Monday, March 19, 2018

'A New Bundle of Joy' Recap

Counting On "A New Bundle of Joy"
  • In Laredo, Jinger and Jeremy go on a coffee date. “Jinger without her coffee in the morning is a sweet, half awake, non-functioning human being,” says Jeremy. Jeremy orders a pour-over, and Jinger gets her usual, a vanilla latte.
  • Jinger has considered creating her own coffee blend and selling it as a small business venture. The Vuolos buy a bean roaster to see if they can figure it out. They roast two batches and do a taste test. The first brew (Ethiopian beans) doesn’t turn out well. The second brew (Panamanian beans) tastes like coffee but is more acidic than they would like. “It think it’s our goal to make a decent roast for Joe and Kendra’s wedding,” says Jinger.
  • Back in Arkansas, Joe, Kendra, and about 20 friends and family members head out to the lake for a joint bachelor/bachelorette party. “I love being in the water,” says Kendra. “I guess I’m a water bug.”
  • Jim Bob drives the pontoon, and John and Pastor Caldwell each drive a ski boat. Kendra says that even though her dad is in his 40s, he has a “little kid” side that enjoys making people flip off the inner tube while being pulled by the boat.
  • Kendra has never been tubing or water skiing, but her mom encourages her to try. She goes out on a tube with Joseph. John drives the boat and tries to flip them off.
  • When everyone is finished with water activities, they gather on the shore for a game directed by Jana. She asks Joe and Kendra different questions, and they try to guess each other’s answers. Whoever gets an answer wrong has to put a marshmallow in his or her mouth. Joe gets more questions wrong than Kendra and thus ends up with more marshmallows in his mouth.
  • Both Joe and Kendra agree that they want as many kids as God will give them.
  • Joy and Austin, who have been married about two months, are making progress on their house, but they’re taking a break so they can share some exciting news with each of their families. They are expecting a baby!
  • The Forsyths head over to see Austin’s parents, who are thrilled. “What a blessing!” says Roxanne (Austin’s mom). “You made our day.”
  • On the way to meet Jim Bob and Michelle, Joy and Austin text Jana to tell her the news. She says she’s very excited.
  • As expected, Jim Bob and Michelle are over the moon when they hear that their 10th grandbaby is on the way. When asked how long it will be before they can’t remember all the names of their grandchildren, Michelle responds: “Today.”
  • “I think when we get over about 20 grand kids, they are all going to have to wear name tags,” jokes Jim Bob.
  • Next, Joy and Austin call Josiah, who says, “That is cool! Wow!”
  • They stop by Jessa and Ben’s house to tell them in person, who are also very excited. (Are you seeing a pattern?) “If you do the math, it’s a honeymoon baby,” says Jessa. “I’m not really surprised.” The Seewalds and Forsyths video chat with the Vuolos.
  • Joy wants the gender to be a surprise, while Austin wants to find out. Joy and Austin don't end up finding out until the baby is born.
  • Joy texts Jill while she and Austin head over to the big house with balloons. They gather all the younger kids in the living room and have them pop the balloons. The message is written on a piece of paper. 
  • The Forsyths text the other older siblings.

66 comments:

  1. This was so much fun to watch. Loved getting glimpses of, and hearing from, so many of the original Duggars! This hour goes by too quickly!

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    1. I agree!
      For a minute I felt like I was watching 19 kids and counting again

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  2. Where can we buy the acidic coffee beans that Jinger produces? Was that her attempt to start a business and have a job?

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    1. If it was a business, she's already out over $400 between the roaster and the beans. That's a lot of coffee cost.

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    2. I don’t think Jinger produces coffee beans. She just purchased some and roasted them herself.

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    3. She talked about selling them, and how Jana was encouraging her to do that.

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    4. I got the sense Jinger was as as serious about actually roasting coffee for "a job" as she was about selling used cars for "a job". I think she's busy being a pastor's wife for now.

      I know women who are married to pastors and while they may not be directly paid for her work, most are very busy. They often become mother figures for everyone in the congregation and people, especially women, come to them for support. Indeed, one of the pastor's wives I know, once lamented that she's so busy caring for the congregation, that she didn't have enough time to spend with her biological children.

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  3. Look on the bright side, we get to watch Jinger roast coffee beans.

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    1. Without burning down the house!

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    2. More exciting than watching a bookcase get stuck in the hallway.

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    3. Anon at 4:26PM, at least we can say that. And at least we know there will eventually be a more interesting scene for J+J, showing them announcing their baby is on the way.

      I do hope we can actually see that one before the baby is born, instead of weeks afterward as was the case for J+A. That was just bizarrely anti-climactic.

