#counting the cost

[fundieshaderoom]

Jeremy Vuolo calls father-in-law Jim Bob Duggar a Playground Bully

I'm kind of surprised they exposed Jeremy in an interview like this as they have been quite private about where their siblings are at in their religious beliefs and parental relationship. He might have given his blessing?

#Jeremy Vuolo #Counting the Cost #Jill Duggar Dillard #Duggar Family #Vuolo Family #Dillard Family #Derick Dillard #Jim Bob Duggar

[wtffundiefamilies]

It just occurred to me, that JimBob was apparently always going on about how Sweet Jilly Muffin was the most like Michelle of all the girls.

But when Michelle was asked which of her kids was most like her, her answer was always Joy-Anna, and later on, Johannah.

Makes you wonder if JimBob has ever had a foot in reality.

Personally from show footage alone I'd think Jessa is the most like Michelle...but then Michelle has never seemed "sweet" to me. (And that's no insult.)

#duggar family #Michelle Duggar #JimBob Duggar #counting the cost

[keepingupwitht]

"Counting the Cost" by Jill Duggar Dillard

Last night, I read all of Counting the Cost in one sitting because apparently my fundie fascination is still going strong over a year after we closed down KUWF. I've got a lot of takeaways I want to talk about so I'm going to put a cut and get into it all after the jump.

In the beginning of the book, it struck me how generally correct we were about Jill and growing up as a Duggar. She was a people pleaser and playing the role of “Sweet Jilly Muffin” was so important to her. She loved her childhood and her parents. It’s interesting both from Jinger & Jill that as kids, the Duggar childhood of their memories is an idyllic one. There was a lot of emphasis on their values - no rock music, dancing, movies, etc. but it was a lot of time spent together and fun and games. 

We also saw the shift in the way they grew up - they were always IBLP inspired conservative Christains, but were attending a regular baptist church up until they attended a different church one week that had dancing in the service. Suddenly, they started attending an IBLP only church and getting deeper in. Jill recounts the first time she went to an IBLP conference and realized there were other families like theirs. It was interesting to see their early progression deeper into the cult (which Jill even calls it by the end of the book). 

Jim Bob getting into politics was interesting - Josh’s early interest in it, while Jill preferred to get treats from the other legislators, made a lot of sense. When Josh is sent away, Jill glosses over some of the details (fair enough) but it’s interesting to me to see how she lays out the three things happening around the same time: (1) going deeper into IBLP, (2) her dad getting involved in politics and (3) Josh getting sent away. It lays the groundwork for what TLC is about to walk into and change everything. 

Jim Bob also saying he knew God wanted him to run for Senate, then losing and immediately being noticed by the press and ultimately Discovery - and opening the “window of opportunity” for their family to be on TV was a little wild. The fact that all this happened ultimately because this man flipped a coin three times and got heads all three times - something that has a ⅛ probability of happening - is sorta wild. 

Jill not enjoying filming was something I did not expect - honestly I always thought that she was one of the kids who enjoyed it more. But it makes sense now that she was one of the few who refused to have her honeymoon filmed and refused TLC cameras at her birth, which Jana and Michelle filmed. Those were one of the things that I noticed at the time but didn’t realize what it meant. Good for Jill for standing her ground on both those things - although she wanted to refuse to have her birth filmed at all. 

It was interesting to me that the Duggars were not an IBLP model family UNTIL the show. The show put them in that position - Jill didn’t think they’d be one without it. And the line about Jana being invited to visit headquarters as the only blond to be one of “Gothard’s Girls” just hurts to think about in hindsight. 

It’s interesting how long they propped Josh up as the golden boy while he was in trouble behind the scenes. 

In hindsight, the fact that Jim Bob really set up Jill and Derick is really something, since they would ultimately be the first to really break away. 

Everytime Jill advocates for herself, I am so proud. She pushed for two weeks in Nepal to meet Derick even when they only wanted to film part of the trip, and got the time. They filmed a fake goodbye and then spent another week getting to know each other. 

 I didn’t expect to have my lawyer hat on, but the fact that Jim Bob had Jill sign a contract the day of her rehearsal dinner with everything going on with her MILs health without letting her read it, and her not even realizing what was happening was just atrocious. Just pure and straight abuse. 

The fact that Jill was not paid for any filming and thought she was volunteering at her family ministry for the majority of the time she was filming is just awful. I know she did get perks - her Nepal trip, various other trips, her wedding, groceries, etc. But the fact that she and Derick only had a five day honeymoon because that’s all they could afford when Jim Bob almost certainly made more than $100,000 for their wedding is gross. 

This also doesn’t make TLC look very good, since this kind of abuse was allowed to occur basically under their watch. I get that they likely had a great deal on the Duggars because they were only negotiating with questionable businessman Jim Bob but it does suck to see how little they care about the human cost of their show. 

#jill duggar dillard #counting the cost

[spurgie-cousin]

#hey it uploaded it 2 parts!! woo hoo #now i need an explanation as to why tumblr was being a bitch about a 5 minute video the other day #when this is 8 #jill dillard #derick dillard #counting the cost #tiktok #cult book club

[theunstuffedpepper]

Has anyone else read Counting the Cost? I’m only 10% into it but already kinda like ehhhh. I’ll probably stick with it but man. What a wild story.

#counting the cost #jill duggar #reading #11042023

[norahsinfinitecommonplace]

"You can recognize the beauty and happy parts of your story while also recognizing the more difficult parts. The two can coexist. The highs aren’t automatically erased or invalidated by the lows." - Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar

#book blog #book quotes #bookblr #bookish #books #booklr #books & libraries #books and libraries #bookworm #book #book quote #quotes #quote #nonfiction #counting the cost #Jill Duggar #commonplace journal #commonplace book

[fundiefuntimes]

Finished. I have lots of thoughts. Mostly I am proud of Jill, this book took so much courage.

