Australian Blogger's Son Dies- Sparkling Adventures

[lilith]

Her friends set up the page. It was sent to me by family.

Sorry, I should have hit enter after my first sentence. "If you want to know more or to support them" was not meant to translate to "here's what she's saying" although I'm pretty sure that page has the information about her twitter and it has some quotes. It did earlier when I saw it but I haven't been back.

I don't think the way she's doing it the wisest course, but I can understand her distrust of the media.

So can I, actually. If the Queensland media decides to treat them as "those strange hippies" it won't help anyone. Queensland, outside certain Brisbane suburbs and rural pockets, is overwhelmingly conservative.

I don't think her social media voice and profile will help her either though. Any information, and especially photos, will add fuel to the fire. The media may not be able to use them now, but they are certainly saving them to use after the trial.

I totally understand wanting to have a voice and be heard, and to have people recognize who one really is. But now is the time to lay that desire aside for the good of her family.

The courts, the media, DOCS or their Queensland equivalent, are all mining all information available, and they will use the information how they see best, not how Lauren wants them to.

I think she should be very careful, and be aware that even if she sets her accounts to private information could and probably will still leak.

[adidas]

So can I, actually. If the Queensland media decides to treat them as "those strange hippies" it won't help anyone. Queensland, outside certain Brisbane suburbs and rural pockets, is overwhelmingly conservative.

I don't think her social media voice and profile will help her either though. Any information, and especially photos, will add fuel to the fire. The media may not be able to use them now, but they are certainly saving them to use after the trial.

I totally understand wanting to have a voice and be heard, and to have people recognize who one really is. But now is the time to lay that desire aside for the good of her family.

The courts, the media, DOCS or their Queensland equivalent, are all mining all information available, and they will use the information how they see best, not how Lauren wants them to.

I think she should be very careful, and be aware that even if she sets her accounts to private information could and probably will still leak.

Absolutely. I agree with everything you wrote.

[Guest Anonymous]

The 'friends' who are running the fb site seem very odd... The whole tone of the page is oddly reminiscent of a youth group fundraiser to me. It's as if someone very naive is enjoying a chance to feel important, without really understanding the gravity of the situation. All that 'Yay! Phew! It's an unfuneral! Wear red!' I don't think there are right or wrong ways to grieve, but there are more or less prudent ways to behave, in order to protect yourself from media scrutiny... I hope the mother gets good legal counsel as well as emotional support, and that the other children get all the help possible to deal with such a terrible tragedy.

[Witsec7]

On 5/18 they were stuck when the truck broke down. Lauren and her husband weren't communicating. On 5/19 Lauren takes off with the infant hitchhiking (which I know is very common in Australia). On her road trip she visits someone who helps tune up her dreds, side trips to a see a tree house, goes to an art gallery in Aukland, has a reunion with a former boarding school mate and eventually returns to the broken down truck. When she returns from her 'slippery pit of despair', she has van which will be hers when she pays for it.

People tend not to recognize that when you post something on the internetz it's forever. Everything is bright and sparkling on the posts, nothing reflects that before they unchurched, and unschooled, she and her husband were members of the International Church of God.

[Guest Anonymous]

How recently did they leave the church? And do you have a link to lauren's blog please?

[Witsec7]

How recently did they leave the church? And do you have a link to lauren's blog please?

The blog itself is closed, here is the FB link:

http://www.facebook.com/SparklingAdventures

Profile from Bloggymoms:

http://www.bloggymoms.com/profile/LaurenFisher

She does have a pinterrest too but I didn't bookmark it. The pinterrest has the video of the child being born with the cord around his neck, it was a 'free birth'...

[Guest Anonymous]

Thanks for the link. I'm quite stunned after reading it. I hope the surviving children are able to grieve differently to lauren if they need to. Do we know if there are any other adults in their lives now apart from lauren?

[Witsec7]

Annie, from what I read her parents are there. I don't know what kind of support she has locally except for the folks on the fundraising page who are doing her meals.

I'm wondering is there is some assistance provided to victims of violent crimes there, like we have here. Counseling may be an option if they have those safety nets, but somehow I see Lauren as an older version of Brandy, and not too willing to look too conventional society for assistance.

[Guest Anonymous]

Experiencedd, do you still have access to the blog? On facebook I can see links to the blog but they are no longer live.

[Minerva]

If I was used to broadcasting my life on the internet, I would feel the need to carry on if I were caught up in a controversy. However, I agree it's not wise of her at all. I'm surprised she hasn't got a lawyer telling her to cut it out.

[Witsec7]

Experiencedd, do you still have access to the blog? On facebook I can see links to the blog but they are no longer live.

From what I understand the blog is closed.

[Didi]

This just makes my heart sooo sad. :(

Here is more by/about the mum - http://www.christianunschooling.com/author/lauren/

[luckystone]

I'm wondering is there is some assistance provided to victims of violent crimes there, like we have here. Counseling may be an option if they have those safety nets, but somehow I see Lauren as an older version of Brandy, and not too willing to look too conventional society for assistance.

We have something called VOCAL. Victims get counselling. I think they will call if the police instruct but otherwise you have to seek them out.

[Guest Anonymous]

Experiencedd, I'm sorry for all the questions but you seem to have more info on this family than I can find. :) What is known about the church background. All I have found, from the unschooling posts is that they left church after the husband was banned for shouting out during a service.