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  4. Joe trying to stay on the tube with Kendra while still upholding his virtue was a little silly. If it was that dangerous to his courtship rules, he should have gone on the tube by himself. I wonder how Kendra felt, knowing he was crawling around on top of her?

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    1. I recall someone posting something similar about the slip n' slide "ride" they went on another episode, that resulted in Joe and Kendra having even more contact, for a longer time, than they would from a "frontal hug".

      However in Joe's defense I'm not sure he realized he'd wind up in that awkward situation.

      I do wonder, though, if the Duggars of courting age are able to see chastity as being about much more than just following a set of concrete rules, such as "only give side hugs" or "don't hold hands until engagement" or "don't kiss until marriage".

      Simply following rules without really understanding the principles behind them, means people won't know what to do in a situation that wasn't specifically covered in the rule book. And can result in silly scenes like that. (This applies to secular rules and regulations, too.)

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    2. They broke their rule with the surprise birthday hug, the tubing maneuvers, and the slip & slide, if that was filmed before the wedding. These rules are getting sillier and sillier, especially when they show what the kids do to try to avoid breaking them (but they do anyway).

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    3. Joe looked more worried about it all than Kendra did.

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  5. A nice way to include Jill on the show without actually having her on...and nice to text some of the other older sibs so she wasn’t so left out.

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    1. Given Jill and Joy’s relationship; practically Mother and daughter, I’m sure that Jill was one of the first people to learn of Joy’s pregnancy. Don’t believe all you see on a stage tv show.

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    2. TLC owns the footage so they do not have to pay the Duggars twice. Old footage of Jill can be aired without her permission.

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    3. Jill was on the half hour birth special that was taped Feb 22 & 23. It was last November that TLC said they hadn't filmed Derick for a while, and the new season started Feb 26 without featuring Jill in any of the promo pictures. And here she was filmed Feb 22. It was not the re-airing of old footage.

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  6. Blessing to have so many grandchildren but sad that the reality of it most of the grandchildren will barely know their grandparents due to constants of time and resources. Having a enormous family is not all that wonderful.

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    1. What....most of the Duggar kids and grandkids live near Michelle and Jim Bob. Jinger and Jeramy live in Texas but they visit often. From what I’ve seen the Duggars spend a lot of time together as a family and will know their grandchildren well.

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    2. Not sure why there are always these assumptions? My in-laws have 46 grandchildren, and they spend time with all of them. With some effort, it is possible for grandchildren and grandparents ina large family to be very close.

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    3. I think I can understand what you mean... the more children the less time there may be to give each child. However I am the oldest in a family of 6 and I have 53 first cousins and many aunts and uncles. My best friends are my cousins and even though we don't have as much one-on-one time with our grandparents, we spend hours playing with cousins, talking with aunts/uncle etc and I wouldn't trade it for the world! Big families are the best!!!

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    4. It is inevitable that in a family this size, some grandkids will feel closer to their grandparents than others. That happens even amongst siblings. I have 75 first cousins on my Dad's side of the family and the age gap is too big to feel close to everybody. That's fine - I've had so many wonderful times with the cousins that are around my age.

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  7. Time 12:12PM Tues 3/20/29
    Well I only got to see one episode of counting on so far which was Austin & Joys honeymoon. Great recap.

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  8. I played the marshmallow in the mouth game in church youth group once. It was fun, but there's a choking risk, especially when kids are laughing and horsing around. I don't advise it.

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    1. Oh my goodness I know. Several years ago there was an incident at a birthday party where that game was played and a child choked and ended dying :(. It was so sad

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    2. 10:58, I highly doubt that

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    3. 5:53, A recent marshmallow choking death happened to a child in Massachusets in 2016. There is footage of the TV news piece about it online, as well as other media reports.

      Also, if you're still in doubt, you can look up the "Chubby Bunny" game and the choking deaths that have happened when people played it. That game is what was on Counting On - you stuff marshmallows in your mouth as part of a competition.

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    4. 5:35, a child named Casey Fish died in 1999 by playing "Chubby Bunny" aka The Marshmallow Game. Look it up!

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    5. Anonymous @ 5:35 PM- Any multiple marshmallows in the mouth game is a bad idea.

      http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2009/09/the-dangers-of-chubby-bunny.html

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    6. AFAIK, none of the "contestants" had more than three or four marshmallows in the mouth at any one time. The point wasn't actually to totally stuff one's mouth with them, the way they do in Chubby Bunny.

