Joe & Kendra 16: Praise - ing Their Brooklyn All the Day Long!

[Cam]

My mother’s childbearing years were before the pill and other forms of birth control. Not that she’d have used it since Catholics weren’t supposed to and she tried to be devout. Society also played a role in the mental illness that women of her era developed. Think of all the Rosie Riveters sent back to “domestic bliss” after WWII. “Ladies, your services are no longer needed. Get back to the task of submitting to menfolk. All of them. The abusive ones. The irresponsible ones. The ones who are less skilled and less intelligent than you. Defer to them at all times. Their penis gives them power over you.”
 

I was one of the middle kids in our large family and often felt invisible unless I did something wrong and then my presence along with the infraction was magnified. I didn’t like the feeling of helplessness that went along with never having enough money. Other things left our family unstable. In hindsight, I believe I had undiagnosed anxiety and depression. Part of my salvation came when I began reading self help books in my 20s. I would practice some way to improve my life that I’d read about and see results. It was…..kind of like a gradual awakening. 

[Idlewild]

The most shocking thing about that photo is that Joe is only 27? He looks way older. 

[viii]

The caption is so sad. She's 23 and already has three children - ages three, two, and one. Like... zero time to breathe. Damn. 

I wouldn't be surprised if she's pregnant again. I'd actually be more surprised if she wasn't. 

[CanadianMamam]

8 hours ago, VeryNikeSeamstress said:

These pictures arent from Hannah's shower.

I 

Oj, I was just adding the fact that in addition to whatever other picture, she was tagged in a shower picture that only showed her from the back, none from the shirt. 

[SassyPants]

They all look happy in that picture. I hope Kendra is not PG. They are likely only providing the minimum (attention, stimulation, nurturing, time) to the kids they have already bore.

[SorenaJ]

I hope Kendra is not pregnant again. I hope they settle into a rhythm of one kid every 2 years as opposed to every 18 months.  

[adidas]

It looks like a maternity dress to me.

And imo it doesn’t need a shirt underneath, there is nothing immodest about it. 

[Meggo]

On 3/8/2022 at 2:03 PM, adidas said:

It looks like a maternity dress to me.

And imo it doesn’t need a shirt underneath, there is nothing immodest about it. 

also - why is he side hugging his mom? I know they're obsessed with side hugs -but... she's your mom... 
I give my son GIANT full body hugs (because he's 9 and he still lets me do that). I just ... ugh. it's just gross. She's your mom. You should be able to hug her without it being weird.

 

[FaithAndReason]

I'll say she's pregnant based on those pics and I don't see anything wrong with how Joe is hugging his mom. I've hugged people like that while also have a convo with others; just like how it looks in this picture.

[AussieKrissy]

all this talk of Mental illness and religion....

Anyone looking for a tv series recommendations, an older Aussie Mini series

Brides of Christ 

About Nuns, its brilliant

My friend went through the catholic school system about the time this series was set and said it brought her a lot of healing seeing what the nun's were going through in this time, the church changing their role in the community and how the nuns struggled with it. 

One episode that stands out to me is a young novice nun (is what they are called) counselling a young mum not allowed to use birth control who (loose memory) keeps nearly bleeding out every miscarriage and the novice having trouble with god wanting a women to go through that.

Guaranteed it is on some pirate site somewhere 

great binge watch 

[SassyPants]

12 hours ago, AussieKrissy said:

all this talk of Mental illness and religion....

Anyone looking for a tv series recommendations, an older Aussie Mini series

Brides of Christ 

About Nuns, its brilliant

My friend went through the catholic school system about the time this series was set and said it brought her a lot of healing seeing what the nun's were going through in this time, the church changing their role in the community and how the nuns struggled with it. 

One episode that stands out to me is a young novice nun (is what they are called) counselling a young mum not allowed to use birth control who (loose memory) keeps nearly bleeding out every miscarriage and the novice having trouble with god wanting a women to go through that.