[rollmeover]

her blog is open again at sparklingadventures.com. its really sad to read the archives, knowing what is coming for them in June but to me they seem like a really troubled family in a pressure cooker with unrealistic expectations of how human beings behave.

[Witsec7]

I figured she would go back to blogging. She does need to support her family.

[Witsec7]

her blog is open again at sparklingadventures.com. its really sad to read the archives, knowing what is coming for them in June but to me they seem like a really troubled family in a pressure cooker with unrealistic expectations of how human beings behave.

I've spent hours reading her stuff. She is your typical baby wearing fundy mommie who will only wear red clothing, grew her dreds as a statement for unchurching, lets the 8 year old ride ATVs alone without a helmet, and all the kids are allowed to play with fire. Yea she and her husband disagree and fight a lot, but they also take long breaks from each other. In April, he comments on her blog that their marriage is loveless and frigid. But hey this is a guy who didn't speak to her for nine weeks in 2007. She also lets her PPD go untreated each time she delivers a child and spends her time in bed while life continues without her.

That poor child had two parents with some severe problems.

[Guest Anonymous]

It's car crash reading. So sad for those poor children.

I must admit I am massively curious as to what those investigating the case must be making of all that she puts out for the world to see. In the uk, i am fairly sure child protection would be all over the family on the grounds of the fire safety alone.

[Noon]

I've scanned the blog a little bit...but honestly, the whole thing is so much of a train wreck I stopped after a minute or two. It's a senseless, stupid tragedy that's difficult to even look it.

I don't judge Lauren for blogging right after the deaths; the aftermath of a trauma like that is so awful, nobody really knows what they're doing. I just hope, for her daughters' sakes, she finds a better form of therapy soon. That might mean settling down for awhile though, which I wonder if she'd be willing to do. Although, now that I think of it, they may be forced to stay in one place for now due to the trial; if that allows her the opportunity to receive counseling, there could at least be some small silver lining...

What an awful tragedy.

[Witsec7]

I've scanned the blog a little bit...but honestly, the whole thing is so much of a train wreck I stopped after a minute or two. It's a senseless, stupid tragedy that's difficult to even look it.

I don't judge Lauren for blogging right after the deaths; the aftermath of a trauma like that is so awful, nobody really knows what they're doing. I just hope, for her daughters' sakes, she finds a better form of therapy soon. That might mean settling down for awhile though, which I wonder if she'd be willing to do. Although, now that I think of it, they may be forced to stay in one place for now due to the trial; if that allows her the opportunity to receive counseling, there could at least be some small silver lining...

What an awful tragedy.

After reading her blog I've changed my opinion on her blogging after the tragedy. I can see how isolated they were and although they had all these 'friends' from being on the road, they did not have ties to a community in a real fixed sense. And now she needs to earn a living and support her brood, so blogging, especially while interest is high is good for click$.

[rollmeover]

Expriencedd, do you know how she makes money from blogging because I can't see ads, and the stance the couple took was always very anti-capitalism and the normal sort of bloggy business - ie giveaways without liking fb pages etc, and just letting people have their house with no contract etc, so I was shocked that they make cash off the blog.

[Koala]

Anyone still following her blog? I wonder why she isn't allowed to be alone with the kids.

[happy atheist]

I can't help thinking a big crash is coming. She's under so much stress, with the death and with her husband being in jail, I simply find it impossible to believe she's as okay with everything as she's making it out. Maybe I'm not spiritual enough, but it really seems like she's in denial.

Has she said anything about whether she believes this was really an accident?

Because I am not permitted to be with our daughters alone, other people mind the girls while I do errands — such as driving people around — and not even one daughter is allowed to accompany me.

Why does she need to be driving people around?

And I am finding it really creepy that the whole blog is still covered with sparkling stars and links to great playgrounds and ice cream cone cupcakes and "it's fun to be arty farty!" It's like the death of her baby is just another sparkling adventure! Whee! Fun! If blogging about this helps her cope, then more power to her. The somber topic just feels really incongruous on such a happy-looking page.

I hope she and her daughters get the support they need.

[Witsec7]

Anyone still following her blog? I wonder why she isn't allowed to be alone with the kids.

I read that the other day. No idea really, I could speculate, that during the investigation the authorities found out that the kids were fending for themselves, and Lauren took to bed frequently when she was hammered with depression.

[Guest Anonymous]

I read that the other day. No idea really, I could speculate, that during the investigation the authorities found out that the kids were fending for themselves, and Lauren took to bed frequently when she was hammered with depression.

It sounds more like a social services requirement than a legal requirement.

I agree with the comment above that it seems likely that Lauren is heading for a huge crash sometime soon. I'm not wishing one on her but, statistically at least, it is likely that she will be one of the 99.9% of people who experiences the pain of grief at some point soon. I don't judge her personally for anything that she is saying or doing as she processes her loss, but I do wish the fangirls on her blog would pipe down with their squees about how "amazing" and "strong" she is being, as though her apparent lack of grief is a good or healthy thing and somehow a sign of a higher spirituality than the rest of us mere mortals.

Although I am not a die-hard CS Lewis fan by any means, I do like "A Grief Observed" for the very honest way that he portrays the pain and depression that were a natural part of his own grief work, following the death of his wife.