Bontragers/Bowers/Helferichs 10: Where In the World Is Allison Bon-Diego??

[JermajestyDuggar]

5 minutes ago, anjulibai said:

Eh, I don't think the number of healthy pregnancies can tell number of losses based on statistical proportions. My grandmother had 9 healthy pregancies and no miscarriages. My cousin had 7 health pregnancies and one loss. Personally, I have had 2 pregnancies and no losses. 

I'm not saying the statistic of 1 in 4 miscarriages is wrong, but I don't think it's useful when looking at any given woman's childbearing years. The statistic just says that it's common, given a large enough population, which includes a lot of different circumstances, ages, genetics, etc. 

It’s probably all over the place depending on the person. The fact that Michelle only had two was always surprising to me 

[HereticHick]

3 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I do remember Ma Bowers had 2 miscarriages and they were her last two pregnancies. I think they were Courage and Columbus. 

Looks like Columbus Shackleton and Courage Wilberforce.  Oh my.

https://bowersbus.blogspot.com/2014/

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 minutes ago, HereticHick said:

Looks like Columbus Shackleton and Courage Wilberforce.  Oh my.

https://bowersbus.blogspot.com/2014/

The only reason why I remembered their names is because they were so unusual. If they were Christopher and Carl I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to remember. My memory really isn’t what it used to be. I used to have such a good memory. I always say pregnancy and having newborns fried my brain and it never recovered. 

I just have to post how extremely long these skirts are on the poor girls on the Marion avenue baptist volleyball team. Those are the longest I’ve ever seen on a fundie team. And of course there are cropped leggings underneath just in case. 

[SassyPants]

1 hour ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

The only reason why I remembered their names is because they were so unusual. If they were Christopher and Carl I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to remember. My memory really isn’t what it used to be. I used to have such a good memory. I always say pregnancy and having newborns fried my brain and it never recovered. 

I just have to post how extremely long these skirts are on the poor girls on the Marion avenue baptist volleyball team. Those are the longest I’ve ever seen on a fundie team. And of course there are cropped leggings underneath just in case. 

Well we all know the only alternative is string bikinis. The people in charge of making these ridiculous decisions are dinged, IMO-

[HereticHick]

2 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I just have to post how extremely long these skirts are on the poor girls on the Marion avenue baptist volleyball team. Those are the longest I’ve ever seen on a fundie team. And of course there are cropped leggings underneath just in case. 

 

Wow.  Appalachian Bible College (where the Maxwell girls go) is a Brazilian beach compared to Marion Avenue! 

[JermajestyDuggar]

17 minutes ago, HereticHick said:

Wow.  Appalachian Bible College (where the Maxwell girls go) is a Brazilian beach compared to Marion Avenue! 

I agree. ABC is a good example of changing up the dress code. They used to be skirts only but they changed and if you look at the pictures of students, every single one of them is wearing very run of the mill clothing. No string bikinis. No nipples showing. No thongs. Just very ordinary clothing you would see just about anywhere. 

[IsmeWeatherwax]

The surprise guests were Denver and Praise joining them, how exciting

[hollyfeller]

On 1/22/2022 at 5:07 PM, HereticHick said:

Wow.  Appalachian Bible College (where the Maxwell girls go) is a Brazilian beach compared to Marion Avenue! 

Those shorts look comfortable AF

[JermajestyDuggar]

41 minutes ago, hollyfeller said:

Those shorts look comfortable AF

So much more comfortable than a skirt that goes past your knees. Plus all the volleyball players I’ve ever known wore knee pads. Does the Marion Ave church think they don’t need knee pads because they have long skirts over the knees? Because they aren’t the same! Or maybe they aren’t allowed to go down on their knees when playing volleyball. It’s probably not lady like. 

[CaptainFunderpants]

21 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

So much more comfortable than a skirt that goes past your knees. Plus all the volleyball players I’ve ever known wore knee pads. Does the Marion Ave church think they don’t need knee pads because they have long skirts over the knees? Because they aren’t the same! Or maybe they aren’t allowed to go down on their knees when playing volleyball. It’s probably not lady like. 

Or it was just picture day and so knee pads weren't deemed as necessary.

Guessing no video board media so no need to have kill and dig footage.

I'll take a different opinion from the thread though: I would hate playing in shorts that long. I wear volleyball shorts at the gym, but would wear bun huggers in a heartbeat if it was socially acceptable.

[JermajestyDuggar]

2 hours ago, CaptainFunderpants said:

Or it was just picture day and so knee pads weren't deemed as necessary.

Guessing no video board media so no need to have kill and dig footage.

I'll take a different opinion from the thread though: I would hate playing in shorts that long. I wear volleyball shorts at the gym, but would wear bun huggers in a heartbeat if it was socially acceptable.

There were pictures of them playing in action and I didn’t see any knee pads in the action shots.

[CaptainFunderpants]

9 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

There were pictures of them playing in action and I didn’t see any knee pads in the action shots.

YIKES! That sounds horrible. You'd think they'd love kneepads because more coverage 🤷‍♀️

[theotherelise]

I say this frequently on this forum, but there is another option beyond loss / sub-fertility / prevention. A couple may be having any number of sexual function issues that could mean less frequent or regular sex. I highly recommend The Great Sex Rescue book by Sheila Wray Gregoire for anyone interested in the effects of purity culture and patriarchy on married christian women's sex lives. Women who grow up in purity culture have much higher rates of vaginismius. Fundie men could also have physical, emotional, or psychological concerns affecting their sexual desire and functions. 

