One Bright Corner

[Daenerys]

onebrightcorner.blogspot.com/

These girls (20 year old twins) live in Washington State and are friends with our old favourite Miss Raquel, though I'm not sure why as they seem to have considerably more brains, or at least writing abilities. They are SAHDs and go to Bible College: they tried to keep secret which one but I found out it's Telos (telos.edu) which looks totally unaccredited and is affiliated with ATI. They aren't publicly ATI on their blog but they are clearly from a militant quiverfull family, and 'Papa' is the elder of a small church that they founded as the original one wasn't fundy enough (facebook.com/pages/Heritage-Bible-Church/200867723281550?sk=info)

The reason I find these girls so interesting is that they seem so smart, with so much potential, and yet they're being crushed by fundy brainwashing and expectations. The standard of writing on their blog is very high, they even know how to reference articles correctly which is more than most (especially considering a SOTDRT education). They have four younger siblings who they do a huge portion of the homeschooling for, as well as teaching violin and piano and taking college classes. They seem like the kind of girls who could do anything they set their mind to, and who maybe in another life would have been my university friends. It's pretty sad.

Anyway the reason I decided to show them to FJ was the latest, epically vomit inducing post about how 'Daddy is my Valentine'. I need eye and brain bleach after reading this:

Every Valentine's Day for the past 10 or more years, a beautiful bouquet of red roses has been handed to me by my Valentine--my Papa. When I was younger, I used to proudly declare to friends, "My boyfriend gave me these roses!" and then hasten to explain away their confusion. I thought I was so cute!

It's not quite time for the Valentine roses yet, but I have already exchanged Valentines with this man who has my heart. It all started when, several weeks ago, Tiffany announced she was doing a giveaway of three essential oils. All you had to do was write a Valentine's poem that began with "Roses are red" and then passionately beg, borrow, or steal the most votes for your poem. This was an interesting idea, but I wasn't really inspired at first. After all, I'm a single girl, not in a relationship, so what could I write about Valentine's Day?

And then it hit me.

Roses are red,

The sky is blue.

Daddy,will you be my Valentine?

I'm keeping my heart with you.

I sent it in and e-mailed the link off to Papa so he could vote. When he arrived home that evening, he smiled, hugged me, and said that since I wrote a poem, he had to write one back to me. With anticipation, I hurried up to my computer. I vaguely remembered Mama saying that Papa had written her beautiful love poems before they were married, but I was not prepared for what I found embedded in his vote:

Roses are red, an elegant hue,

Graceful, exquisite, just like you!

Beauty and radiance, reflecting the Son,

Growing in Christ, ‘til the day is done.

I cherish the rose, I water and feed,

I turn up the soil, meet every need.

Prune the dry limbs, repair the fence,

Enjoy the beauty and the pleasance.

The Master Gardner will bring a new vine,

For you are His own, you’re really not mine.

Engraft your heart, the new vine will nourish,

Your delicate bloom will continue to flourish.

But until then, I’ll cherish your heart,

Guarding it always, we’ll never part.

Yes, I cried. I just went to a funeral where a daughter had to sing to her Daddy in Heaven, so I cried. I've seen too many daughters whose Daddies don't cherish them, water them, feed them, or prune them, so I cried because I am so blessed with such a godly father. I realized that this stage in life in my father's house won't last forever, so I cried. My Valentine's Day came early this year, and that's just fine with me!

I hope they break free rather than turning into Zsu or another crazy fundy mum, but I don't have that much hope.

[LeatherCouch]

So gross. :shock:

[NurseNell]

Their church is picturesque. That's the only thing positive I can say. I'm into photography so I notice things like that. OK, off to look at their blog.

[easternabeille]

My father would be seriously uncomfortable and extremely concerned if I wrote him a Valentine's Day poem like that.

[Daenerys]

My father would be seriously uncomfortable and extremely concerned if I wrote him a Valentine's Day poem like that.

He doesn't give you a dozen Red Roses every year and ask for your heart to remain his, either.... my father would have me committed.

[easternabeille]

He doesn't give you a dozen Red Roses every year and ask for your heart to remain his, either.... my father would have me committed.

Well I have to admit that when I was in college my parents sent me a bouquet of white roses for Valentine's Day. They knew I was upset at not having a boyfriend at the time so my mom signed the card 'from your secret admirer'. Of course I recognized her handwriting but I never let on that I knew :oops:

[TheSassyOne]

Well my parents would sent us cards or candy/flowers on Valentine's Day. It was always from both of them and was not unusual because they'd do similar things on birthdays.

But this sounds creepy. The anticipation of going to read her lover's....erm I mean her Dad's poem was, for want of a better word, "icky".