      Now, I'm sure there's still a choking risk if you talk with food in your mouth, but the two games are not exactly the same. However considering they televised it, I guess it may have been prudent to come up with a safer "penalty" such as pasting stickers on the face or something.

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  9. Never laughed so much while watching the show. I will never forget poor Kendra getting beat up in the lake & her Dad was driving the boat. It was a good thing their wedding was soon after that tube ride ! Not to much left to say about that....! She is such a sweet girl, felt sorry for her but it was fun to watch. Best show ever !!

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    1. I never yawned so much. Joy & Austin spent way too much time going around telling people they were pregnant. Jinger drank coffee. They played a silly game at a party. They asked dumb questions in the interview segments. They popped balloons and let confetti fly. Same old same old.

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  10. "They stop by Jessa and Ben’s house to tell them in person, who are also very excited. (Are you seeing a pattern?)"

    If you are referring to the Duggar's excitement for pregnancy....uh, I think everyone noticed that way back when they had their first TV special, lol.

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    1. I think the pattern was "in person" then "phone/text". Austin's parents in person, text Jana. Joy's parents in person, phone Josiah. Jessa & Ben in person, video chat with Jinger & Jeremy...

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  11. I didn’t catch this episode however that game with stuffing marshmallows in your mouth is very dangerous. The marshmallows are a choking hazard and are very hard to remove when someone is choking...it becomes a solid wet mush. I know it was just a game but I’m still really surprised that they did this.

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    1. It shouldn’t be that surprising given how unsafe their labor and delivery practices are. Nothing safe to see here and fortunately nobody has suffered any serious consequences from the disregard for safety.

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  12. Can't believe ended up televising the birth. TLC had us believing it was not going to be in TV, and that it could only be accessed online. Also, Jill was on the show, Feb 22, 2018, and not just in flash backs. Her picture was never included in the promo pictures, but here she is on the birth show. I'm so confused

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    1. Why did you think TLC wasn't going to show the birth? They just had it available ahead of time so people could watch it sooner if they wanted to. Jill isn't in the promos because Derick isn't on the show anymore since he quit, and she's no longer a major part of the show.

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  13. So everyone in the family was happy to hear about the coming baby. Wow! Who’d have thunk it. Do they really have to show that?

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  14. When Joe talked about he and Kendra's bachelor/ bacherolette party being without alcohol unlike most people, I winced a bit. I remember the same type of statements from Joy and other Duggars with their weddings. I hope they know that there are lots of people that though they may not have exactly the same belief or value systems, do not make alcohol the centre of a party or fun. I think that there are more similarities than differences between all people and I wish the production team of Counting On wouldn't work so hard to make it look as though Duggars are so different. It would be nice to focus on the humanity and connections between all of us. Eileen

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    1. Joe said " most people drank at bachelor/bachelorette parties"-- why does he think that?

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  15. They spend so much of the show asking the rest of the siblings dumb questions, like what does this or that mean. Who cares. Honestly seems like they're just trying to fill up time.

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    1. And they play goofy music in the background for those question scenes, to try to make it seem funny.

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  16. I thought Jeremy's sarcastic comment about expecting 15 babies and calling his fans uneducated was a little unnecessary.

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    1. Jeremy has said some interesting things, both on and off camera......

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    2. I didn't watch. What did he say?

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    3. I agree. I wonder what he REALLY thinks of the Duggars and their atypical lifestyle. It must seem very different compared to his own childhood and young adulthood.

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    4. It wasn't as bad as the OP makes it out. He was just asked for the umpteenth time if he and Jinger were having babies anytime soon, and so made a sarcastic comment in response, that they were pregnant with "quinzinpuplets" (or something, I forgot the exact word he used) and then "clarified" that meant 15 kids at once, "for the uneducated among you", but he wasn't calling ALL his fans uneducated. Jinger then rolled her eyes and commented, "that's a litter".

      I got the sense Jeremy was also being sarcastic toward the interviewer, because he's noticed they often ask the Duggars questions in a way that make them out to be ignorant and uneducated.

      Such as the questions asking them if they knew what a "pour-over" was. I got the sense they all knew what it was but some pretended not to know to yank the leg of the interviewer. (Though I really don't understand why they haven't told TLC producers off-camera "stop making us look like ignorant fools".)

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  17. I watched the show on a tv last night at a hotel. My daughter was visiting a college. Is it normal for so many commercials during a 1-hour show? I thought there were way more than should be, but I haven't had cable or tv antenna to watch in many years, so I was just wondering if the stations have extremely increased their commercials.

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    1. They could condense each hour episode into 30 minutes. They could condense each season into a 1-hour special.