#jill dillard #jill duggar #counting the cost #books #duggar girls #duggar family

[countingandsnarkingon]

Jimbob looking at Jill and asking “what are you worth” makes my blood boil

#Jil Dillard #counting the cost

[ninasbookshelf]

february 2024 reading wrap-up

happy leap year! here's what i read during the past month:

Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar

The Face: A Time Code by Ruth Ozeki

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

Free Gift with Purchase: My Improbable Career in Magazines and Makeup by Jean Godfrey-June

DNFs (aka books I decided not to finish):

Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear by Jinger Vuolo

i might do a longer post on Jill Duggar and Jinger Vuolo's books, so keep an eye out for that if you're interested! i'll tag it with their names and book titles.

#booklr #february 2024 #jill duggar #jinger vuolo #ruth ozeki #the face: a time code #counting the cost #becoming free indeed #the house in the cerulean sea #t.j. klune #free gift with purchase #jean Godfrey-June

[catmint1]

All I was doing was surviving from one breath to the next.

—Jill Duggar, Counting the Cost

#quotes #jill duggar #counting the cost #survival #text

[fundiepredictions]

We haven't had much damage control of the Duggars. Only Jessa's pregnancynews can be catagorized as such. That leaves the impression that Jessa is against Jill and her book.

I'm not sure that is actually the case. I think Jessa was forced by JB in some way to announce her pregnancy before the bookrelease. And that Jessa might actually support Jill (and Jinger) more then we see on SM.

#jilldillardduggar #jill's book #counting the cost #jessaseewaldduggar

[fundieshaderoom]

Jill Duggar is selling the infamous harp

This is the harp Jim Bob put on the itemized bill of raising her...

#Dillard Family #Jill Duggar Dillard #Jim Bob Duggar #Duggar Family #Counting the Cost

[wtffundiefamilies]

@justhereforfundies Sam's birth was one of those things where like...damn I knew it was SOMETHING traumatic after seeing the NICU pics and Jill just kind of falling off social media for a while, but that was INSANE. I can't help but wonder if the fundie VBAC obsession hadn't been a thing Michelle had been pushing her whole life, she would've been able to avoid it entirely and just had a c-section. (I don't mean "just" as in "a c-section is an easy alternative" but in the sense of "just do it already instead of making a worse decision.")

And with both older boys' births...why did they WAIT SO LONG to go in and get them? Even when the mother prefers a natural birth surely there's a point where medical professionals think "this isn't happening."

#counting the cost

[rubydolly]

Yes I bought two books in one day yesterday After The Forest - a 17th century retelling of Hansel and Gretel with a twist by Kell In The Woods Counting The Cost - A memoir by cult survivor and reality star Jill Dillard

#australia #sydney #new south wales #after the forest #counting the cost #kell woods #jill dillard #2023

[spurgie-cousin]

#jill dillard #derick dillard #counting the cost #tiktok #cult book club

[bqbecke]

Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar: B Reviews Books

Jill Duggar Dillard's debut memoir did not disappoint. In fact, it was much more gut wrenching, eye opening and well-done than I would have imagined.

For those who are unaware, Jill Duggar Dillard is the fourth of the 19 children of Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar, the stars of 19 Kids & Counting and a variety of other TV specials. The family follows Bill Gothard's rendition of radical and conservative Christianity, known as the IBLP (Institute of Basic Life Principles). Some basic rules include:

no hugging before marriage (or anything else for that matter)

mum and dad have their noses in your business at all times

no formal education

no dancing (??)

extremely modest clothing (we're talking Amish-style here)

& one million more little rules that do not make sense to me as an agnostic/atheist

Jill's memoir details her life from the very beginning as Sweet Jilly Muffin, the obedient and "perfect" daughter who did whatever her father and the IBLP required of her, through being parentified as a "buddy" for her younger siblings as a young teen, to becoming an unpaid reality TV star who did it all for the sake of "ministry" and finally, meeting her now-husband Derick under the watchful eye of her father, Jim Bob, who she refers to as Pops throughout the book.

Mild spoilers here, but in Jill's memoir, you will hear about all of the horrors of her young life, ranging from relatively mild and sad (eating beans for dinner because her parents did not have enough money and too many mouthes to feed) to absolutely heart wrenching (being molested by her older brother, who she then had to go onto national television to defend his "honour"), and a thousand more things in between.

Now confession time: I used to religiously watch 19 Kids & Counting and Counting On until I was in my mid-twenties. Jill and I are born a few months apart, so I always connected with her. Reading this book felt like reading the diary of a friend, and it was just as disturbing as you can imagine.

A big surprise for me in this book was how much I ended up liking Derick. On the show, he seemed to be a bit of a goof, and he posted some pretty nasty things on Twitter many moons ago, which he now seems to have redacted or changed his mind about. But reading through this... It seems like he is one of the most level-headed people involved in this sad wreck of a familial situation. And he had the guts to stand up to Jim Bob. A win in my opinion.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. If any of the other siblings were to put out a similar tell all (Jinger's I won't read because she talks no shit about her father, who I believe is at least somewhat evil based on Jill's writing, which may or not be a fair assessment), I would not hesitate to buy it and read.

Sending Jill and her family so much love, and I hope they can continue to rebuild.

#memoir #book review #book recommendation #jill duggar #counting the cost #five star review #counting on #19 kids and counting