Guaranteed it is on some pirate site somewhere 

great binge watch 

Thank you. I was educated in Catholic schools (early 60-70s). I hope I can find this series. I remember the exodus of nuns, especially younger women, from the sisterhood. So many of the nuns who taught me in grammar school left and married.

[Meggo]

13 hours ago, FaithAndReason said:

I'll say she's pregnant based on those pics and I don't see anything wrong with how Joe is hugging his mom. I've hugged people like that while also have a convo with others; just like how it looks in this picture.

no that's fair - I guess I don't mean just this picture. But I've seen lots of times where the kids are side hugging their parents or their siblings and I guess... I don't know - it's just ... odd. (like so many Duggar things) 

[Idlewild]

@AussieKrissy I remember watching that in the UK- it was a very good series .

[CaptainFunderpants]

On 3/7/2022 at 5:24 AM, Idlewild said:

The most shocking thing about that photo is that Joe is only 27? He looks way older. 

Right? Kendra just looks pretty and ageless, although in a sense it's hard to believe she's only 23 because it feels like she should be 33 by now. She got married SO young. 33 and 37 would make much more sense, but alas 23 and 27 likely with a fourth child on the way. Hopefully her body holds up... Pregnancy is so brutal resource-wise.

[SassyPants]

3 hours ago, CaptainFunderpants said:

Right? Kendra just looks pretty and ageless, although in a sense it's hard to believe she's only 23 because it feels like she should be 33 by now. She got married SO young. 33 and 37 would make much more sense, but alas 23 and 27 likely with a fourth child on the way. Hopefully her body holds up... Pregnancy is so brutal resource-wise.

My oldest is soon to be 35. Since that time, I have the bladder capacity of a gnat. Every drop of urine feels like a gallon. And I had small babies and c-sections. I can’t imagine how my bladder would be if I had pushed out a 9 pounder or carried 19 babies.

[AussieKrissy]

I'm one step off a pack of depends, one tiny baby and a c sections. I would just be in depends if I had 19. I have shocking bladder control. 

[Bluebirdbluebell]

It's looks like a dress with empire waist. It could be maternity and it could be just be the cut of the dress. Kendra's style tends toward baggy, modest, and less revealing.

It wouldn't surprise me if she was pregnant, but the pictures aren't definitive.

 

[GuineaPigCourtship]

Supposedly it's a maternity dress.  I don't get the sense she is or isn't pregnant from the photo, and since I still wear my maternity leggings in rotation with my other clothes over a year postpartum I don't read too much into it.  She could have diastasis recti after several fast pregnancies and feel more comfortable in an outfit that doesn't hug her midriff, or she could have just grabbed something clean because she has 3 little kids and life is insane.

But she's probably pregnant because she's a member of a fertility cult who seems to be in a very fertile relationship.  Guess we'll know one way or another at some point in the next 9 months through group photos or an actual announcement.

[Grace]

I still regularly wear SEVERAL maternity clothing items because those suckers are comfy and I haven't been pregnant. YEARS 🤣

[JermajestyDuggar]

20 hours ago, SassyPants said:

My oldest is soon to be 35. Since that time, I have the bladder capacity of a gnat. Every drop of urine feels like a gallon. And I had small babies and c-sections. I can’t imagine how my bladder would be if I had pushed out a 9 pounder or carried 19 babies.

Yeah I pushed out a 9 pounder and my bladder is definitely not as good as it used to be. 

[Baxter]

Yes, my bladder control isn't nearly as good as it used to be after two kids. Just in general my body felt very broken after I was pregnant with my second. This is one of the many reasons I decided a third would be a bad idea. Now that my daughter is almost three, I'm finally feeling like life is easier again. I just cannot fathom how hard life for Kendra and all these other quiverful mothers is. I would go insane. 

