Above Rubies website?

[AnnoDomini]

Just saw on my fundy mother's website links to QF and a site called 'Above Rubies'. I took a quick look around and it seemed pretty fundy. Anyone have any snarkworthy gems from that site?

[fancypants]

Above Rubies is the Campbell's organization, that is, the source of Quiverfull. Should be snarkworthy gems aplenty.

[AnnoDomini]

Ooh, I found a couple good ones. Here's a poor teen who done drunk the kool-aid so bad she:

I personally don't like to be unsupervised with people my age because I honestly don't trust myself to maintain the things I have downloaded from my parents' teaching. I don't say this in a religious way. I'm still growing and maturing into the woman my parents are rearing me to be.

http://www.aboverubies.org/index.php?op ... mid=400027

And this story is kinda sweet but a bit on the eye-rolling side. http://www.aboverubies.org/index.php?op ... mid=400343 I mean, look at this:

Around the time I could seriously be thinking about marriage I received an offer that would have made all of my girlish dreams of romance come true. However, the only answer I could hear from God was, “Do not settle for your dreams; run after mine.â€

I chose Christ. He’s the very essence of my life. Yet, that initial choice did not stop me from lusting after romance. And God, being the jealous God he is, began calling me to a higher commitment, into a sacred romance meant for just the two of us.

[AnnoDomini]

Oh, gross. Blame all society's ills on women. http://www.aboverubies.org/index.php?op ... mid=400038

[valsa]

This isn't snarky so much as sad and worrisome but if you look really hard, you can watch some of Nancy Campbell's adopted grandchildren disappear.

[AnnoDomini]

Disappear as in she stops mentioning them, or stop appearing in photographs? What do you think happened to them?

P.S. I like your avi--it is Rory and Amy, isn't it?

[valsa]

Yes, it's Rory and Amy and... the little one. In the flesh, so to speak ;P I absolutely love Rory and am a pretty big fan of Amy as well, so I had to show my Dr. Who geekery.

As for the grandchildren- it's kinda a long story. One of Nancy's daughter (Serena or Serene, I forget how to spell it) adopted several children from Liberia. Some people noticed that Nancy and Serena's count of grandchildren and children, respectively, would actually go down once in a while. Back on the old board myself and some others researched a little bit and found that some of her adopted children stopped being mentioned or counted at all, including some who were minors when they dropped off the face of the earth. I believe someone who was active on a Liberian adoption Yahoo!group said that at least two of the childrens' adoptions had been disrupted and they were sent to live with other families.

[Milly-Molly-Mandy]

Re adoptions being disrupted, don't think too poorly of Serene, I actually heard something from the MOMYS message board that that the adopted teenage son se*ually abused their daughters.

[AnnoDomini]

That is sad. Adoption is supposed to be for life, not 'until I change my mind'. No take-backs.

ETA: Though ok, abuse changes the picture. Still, would she have simply dumped her bio son for the same offense?

Rory is deceptively badass!

Oh man, the more I read on this site the more facepalm there is. I'm surprised some article or other isn't being eviscerated by FJ on a daily basis. Such a collection of crazy. Look at this. http://www.aboverubies.org/index.php?op ... mid=400038 Let's scare teh ebil feminists and librulists by having more babies! More babies will fix all the world's ills--the gheys, the economy, the morality of the country, everything!

And apparently being a submissive wife and mother popping out kids with no birth control isn't enough, there's also only ONE RIGHT GODLY WAY to feed our kids--breastfeeding. And not just any breastfeeding up to the discretion of the mother oh no, a particular kind of breastfeeding. http://www.aboverubies.org/index.php?op ... &Itemid=58

And what's with the cringe-worthy 'poems' at the end of the 'devotionals'?

[valsa]

Actually, I will think very poorly of Serene and Nancy. Even if they had a legitimate reason for needing to rehome one child, they've gotten rid of more than just the boy. Also, Serene and Nancy have both touted their adoptions as God's work and have portrayed in their writings that if you live the QF lifestyle they're selling, everything in your life will be peaches and cream. By not being open and honest with their readers and customers about the trouble they've had (no need to get specific, just an acknowledgement that slapping a Jesus bandaid on everything doesn't always work) they're lying to people and leading them into a dangerous lifestyle for profit.

ETA: I find myself squealing like a teenager a lot when Rory is being badass on screen. Not to mention he's pretty much the only guy in the world that can actually call the Doctor on his shit at times. Can't ge much more badass than that.

[AnnoDomini]

Valsa, good point. These things need to be addressed in some manner to the readers/buyers, not just swept under the rug.

That's a really good point. Some of the female companions call him out when he needs it, but he tolerates much less from men (especially in series 1).

[Jessica]

Whenever I think of Nancy Campbell I think of her saying to a group of young women, "They [feminists] are so educated beyond their intelligence that they've forgotten they're female!"

[AnnoDomini]

Did she really say that?

[Jessica]

Yes! The video is no longer available but here's a thread on the old FJ about it: http://freejinger.yuku.com/reply/76586/ ... eply-76586

[Burris]

Did she really say that?

Yes she did. More than once. I have a CD of one of her lectures and she says it there as well.