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    2. Commercial overload is the norm. We got rid of cable/satellite quite a few years ago- a waste of money.

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    3. What gets me is how rotten the commercials are, like for programs the Duggars and their biggest fans would never watch!

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    4. I’m surprised they have any commercials since no company wants to be associated with this show/family.

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    5. Seems some companies think it's OK to advertise again. Disappointing to see that.

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  18. Eileen: Well the Duggars are Baptists and they are known for a very firm teetotalling stance. I have no problem with their proclaiming that on national TV. Most celebrities promote the exact opposite.

    Of course, I know not all who drink alcohol, even at parties, do so to get drunk. But many young people think that's the entire point, and that it's impossible to actually enjoy oneself at a party without drinking (or more).

    I am a non-drinker. My reason is not religious, it has to do with seeing the damage alcohol has done to family members, including one who essentially drank himself to death. However I don't think it's a sin to partake in moderation. I just choose not to.

    And my experience as a non-drinker, is that many drinkers (especially when drunk) simply can't understand why anyone would choose not to. I could probably buy a new self driving car, if I had a nickel for every single time someone suggested I "just have a can of beer" or "just try a sip of this wine". And got offended, even angry, when I politely refused.

    This was mostly in my late teens and through my twenties. Now that I'm past thirty most people I know have matured enough to respect my choice not to partake. But certainly peer pressure is strong at Joe and Kendra's age. I actually do applaud the Duggars for showing you CAN have fun at a party without using alcohol as a "social lubricant".

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    1. But you can have fun at your party without standing there and pointing out that you don't "need" alcohol, and make others seem worse than you because they choose to have it at their parties. It was how Joe said that.

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    2. I find it a little interesting and frankly a little offensive that several times now the young adult Duggars have made pointed references that they're unlike "most people" who drink...as if drinking/getting drunk is such a major sin. Yet, the whole episode with Josh abusing his sisters was treated as a just a youthful "mistake" and his more recent adultery was so readily and quickly forgivable. But drinking??? Now, that's a very big deal. What??? I'm not saying we shouldn't forgive people (God knows I'm regularly in need of grace and forgiveness myself-no joke). I am saying there seems to be almost a prideful air to the "we don't drink". I'm glad they don't, but maybe they could try seeing those that do through Jesus' eyes. Maybe they could spend more time being concerned for those who do and praying for them, trying to understand why they drink (what kind of pressure do they face, what's their back story, etc.). Jesus didn't condemn the woman at the well; he ministered to her.

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    3. 10:33, the Duggars did not blow off what Josh did as a little mistake. You could see, in the interview with Megyn Kelly, that they were truly heartbroken about what had happened with him. They also did NOT make a big deal about drinking, they just mentioned that they don't find it necessary to drink in order to celebrate or have fun. They didn't "condemn" anyone for doing it, and for all we know, they might be concerned and pray for those who do.

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    4. I don't think the Duggars are pointing out they don't drink at parties because they want to shame those who do. I think they are trying to send a message that "you don't have to drink alcohol to have fun at a party" and they're pointed about it because they know that's a very counter-cultural message.

      Yet considering all the dangers of binge drinking, such as the recent Penn State case of the college kid literally falling down the stairs drunk and dying as a result, and stories of kids dying of acute alcohol poisoning, etc, I think that's an important message to send, especially to young people. There are also many people, many not so young, who are unable to drink alcohol due to health issues or because they struggled with addiction in the past.

      And as I posted earlier on this blog, as a non drinker myself, when I was around the age of Joe and Kendra I got a lot of "what's wrong with you, don't you know how to have fun" type response, from people who literally had no idea how to enjoy themselves if they weren't drunk or high. I remember I actually felt sorry for such people. Maybe they saw that and that's why they'd get mad at me when I refused to drink. But I myself felt judged by the drinkers for my own choice not to drink.

      And note that the kind of party Joe and Kendra had would not be possible if they were drinking. It would be very dangerous to go out on boats, water skis and tubes while under the influence.

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  19. The whole waiting for the phone call announcing the birth of the baby must have been staged. Ben had said in a video just after Gideon had been born that Jessa told him about the birth when he got in from work, yet he was sitting with everyone in the Duggar house waiting for the phone call to announce the birth, so which was it? Social media ends up catching them out again, and the old saying that you can't believe everything you see is so true, especially with 'reality' TV.

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  20. It definitely felt like 19 kids and Counting is back... so many appearances of the rest of the family and not just the young marrieds.

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  21. i have a tyler no picture not here

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    1. Add me

      Tyler


      Mistake Grandma & Josie

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