[clibbyjo]

Well I have to admit that when I was in college my parents sent me a bouquet of white roses for Valentine's Day. They knew I was upset at not having a boyfriend at the time so my mom signed the card 'from your secret admirer'. Of course I recognized her handwriting but I never let on that I knew :oops:

Awwww,I love that. :dance: I give my kids (2 boys, 1 girl) Valentine heart shaped box of candy,the cheesiest ones I can find. If course I get them a few days later when its 90% off and they appreciate I got them a bigger one for cheaper. :whistle:

[Marian the Librarian]

They're twenty years old?? GAG me!!

:o

[NurseNell]

They do write well. I'm reading about the trip to London that Mikeala won by writing a 200 word entry on who she most liked in the Narnia Chronicles. She won over thousands of entrants.

[Discobiscuit]

I think my dad would be seriously creeped out if I had done this kind of thing when I was twenty :shock:

[Lainey]

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!! :shock:

[Austin]

Okay, that's just gross.

[genericJname]

Eww. My dad used to give me V-day flowers, but there was no creepy poem required!

[emmiedahl]

This blog totally got my hopes up, because we have a Heritage Bible Church here and one of the Boy Scout moms is always "inviting" my family to visit. But it's not the same one. :( We need a sad panda smiley.

[Daenerys]

Well I have to admit that when I was in college my parents sent me a bouquet of white roses for Valentine's Day. They knew I was upset at not having a boyfriend at the time so my mom signed the card 'from your secret admirer'. Of course I recognized her handwriting but I never let on that I knew :oops:

Awww, that's kind of sweet actually. At least your parents wanted you to have a boyfriend!

[formergothardite]

I vaguely remembered Mama saying that Papa had written her beautiful love poems before they were married, but I was not prepared for what I found embedded in his vote:

:shock: And none of them see anything wrong with this. Oh my.

[vicka]

the valentine's day post. CREEPY.

i don't have daughters but if one of my sons wrote something like that to me at 20... i'd be on the phone trying to find the best therapist possible for my boy.

serious issues right there.

[ceg045]

Ugh.

It is no chance that I am a woman living in 2011 when true women are going extinct—it is a miraculously spectacularly planned point in God’s Master plan.

onebrightcorner.blogspot.com/2011/12/privileged-reinforcements.html

The whole post is pretty gag-worthy. Gotta love that humility--they and only they get to decide what makes a "true woman."

[VenusDaisy]

Wow! That's extremely creepy!

[demgirl]

Homosexuality is no different than theft, addiction, libel, bribes, or adultery--except that many of these sins are still deemed immoral and illegal by those around us.

Lovely. Just two lovely human beings these girls are, leading the fight against legalization of gay marriage in Washington State.

[demgirl]

Oh, neat! Here's a post where she compares living under Hitler's leadership and doing nothing to living in America where we repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell and legalize abortion and do nothing. Boy, these two are real sweethearts. It's prettier and has more flowery language, and better citations, than Zsu or The Stinking Housewife, but it's pretty much the same at its heart.

onebrightcorner.blogspot.com/2010/09/when-good-men-do-nothing.html

[ceg045]

Another ew-worthy passage, about her then-three year old brother:

I lay there for a while, grateful for a brother, however young, who loved me. I thought about my girlfriends, some already flirting and going out with boys. Why did I need to, when I had a cute boy who would put his chubby arms around me, stroke my long brown hair, and tell me that he loved me? I decided then and there that if I ever married someday, it would be to the same kind of a man: warm, friendly, comfortable, and unconditionally loving.

onebrightcorner.blogspot.com/2010/09/man-of-my-dreams.html

[Sinister Rouge]

I came here to procrastinate because I was suffering a touch of writer's block - I'm supposed to be writing an analysis of Marilyn Frye's iconic essay "Oppression" for a gender issues course. Reading that post about the extinction of "True Women" was just what I needed - colour me motivated ;) "...and isn't it strange that any of us should have been so confused and mystified about such a simple thing?" Indeed it is.

[mockingbird]

Another ew-worthy passage, about her then-three year old brother:

onebrightcorner.blogspot.com/2010/09/man-of-my-dreams.html

Ew. Just... ew. I can't even contemplate that.

I remember once I was writing a love interest for one of my characters and realized he got a lot of traits from my brother. I was kind-of put off and made sure to work in things that made him different in my mind... if I had to get into the mindset of my other character there was no way she would be dating a clone of my brother.

I like my (younger) brother, we are friends, and there are traits he has that I value in people in general, but romanticizing it is just gross and incestuous. How can they see nothing wrong with that?!

Did you all see on one of their info pages it says they have only been following this lifestyle for a few years? I wonder what went wrong... whether it was the daughters' choice or the whole family got swept up (obviously they make it out to be their choice but I'm guessing the latter).