[Georgiana]

While I disagree with everything the Campbells stand for, I do understand the need to rehome a child. My family has been very active in the foster/adopt system (both my siblings and two of my cousins are adopted), and while my immediate family has never had to rehome a child per say, my aunt and uncle have. I have two cousins who are adopted, and when they were toddlers, my aunt and uncle looked to adopt two older sisters (10 and 6 years old). While they were great girls who got along well with the family and with the parents, they did come from a dysfunctional environment (abuse) and were replicating that to my younger cousins. My aunt and uncle faced a horrible choice: to rehome the children they had all but adopted or to subject my younger cousins to siblings who may hurt them. In the end, my aunt and uncle thought that the commitment they had already made to my two toddler cousins outdid the commitment to the older two, but it was a VERY hard decision. After all, with time and therapy the older girls could have been rehabilitated from the abuse...but how long? And was it fair to subject my younger cousins to that? As for my immediate family, there was a girl that my parents turned down for long-term and possible adoption housing because she also came from a difficult family and she and I (I am the natural child of my parents) hated each other. She came from an emotionally abusive household and she DEFINITELY took it out on us, so I, as the eldest, felt I had to fight her to protect my then baby foster siblings. Now, I feel slightly guilty. I am very close to my siblings, and given the chance, I know she and I could have found a way to get along. But was it worth all the fighting it would have taken? Was it worth the toll it would have taken on me and my younger siblings? My parents made me a promise when they chose to do foster care, and that was that they would never let it compromise my home life. They thought she would have, so they turned down her placement. But even for me at age 11, and especially for my mom as an adult, it was HARD. I'm not saying maybe there wasn't something fishy with the Campbells, I'm just saying, this isn't uncommon, and it is hard.

[Rosa]

The thing is, the Above Rubies crew don't talk about the difficulties of adoption or the fact that a very large family with lots of small children may not be the best home for older adopted children - or even that hitting as discipline is probably not the best way to deal with kids who have trauma in their pasts.

Among other things.

They just go "rescue" kids from overseas and then quietly disappear them.

[emmiedahl]

Whenever I think of Nancy Campbell I think of her saying to a group of young women, "They [feminists] are so educated beyond their intelligence that they've forgotten they're female!"

I think a lot of us feel educated beyond our intelligence, but not in the way she is speaking of. I spend a lot of my life sitting through lectures and thinking, I am not nearly smart enough for this shit...

[MerryHappy]

Yes, it's Rory and Amy and... the little one. In the flesh, so to speak ;P I absolutely love Rory and am a pretty big fan of Amy as well, so I had to show my Dr. Who geekery.

*squee!* I love Rory too!

[Burris]

I think a lot of us feel educated beyond our intelligence, but not in the way she is speaking of. I spend a lot of my life sitting through lectures and thinking, I am not nearly smart enough for this shit...

I'm not even sure what the phrase "educated beyond their intelligence" is supposed to mean. If someone can understand the instruction she's receiving, then it's clearly within the realm of her intelligence. No one can really be educated more than their native intelligence allows.

The way I see it, Campbell is implying women who work as engineers or doctors or whatever are actually just coasting at their jobs because, being women, they're naturally too dumb to actually be competent. She seems to think women are graduated from these programs not because they've achieved the required grades on their own merits but merely because universities want to appear "politically correct." She doesn't seem to understand that tests may be corrected blindly or mechanically, and that peer-reviewed journals also read and vet submissions without knowing anything at all about the submitter (including name, gender, or even education level).

It's a stupid conspiracy theory, especially coming as it does from the founder and editor of a long-lived magazine with an international subscription base. I guess she must see herself as one of those few, special women whose willingness to fuck over everyone else of her gender makes her an honorary man and thus deserving of basic human and civil rights.

[AnnoDomini]

Seriously, listen to this crap.

Never forget—the more children a godly mother brings into this world…

The more scared the liberalists will become!

The more evil will be defeated in the land!

The more the kingdom of God will be advanced!

The more the gospel will be spread across the earth!

The more the image of God will be revealed in the earth!

The more the economy will boom in the land!

The more righteousness and morality will pervade the land!

The more righteous leaders will arise in the nation!

The more justice, honesty and truth will flood the land!

The more God will be glorified in the earth!

The more the nation will prosper and be blessed!

The more dangerous she will be!

And the more the statists will fear and tremble!

It's downright propaganda.

[valsa]

While I disagree with everything the Campbells stand for, I do understand the need to rehome a child.

I'm also sorta active in the foster/adopt community and I do understand the necessity of rehoming sometimes. However, the Campbells have rehomed more than one child (so it wasn't just the sexual abuse, if that's even true) AND they also adhere to harmful parenting practices that especially will not work on traumatized older adoptees. Even if the children had adopted had issues (which it's almost guaranteed that they would), it's just as much a certainty that the way the Campbells raise kids would make things worse. They do not get a pass.

[valsa]

*squee!* I love Rory too!

Ha! We should form a fanclub!

[dairyfreelife]

[GenerationCedarchip]

Oh my goodness - the Campbells seem to know how to bring the crazy! Isn't she the one who is tinted slightly orange from the "health food" carrot diet she's on?

One of my fundie relatives subscribed me to her magazine. The magazine comes out without any rhyme or reason so sometimes I just have these days of serendipity when I come home from my evil lawyer job to find a steaming mound of "encouragement" in my mailbox. Next time I get one, I'll share some articles here!

In the meantime, ponder this: a scary number of SAHD blogs mention saving back issues for the hope chest.