Bontrager Family

[lilith]

I've been reading the Bontrager Family Blog.

They are a large homeschooling family, recommend ATI, VF, No Greater Joy Ministries, Titus2 (Maxwells) etc. They travel as a family performing christian bluegrass, and they put out professionally produced CDs.

They joined ATI about five years ago. Since then their eldest daughter has been on a Journey to the Heart and they go to conferences. Their younger sons can be seen in Alert Cadet Tshirts.

They have appeared on 19 kids and counting and had the Bates perform at an event at their home. Pictures of them with the Duggars and Bates are posted on the "Duggar and Bontrager girls at ATI conference" thread.

I am wondering if anyone knows more about this family. Both parents come from large families, and both grandmothers and about half the aunts and female cousins wear Mennonite style head coverings. The Bontragers don't cover and go for "modern modest" style clothes, except for CD cover art where they wear matching prarie type dresses.

I'm just curious about their background and how they went from Mennonite to ATI type fundie.

[Sprocket]

Why do these fundies think that's it's appropriate to whip out their camera/cell phone and take pictures during a service -- whether it be in someone's home or in a brick and mortar church.

I'm past last Thanksgiving on their blog now -- just viewing pics of (the mom's) mother's birthday. I wonder how they wen't from

to

in terms of dress.

[Little_Eyes]

Why do these fundies think that's it's appropriate to whip out their camera/cell phone and take pictures during a service -- whether it be in someone's home or in a brick and mortar church.

I'm past last Thanksgiving on their blog now -- just viewing pics of (the mom's) mother's birthday. I wonder how they wen't from

to

in terms of dress.

Wow. Never thought I'd see the day ATIA would make people...more...fashionable. I must remind myself they are oppressed, but their dress looks normal. Much like the discussion on the pants/no pants thread, I suppose.

[Coconut Flan]

That's interesting. I have a friend who is Mennonite and she did the same but I think what she did was switch Mennonite churches. Some are more liberal in dress than others.

[Sprocket]

Seriously, nothing is effing sacred. Having a prayer for mom and dad... one not praticipate because the moment must be captured in order to blog about it. When you're capturing your life for public consumption, it seems like they're not actually living their lives in a normal way (not that I think anything about their life is normal to begin with). I'm all for posing for a picture or getting family pictures at Christmas, but it would never occur to me to stand back and take a picture of my family praying.

[Sprocket]

Oh and there's a picture of their family cleaning windows (BOYS actually) at the TTH while visiting the Duggars. What family has guests do their windows? (No pic sorry. I'm not wading back through that. I didn't know there was a thread about this when I was going through it earlier.)

[lilith]

They "home church" as so many ATI patriarchs do. 4 or 5 families attend their home church.

I am just fascinated by the transition from mennonite to ATI. The dad is from a large family that appears to be Mennonite too, and from the pic of the Mother when they got married, they married in that religion.

Did the change happen 5 years ago when they joined ATI (and youngest child was born) or was it earlier or more gradual?

[snarkykitty]

Oh and there's a picture of their family cleaning windows (BOYS actually) at the TTH while visiting the Duggars. What family has guests do their windows? (No pic sorry. I'm not wading back through that. I didn't know there was a thread about this when I was going through it earlier.)

I have to chime in on this, because I've seen this happen. My non-fundie relatives from Italy visited a few years ago and we all gathered at my dad's house for a picnic. After everyone ate, the women - aunts and cousins - started cleaning up, insisting that everyone else sit and relax.. Only, it wasn't just tossing paper plates and cups. They started wiping everything down, including the sliding glass door where people put their hands on the glass near the door handle and the small window that had a sort of film on it from the grill. It was like a cleaning brigade. It was crazy. I still wish I could clean like they do! It was weird to me but that was how they showed their appreciation.

[GeoBQn]

Looks like they live pretty close to me. It's like a parallel universe! I remember reading in the family section that some of their kids were having either a bar mitzvah or "bar baraka" ceremony, but that seems to be gone.

Their eldest daughter, Allison, went to Mississippi for 10 days to assist some friends who were about to have their 8th baby. It reminds me of Jane Austen novels, how unmarried young women would go to visit different friends and relatives for long periods of time.

I will say that I felt bad for them on the show when JimBob kept making fun of their last name. My first name is uncommon, but not hard to pronounce, and I've had people I'd just met who thought they were being funny by deliberately mispronouncing my name even after I corrected them. It's so disrespectful.

[Sprocket]

I have to chime in on this, because I've seen this happen. My non-fundie relatives from Italy visited a few years ago and we all gathered at my dad's house for a picnic. After everyone ate, the women - aunts and cousins - started cleaning up, insisting that everyone else sit and relax.. Only, it wasn't just tossing paper plates and cups. They started wiping everything down, including the sliding glass door where people put their hands on the glass near the door handle and the small window that had a sort of film on it from the grill. It was like a cleaning brigade. It was crazy. I still wish I could clean like they do! It was weird to me but that was how they showed their appreciation.

