John and Alyssa Webster 14: Is It Time to Say the Family Is Complete?

[Kiki03910]

14 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Who would steal a Bible? That makes no sense to me.

I take Gideon bibles from hotel rooms, though I'm not sure that's actually stealing...

[dawn9476]

14 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Who would steal a Bible? That makes no sense to me.

I just rewatched that part, and she said it was in some bag and that a person probably didn't know that it was a bible in the bag. Her ear buds were also inside the bag. They probably thought they were taking someone's purse.

Edited February 7 by dawn9476

[Melissa1977]

What do they mean by Bible study? I think they READ the Bible (and no, I don't think they do it often, come on, they have 5 children and love gym and TV time). Anyway, I don't see where the study is. Do they look for historical information to put it in context? Some philosophical questions? Do they compare verses and books to see similarities or differences? Do they read about slaves, rape and sending a mother with a newborn to die on the desert and have some kind of ethical doubt??? Of course not.

[CaptainFunderpants]

2 hours ago, Melissa1977 said:

What do they mean by Bible study? I think they READ the Bible (and no, I don't think they do it often, come on, they have 5 children and love gym and TV time). *snip*

Your other points are fair, but with this one... Plenty of people read and study the bible while at the gym. And I suppose with the studying, there are plenty of annotations that will send you on scripture goose chases. There are also plenty of doctrinal discussions from famous Christian scholars if she really wanted to get into it -which I doubt she does, but still, they exist!

[SassyPants]

How does one read and study the Bible while running, swimming, taking an exercise class or lifting weights? I guess the audio version?? For me, the Bible requires my full attention. It’s hard for me to multi-task and fully grasp the material.

[dawn9476]

9 hours ago, Melissa1977 said:

What do they mean by Bible study? I think they READ the Bible (and no, I don't think they do it often, come on, they have 5 children and love gym and TV time). Anyway, I don't see where the study is. Do they look for historical information to put it in context? Some philosophical questions? Do they compare verses and books to see similarities or differences? Do they read about slaves, rape and sending a mother with a newborn to die on the desert and have some kind of ethical doubt??? Of course not.

Isn't their bible study time on Wednesday nights? Isn't that why fundies go to church that night except for Katie and Travis. The weeknight that they go to church every week is Thursday's at his dad's church. There are also Sunday school classes while their kids are in their own classes except for Rhett. He probably goes to a nursery.

ETA: I forgot that there is a clip of them reading the bible with the kids in this video. Looks to be right before the kids are going to bed.

Edited February 7 by dawn9476

[SassyPants]

So their kids do not attend services with them? Now I know why they all go to church all the time. It’s a bulk of time each week when they are child free. There must also be time for the adults to “fellowship” too. A little Jesus and a little coffee and no kids!

[JermajestyDuggar]

21 minutes ago, SassyPants said:

So their kids do not attend services with them? Now I know why they all go to church all the time. It’s a bulk of time each week when they are child free. There must also be time for the adults to “fellowship” too. A little Jesus and a little coffee and no kids!

I think the kids do AWANAS on Wednesday. 

[Expectopatronus]

20 hours ago, Melissa1977 said:

What do they mean by Bible study? I think they READ the Bible (and no, I don't think they do it often, come on, they have 5 children and love gym and TV time). Anyway, I don't see where the study is. Do they look for historical information to put it in context? Some philosophical questions? Do they compare verses and books to see similarities or differences? Do they read about slaves, rape and sending a mother with a newborn to die on the desert and have some kind of ethical doubt??? Of course not.

There are some decent podcasts that work through the Bible in a year and include a commentary on the reading that place them in historical context and discuss their applicability. When I was commuting an hour or more to work, I used a few of these. It’s basically 30 minutes per day of Bible study. Not in-depth by any means but decent. 

[dawn9476]

3 hours ago, SassyPants said:

So their kids do not attend services with them? Now I know why they all go to church all the time. It’s a bulk of time each week when they are child free. There must also be time for the adults to “fellowship” too. A little Jesus and a little coffee and no kids!

The actual main service, they probably all attend together. I think it's the other stuff, like their Sunday school classes that they split up for. The kids have their own classes with other kids in their age group, while Alyssa probably goes to a woman class and John goes to the class for men. Though, I am not sure if they do that at John & Alyssa's church. I am just speculating based off a video Carlin  & Evan did with some footage of their church where Evan referred to going to a class with other men while Carlin went to the woman's class while the kids were in their own class or in the nursery. If a kid was in a class, it was probably Layla.  Zade may have still been an infant.

Edited February 8 by dawn9476

[nelliebelle1197]

OMG Alyssa actually took the kids outside.

 

And her cooking is interesting...

Boil in bag rice, "homemade" salsa that is basically rotel and sugar and fake butter on soft taco shells??

Edited February 9 by nelliebelle1197

[Coconut Flan]

Just reading that makes my stomach hurt.  I even grow my own chiles and onions.  

[clueliss]

I’m just popping in to say not everyone (me for instance) finds any joy in cooking.  Due to her childhood, I’m going to guess her cooking skills were shortchanged for cooking for a large family by children rather than adults.  If on top of it she ( like me) isn’t really interested in learning all the cooking things from scratch the way so many I see across the internet doing, then she’s doing the best she knows how.  
 

i use boil in bag rice and things like that.  And cooking quite honestly overwhelms me when it comes to doing all the fancy stuff from scratch folks here keep describing.

[Keys]

What does it mean to boil in bag? Like you boil the whole plastic bag it comes in? 

[Coconut Flan]

Yes the rice is partially cooked, put in a plastic sealed package, and you put the package in boiling water.  It's frequently pre-seasoned.  Costco carries pre-cooked rice in small sealed bowls that go in the microwave.  