[Katzchen24]

I was a little bit curious as to what the Bowers Patriarch had been up to in the interval since the Insurrection. Like a few others on FJ, I find him quite, quite scary.

He's still putting out his podcast, Faith, Freedom and Family, on a weekly basis. The most recent episode even featured Eric Metaxas, but other topics include how the elites are trying to grind down America's freedoms, questions about Russia and Israel, the Great Christian Reset and a whole bunch of whinging about Covid and the vaccine. 

One that caught my eye was the episode from Jan 22, 2021 about false flag events*. I wonder what that one was about...... There was another one on Nov 20, 2021  The blurb for the episode recommends two films. The first is A Noble Lie (Oklahoma City Bombing 1995 Documentary) and the second is labelled Architects and Engineers On 9/11.  Without listening to the podcast it seems Curtis is into stupid conspiracy theories and revolting denial of these two tragic events.

Curtis particularly recommends an organisation called McAlvany Intelligence Advisor in this episode. I looked at the MIA website and it was fairly vague and unspecific except for the bits where it asks you for money. One notable thing is that the principle dude behind it is this clown, Don McAlvaney. Quote from his bio: 

"After graduating from the University of Texas, MIA founder Don McAlvany became a key liaison between public and private sectors, including the intelligence community (IC), both domestically and internationally. For six years he held a formal position as the National Marketing Director of the world’s largest gold share investment company. His unofficial shadow role involved extensive international travel, meeting with high-level political leaders, presidents and various freedom fighting resistance groups around the world" (bolding is mine).

There's some major red flags there. My curiosity might get the better of me and I'll listen to what he has to say, but not tonight. Curtis is definitely deep into some troubling conspiracies and I wonder if that's why we're hearing so little from the older Bont boys etc. 

 

* I'm a huge Knowledge Fight fan and they routinely pull apart Alex Jones' constant claims of false flags, including the insurrection.

[IsmeWeatherwax]

9 hours ago, Katzchen24 said:

 Curtis is definitely deep into some troubling conspiracies and I wonder if that's why we're hearing so little from the older Bont boys etc. 

 It would be interesting if thats one of the reasons the friendship seemed to cool down, maybe it got too weird and dark for Ma and Pa Bont

[ElizaB]

1 hour ago, IsmeWeatherwax said:

 It would be interesting if thats one of the reasons the friendship seemed to cool down, maybe it got too weird and dark for Ma and Pa Bont

I think the Bonts have to worry a lot about their image. Even if they were to agree with the really crazy- they can't get too deep and advertise it too much. Their living relies on being invited to sing and being too vocal about things that are just too crazy could hurt this. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

1 hour ago, IsmeWeatherwax said:

 It would be interesting if thats one of the reasons the friendship seemed to cool down, maybe it got too weird and dark for Ma and Pa Bont

I doubt it. Curtis has been a kook for conspiracies since before it was common. Nowadays it seems almost normal for a right winger to fall for some conspiracies. But he was doing it over a decade ago. Marlin knows he’s a long time conspiracy theorist. Marlin used the word “plandemic” at his daughters wedding. He may not be as big into it as Curtis. But you can bet he’s into right wing conspiracies too. 

[IsmeWeatherwax]

@JermajestyDuggar oh I don't doubt they're all into crazy stuff! But I meant like too crazy, too dark, maybe it freaked them! Id love to know 😂 

[christiane87]

16 hours ago, Katzchen24 said:

Curtis particularly recommends an organisation called McAlvany Intelligence Advisor in this episode. 

Isn't McAlvany Curtis' wife Lauren's maiden name? Maybe this Don is a relative of hers.

[anjulibai]

5 minutes ago, christiane87 said:

Isn't McAlvany Curtis' wife Lauren's maiden name? Maybe this Don is a relative of hers.

According to Fundiepedia, yup, it is. Maybe it's her brother?

[ttej123]

6 hours ago, anjulibai said:

According to Fundiepedia, yup, it is. Maybe it's her brother?

Did some digging and I think it's her dad. Looks like he's been writing books about christian persecution and armageddon since Mama Bowers was a kid. I guess this shitshow is generational

[ttej123]

Gone down the rabbit hole... he's been raging against communists since the Cold War and was pro-apartheid to the point of setting up the "Council on South Africa" which aimed at targeting conservative businesses and political leaders to side with the Apartheid regime... by what is I'm sure a pure coincidence he has also been a huge gold investor and South Africa is one of the largest gold-producing countries.

https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1987-03-25-2558239-story.html

[Bluebirdbluebell]

1 hour ago, ttej123 said:

Did some digging and I think it's her dad. Looks like he's been writing books about christian persecution and armageddon since Mama Bowers was a kid. I guess this shitshow is generational

I'm trying to remember. At one point it turned out that Curtis's father was a professor who believed all kinds of conspiracies. So it looks Lauren McAlvany and Curtis Bowers are a match made in fundie conspiracy-nut heaven and this shit is generational from both sides. I wonder if their marriage was arranged or if these people raised by nutjobs just happened to find each other. 

I'm pretty sure this is Curtis's dad: James C. Bowers aka Jim Bowers. You can scroll to see the author bio and other books. 

[anjulibai]

Ugh, he's an electrical engineer who thinks that makes him fit to expound on all topics. Yet another victim of Dunning-Krueger. 

[CaptainFunderpants]

3 hours ago, ttej123 said:

Did some digging and I think it's her dad. Looks like he's been writing books about christian persecution and armageddon since Mama Bowers was a kid. I guess this shitshow is generational

Juicy. Now that is some TEA.

^Seriously, great work -including a rescue ferret to help replenish your supply