Ya know, I think it's one thing to clean up the table for family that you visit in appreciation for the meal that they've prepared for you. Even washing down a sliding glass door that got hand prints on it from kids isn't out of the realm of reason. But these kids were seriously doing windows. /off to find the dang picture now.

[ChickeyMonkey]

I have to chime in on this, because I've seen this happen. My non-fundie relatives from Italy visited a few years ago and we all gathered at my dad's house for a picnic. After everyone ate, the women - aunts and cousins - started cleaning up, insisting that everyone else sit and relax.. Only, it wasn't just tossing paper plates and cups. They started wiping everything down, including the sliding glass door where people put their hands on the glass near the door handle and the small window that had a sort of film on it from the grill. It was like a cleaning brigade. It was crazy. I still wish I could clean like they do! It was weird to me but that was how they showed their appreciation.

I wonder if it starts out as, "we'll help clean up!" meaning that they'll help with normal cleanup after a meal, but then it kind of turns into, "hmm, there are a bunch of hand prints on the door, I'll just wipe off the glass," and the person/people migrate to more glass surfaces that are dirty. Since they're cleaning *this* piece of glass they might as well do *that* one, and it just snowballs. That's kind of how I am with vacuuming. I start off doing the edges around the living room (baseboards?) then keep finding more dust to suck up. Next thing I know, I've done the whole room (doorways, behind the couch, front door, etc.) and find myself down the hall in my room doing the same thing. And I'm not one who is a die-hard cleaning person.

For the Duggars, though, I have a feeling they somehow get their guests to clean for them. Maybe it's a passive-aggressive, "Oh, I'm sorry we haven't cleaned the _______! We've been so busy on our speaking tour spreading our ministry/mourning Jubilee/insert any other lame excuse that we just haven't had a chance to clean _______ yet!" And the guests, being polite, say something like, "Oh, that's OK. We can help with that; it isn't too much trouble!"

[Sprocket]

[ChickeyMonkey]

Well, at least 2 of the boys were thoughtful enough to take their shoes off before getting on the counter.

[terranova]

It looks more like they're hanging Santorum signs than cleaning windows.

[Sprocket]

This made me :shock: & :?

So now, when in 25 years, you hear that the Bontrager Family Singers is traveling in a fleet of 10 buses with the original 10 kids, their spouses, and about 100+ grandchildren, you won't be surprised.

*grin*

But I will give it to them... I've seen more books on their webpage in one sitting than I have in 100 episodes of 19K&C.

[Sprocket]

It looks more like they're hanging Santorum signs than cleaning windows.

bontragersingers.blogspot.com/2012/01/january-in-pictures.html

Cleaning windows with friends, for friends.....

[lilith]

bontragersingers.blogspot.com/2012/01/january-in-pictures.html

Although they did campaign for him with the Bates family, there are pics on the blog (somewhere.... Have spent far too much time there in the last few days to go and find them)

[Sprocket]

Although they did campaign for him with the Bates family, there are pics on the blog (somewhere.... Have spent far too much time there in the last few days to go and find them)

bontragersingers.blogspot.com/2012/03/of-bontragers-and-campaigns.html

[E Street Fan]

Well, at least 2 of the boys were thoughtful enough to take their shoes off before getting on the counter.

I'm not sure shoes would be worse than the right-side boy's nasty socks. Yuck either way.

[lilith]

bontragersingers.blogspot.com/2012/03/of-bontragers-and-campaigns.html

Thank you Sprocket

[Sprocket]

I have way too much time on my hands tonight. It's sad that I know where all this stuff is now though. It doesn't take me long to flip to where I want to be.

[HoneyBunny]

I'm not sure shoes would be worse than the right-side boy's nasty socks. Yuck either way.

Which tells us more than we needed to know about the filth on the floor of the TTH. Maybe they should have focused their efforts on floors instead of windows.

[Minerva]

I was expecting to see them up on ladders cleaning the outside of the upper windows or something. That would have made some sense, even though it is something the Duggars have the capacity to do themselves, but this is just common housecleaning. Strange.

[Witsec7]

Apologies for not doing more research. But did the Bontragers not have their traveling circus when they were Mennonites? I've always wondered why they didn't just change out to more liberal and forward looking Mennonites? Or did they change teams to that they could support the gang with the road show?

[Minerva]

The Bontragers don't cover and go for "modern modest" style clothes, except for CD cover art where they wear matching prarie type dresses.

Uhm weren't they the Sound of Music sisters in the ATI pictures? You know, the ones whose frumpers looked like they were made from horrid curtains?