It's a fine product for many people especially singles or couples.  

Edited February 10 by Coconut Flan

[JermajestyDuggar]

1 hour ago, clueliss said:

I’m just popping in to say not everyone (me for instance) finds any joy in cooking.  Due to her childhood, I’m going to guess her cooking skills were shortchanged for cooking for a large family by children rather than adults.  If on top of it she ( like me) isn’t really interested in learning all the cooking things from scratch the way so many I see across the internet doing, then she’s doing the best she knows how.  
 

i use boil in bag rice and things like that.  And cooking quite honestly overwhelms me when it comes to doing all the fancy stuff from scratch folks here keep describing.

I’m not a big cooker either. I use boil in bag rice sometimes. But we also make rice in the instapot too. I’m fine with either way. It can be so hard to cook for kids. Because they go through picky phases. And I don’t force my kids to eat things they hate. I made meatball subs for dinner tonight. The meatballs were from the frozen section. I don’t make homemade meatballs. Sorry. It’s just not in me. But thankfully my kids love my meatball subs. And I’m happy when everyone likes what I cook. Because it’s disheartening when your kids dislike things you cook for them. 

[nelliebelle1197]

1 hour ago, clueliss said:

I’m just popping in to say not everyone (me for instance) finds any joy in cooking.  Due to her childhood, I’m going to guess her cooking skills were shortchanged for cooking for a large family by children rather than adults.  If on top of it she ( like me) isn’t really interested in learning all the cooking things from scratch the way so many I see across the internet doing, then she’s doing the best she knows how.  
 

i use boil in bag rice and things like that.  And cooking quite honestly overwhelms me when it comes to doing all the fancy stuff from scratch folks here keep describing.

She is putting it on YouTube and bragging about it. Are you doing that? You are projecting.

[nelliebelle1197]

12 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I’m not a big cooker either. I use boil in bag rice sometimes. But we also make rice in the instapot too. I’m fine with either way. It can be so hard to cook for kids. Because they go through picky phases. And I don’t force my kids to eat things they hate. I made meatball subs for dinner tonight. The meatballs were from the frozen section. I don’t make homemade meatballs. Sorry. It’s just not in me. But thankfully my kids love my meatball subs. And I’m happy when everyone likes what I cook. Because it’s disheartening when your kids dislike things you cook for them. 

There is nothing wrong with that but this is another example of another supposed traditional homemaking wife who does weird things with processed  food because of too many kids and fewer resources- the Bates, Rods and Duggars are hypocrites about the whole SAHM mom thing. It is not the rice or even to the fake butter on the tortillas (well, that is pretty bad) but just the continuation of the cycle - and the fact Alyssa still does not see it.

[Manda]

17 hours ago, clueliss said:

 Due to her childhood, I’m going to guess her cooking skills were shortchanged for cooking for a large family by children rather than adults.  If on top of it she ( like me) isn’t really interested in learning all the cooking things from scratch the way so many I see across the internet doing, then she’s doing the best she knows how.  

That's all fine.  Advertising one's lack of cooking skills for views and money is the problem if she's pretending to be offering "cooking shows."

Edited February 10 by Manda

[nelliebelle1197]

3 hours ago, Manda said:

That's all fine.  Advertising one's lack of cooking skills for views and money is the problem if she's pretending to be offering "cooking shows."

Thank you for saying that better and more concisely than I did!

[Expectopatronus]

@JermajestyDuggar I’m glad I’m not the only one who takes shortcuts sometimes. I totally shortcut a few casseroles. Annie’s vegan Mac and cheese with a package of cooked beyond beef, a bag of frozen pepper and onion strips and a can of no salt added tomatoes makes a super fast cheeseburger casserole. Plunk it under the broiler for 30 minutes and dinner is served. It’s not gourmet but contains a few servings of protein, vegetables and grains. 
 

[Bobology]

The highlight of the video for me was her stating that she hasn't gone to many games because "it is hard to take this many kids." In my head I hear Michelle Duggar chirping, "kids are like flowers... there can never be too many." 

At least Alyssa said it.

[Melissa1977]

Childhood is not an excuse. Zach and Erin learned to cook despite their very poor nutritional childhood experience. Alyssa was  interested in healthy cooking and used to feed baby Allie Jane with fresh veggies. At some point she abandoned all the efforts and decided to cook packed meals and eat snacks in a daily basis. She can do what she wants, but she does not do her best and she knows how to do it better. 

[GreenBeans]

12 hours ago, Melissa1977 said:

At some point she abandoned all the efforts and decided to cook packed meals and eat snacks in a daily basis. She can do what she wants, but she does not do her best and she knows how to do it better. 

I guess she was never cut out to have so many children. She would have done fine as a mom of one or two children. If she only had the first two, the chaos would be manageable, she could dress them up cute, they could go to co-op most days, Alyssa could clean the house  in the mean time, take them to dance class and have enough energy to cook proper meals and do activities with them once they return from co-op (preferably outside to keep the house clean).

With 5 young kids, one of them a baby, you have to cut corners somewhere, the day only has 24 hours. A clean house and kids dressed up cute are non-negotiable for Alyssa, so I guess the healthy cooking was one of the things that had to go.

[GuineaPigCourtship]

I love to cook but I don't always have time and energy.  Rather than resent cooking and making it an unbearable chore, I do a lot of shortcut meals when I don't have the ability to get something high effort on the table.  And that means buying precut onions at the store sometimes, lot of one pot meals, and commercially prepared sauces at times.  The one thing I never use (anymore) is cream of whatever soups because I don't like the taste/texture.  I used to use them a lot when I was strapped financially as a student and didn't mind them then.

Everyone should cook (or not) what they want and how they want, but I agree with those here that say not all food is worthy of being paraded on youtube or instagram to impress.