[zee_four]

I've been involuntarily committed to 3 different psych wards as an adult, starting at 19. That's not counting the juvenile ward I was placed in at 1e-14 but no matter what discipline and "tough so called love" they realized I wasnt just a regular troublemaker with a bad attitude but I was seriously ill and they couldn't help me so eventually they just sort of kicked me out back to my poor struggling mother who had no idea what happened to her sweet baby girl. It breaks my heart that to this day when we talk sometimes it's clear she still blames herself somehow she just doesn't know what she did wrong and it doesn't seem to matter how much I tell her it wasn't her and she tried and everything she did was out of love, even if it ended up causing more hurt than good which was a lot, but I don't mention that part. Bless her heart she tried.

I had textbook signs of Bipolar 1 starting at age 11 when overnight I went from shy, goody two shoes, loving little girl to trying to commit suicide. I was out on an SSRI and immediately became so manic after a week or two with literally no sleep, non stop talking, etc. I raj away for a few weeks. I was taken off the meds but they didnt diagnose juveniles with Bipolar so I just got worse and worse with crazy ups and downs and turned to drugs and partying to self medicate before I turned 16. It was a mess.

Even once I got the official diagnosis it took another 6 or so years to fund medication that worked Id given up, nothing has worked, I had no insurance and there was no low cost mental health clinics near by. Not that I would have gone because if I had to sit through another CBT session screaming it didn't work because there was no reason no thoughts no behaviors that led up to my psychotic manic episodes and equally dark swings down who knows what I would have done. I only got back into psych care after I was arrested, but not because the state cared but because my lawyer helped me get on Medicaid I could have been on before I ruined my life.

It's still a daily challenge but the meds, one being an atypical anti-psychotic, so a more recent class of drugs,, have saved my life.  Not too long my 75 year old dad I live with and help out said that when he was younger there wasn't as many homeless all over the islands because they all had hospitals to stay and get help but when they closed them all down they got kicked out onto to streets.

He meant well but didn't understand if it was 1959 again I would not be living with him. I'd be luckily if they hadn't cut into my brain or drugged me up with first gen anti psych meds I wouldn't be capable of anything more than spending my life locked up.

Everytime I read about or think about how awful the mentally ill were treated within my own father's lifetime let one centuries before I get sick. I cant imagine even being my dad's age how awful my situation would have been. Modern psych wards aren't rainbows and sunshine. Especially Tripler Army Hospital where I spent my first commitment for just under a month. But I left without a lobotomy, and the goal was to get me functioning again as an adult human being. 

I still am gaslight all the time, especially in my past relationships, in the issue of my son's custody and more but sadly that's still nothing compared to the horrors of very recent past the mentally ill were subject to. It really just shakes me to the bone and I want to cry for all those poor innocent human beings that were treated worse than livestock, like they were nothing but mistakes and had no rights, no value and no love or even basic respect. 

[libgirl2]

On 3/9/2022 at 9:12 PM, AussieKrissy said:

all this talk of Mental illness and religion....

Anyone looking for a tv series recommendations, an older Aussie Mini series

Brides of Christ 

About Nuns, its brilliant

My friend went through the catholic school system about the time this series was set and said it brought her a lot of healing seeing what the nun's were going through in this time, the church changing their role in the community and how the nuns struggled with it. 

One episode that stands out to me is a young novice nun (is what they are called) counselling a young mum not allowed to use birth control who (loose memory) keeps nearly bleeding out every miscarriage and the novice having trouble with god wanting a women to go through that.

Guaranteed it is on some pirate site somewhere 

great binge watch 

I think I saw that! I'm going to try to get a copy through the library. 

[Cam]

Libgirl2, check YouTube for Brides of Christ.

I also read this about the miniseries:

Winner of four Australian Film Institute Awards including Best Mini-Series and Best Television Actress (Lisa Hensley), Brides of Christ stars Academy Award® winner Brenda Fricker (My Left Foot) and features breakthrough performances from Academy Award® nominee Naomi Watts (21 Grams) and Academy Award® winner Russell Crowe (Gladiator).

Edited March 14, 2022 by Cam

[adidas]

Oh my gosh! Brides of Christ was so awesome. I have seen the whole series many times but now I want to watch it again