I have a feeling Jordyn’s about to become an auntie mom).  She’ll be on board with a smaller family.

[onekidanddone]

2 hours ago, SweetLaurel said:

Same way other married college people do - jobs and loans.  Oh - wait - she isn't allowed to work and he promised JB he wouldn't go in debt for anything in the pre marital grilling.   Never mind....  

What would happen if he took out a loan now? Yes he promised JB he wouldn't but who is going to hold him to that? It isn't like JB can just take back his approval. 

[JordynDarby5]

2 minutes ago, FrozenSmile said:

I wish i had been a fly on the wall when they told JB. I wonder if his head exploded? He didn’t seem too happy with Jeremy when they moved to Laredo, so i imagine this didn’t go over very well. 

Him and Michelle, since she insisted Jinger only meant being near a Walmart.

[bal maiden]

Inevitably they will instagram themselves at In n Out, and I will be pissed that I moved back to Europe and no longer have access to animal style fries. 

[viii]

I think we will see a spin off show, personally. 

[JesusPony]

So... Is Jinger free? LA, pants, and a (relatively) "liberal" husband? She definitely has the best deal out of the married sisters.

[Sky with diamonds]

10 minutes ago, FrozenSmile said:

I wish i had been a fly on the wall when they told JB. I wonder if his head exploded? He didn’t seem too happy with Jeremy when they moved to Laredo, so i imagine this didn’t go over very well. 

Same. Remember how he acted when Josh and Anna told Jim Bob when they choose to  move away. I get the impression Jim Bob didn't want them to move.

I hope this move will open Jinger's eyes to the big world that is out there. 

[VBOY9977]

1 minute ago, JesusPony said:

So... Is Jinger free? LA, pants, and a (relatively) "liberal" husband? She definitely has the best deal out of the married sisters.

She certainly is the one who got the better deal, but I don’t think that equates with her being free.

I personally still have so many wishes for her. I wish she’d gone to school, or maybe gotten a job. I wish she didn’t worship Jeremy so much. I don’t know if she’d be able to thrive as an independent woman, she seems to be pretty reliant on Jeremy. 

[prayawaythefundie]

9 minutes ago, JesusPony said:

So... Is Jinger free? LA, pants, and a (relatively) "liberal" husband? She definitely has the best deal out of the married sisters.

You are brave to ask that question. ?People have done that before. Think beanut butter war. ?

[Satan'sFortress]

But aren't there . . . homosexual people in L.A.? 

[bal maiden]

Jeremy may well be marginally less fundamentalist, but I don’t think he is any less controlling than Jim Bob. Jinger isn’t free, she just traded one jailer for another one with a better appearance. 

[karen77]

Well, I think it'll be eye opening for her to live in Cali. Completely different than TX or AR.

[Kaylo]

She certainly is the one who got the better deal, but I don’t think that equates with her being free.
I personally still have so many wishes for her. I wish she’d gone to school, or maybe gotten a job. I wish she didn’t worship Jeremy so much. I don’t know if she’d be able to thrive as an independent woman, she seems to be pretty reliant on Jeremy. 

Isn’t freedom relative though? We may have wishes for her, but those are our wishes, not hers. If she is free to pursue the things she desires, isn’t she free?

[VBOY9977]

11 minutes ago, Kaylo said:

Isn’t freedom relative though? We may have wishes for her, but those are our wishes, not hers. If she is free to pursue the things she desires, isn’t she free?

I mean, in that case, Michelle is a free woman because she chose that lifestyle. I guess what I was referring to, and what I think “Free Jinger” means is being free from a patriarchal and fundamentalist life. 

[SweetLaurel]

3 minutes ago, Kaylo said:

sn’t freedom relative though? We may have wishes for her, but those are our wishes, not hers. If she is free to pursue the things she desires, isn’t she free?

i love that question!  I really do - looking back on my life, I had no clue what I didn't know.   I loved to read - read always - like a book or two a day since before I was five.   I first  read the books on my grandma's shelves, old books, from old authors and thought all writers were dead.  I read very big books very young and didn't comprehend a lot.   I had no clue I could write - because all writers were dead, you see.   I read a book in about fourth grade and at the end it said 'the author lives in California with her husband and 2 sons and golden retriever'   and I thought, 'well, you mean she did before she died, right?'   If you are raised to think that while, yes, you can have hobbies,  and some skills, but the only purpose in your life is SAHM, you don't even begin to think about what else.    What could be.  What you might really want.   Any other dream is 'dead' and so not doable. I could read, of course and doodle stories, but I couldn't be an author!     (and yes, I now have over 20 books published and I've not died yet.)    So no, I don't think she is 'free'.  Could she go to school to be a preacher with Jeremy?  Could she get a job at Starbucks?  Go learn at a photography seminar alone?   Nope.  She's a mom.  She stays home.  The End.  Oh well, she can probably push some MLM  scheme at some point.  But!  No More!   MHO - yours?