"I just don't know what I'm doing wrong, Randolph! I just can't get a job!"
"Me neither...!"
"I was at the fast food place the other day, and there were those girls working the tills and the deep fryers, and they just wouldn't even give me a chance!"
"I don't understand it! We need to work to provide, and those girls should be at home!"
"The manager who rejected me was a woman, too. And she had a nose ring! She's just rejecting the natural order of things and leading those girls into sin!"
"Dad is right, the world really is going to shreds!"
"Another run?"
"Another run. We can't turn into sissies!"
Odd Job Reviews for Randolph and Reginald Rogers
"Has no clue what to do even when you tell him to."
"Most awkward boy I've ever worked with."
"Told me I need to repent for my blue hair."
"Rejected the job because he can't be alone with a woman."
From the Rogers Family Simstagram
Hi, Suzie Rogers back on here! With our precious blessing Shannon arriving recently, my husband Frank has insisted I step back from Social Media, but things are going so well with the newest little one that I'm back here now!
We've been so blessed by the Watcher! Not only do I have the most wonderful husband and provider ever, Frank, who stood by the Watcher even during his hour of persecution and incarceration, we also have seven children we're raising to faithfully follow the Watcher!
Our two youngest, Lucas and Shannon, are more precious than our other blessings because they arrived after such a harrowing season of infertility. I was so afraid that after Ashley, I wouldn't be able to have more children, but the Watcher opened my womb again and gave us handsome gentleman Lucas and precious baby Shannon to raise, and we couldn't be more grateful!
My two middle daughters Leanne and Ashley are such blessings, too! They take such good care of our home and of the two babies, I hardly have to lift a finger at all! They are such Watcher-honoring young ladies with servants' hearts and a big heart for modesty and service, and I'm sure they'll make wonderful wives one day!
Our boy twins, Randolph and Reginald, are such hard-working precious young men! They both help out around our little home, fixing things that break and always doing little projects, but while we love to have them at home, they're starting to make their way into the world and I couldn't be any prouder of them!
Our oldest daughter, Kayleigh, already married a precious young man from our church, and they gave me precious grandbabies! Even though I don't see them as much as I would like, I love them all, Elisha especially, and I can't wait to have more grandbabies soon!
And speaking of grandbabies... one of my sons already has his eye on a sweet and Watcher-loving young lady from our congregation, so stay tuned for courtship updates!
"And she wants a dog, mom, can you believe it? What kind of girl would want a dog instead of a husband?"
"Well, at least she'll stay home a bit longer that way. Cleaning up after four teenage boys is a lot of work!"
"Right, right... it's just such a pity that she can't help with homeschooling the little twins, too. She doesn't understand a word of it, and they're only in grade school!"
"Well, we all have different blessings, and she's really good babysitting toddlers!"
"I just worry, mom. She's not the smartest, you know, and she needs so much managing around the house. With Lily, everything ran itself, but Rose just doesn't think, and I worry it'll be off-putting for her future husband. If she doesn't put herself out there..."
"Boys like dumb girls, just look at Kayleigh, bless her heart! You have not a thing to worry about with her, she'll find her young man."
From Candice Miller's Simstagram
But before we can start to work, we have some celebrating to do! Our third daughter Rose is an adult now and done with school (to her immense relief - she hates any kind of reading or anything that taxes the brain)! I'm so proud to see her growing up into such a meek and obedient young woman (no more of that vegetarian nonsense she was complaining about when she was a kid), she is so good with kids and also loves dogs, a hard worker who does chores without complaining, and she just loves the Watcher so much! She'll make any young man a wonderful wife and will be a wonderful mother, she just needs the right man!
Later...
"Mom, you can't say that! I'm only eighteen, that is too early to get married!"
"Nonsense! Too early? I got married when I was sixteen!"
"But... you need my help with chores, and the kids!"
"Oh, Acacia can help with that in a few years! You really should start looking for a husband!"
"I can't go looking for a husband, I might make a man stumble in his walk with the Watcher! He might look at me and think impure thoughts!"
"Oh, Rosie..."
"I'd rather have a dog."
"No dogs in my house! Everything's filthy enough as it is!"
From Candice Miller's Simstagram
Having so many strong men in the family is such a blessing! Our home was last renovated back when Abner and I moved in together when we got married, about thirty years ago (time really flies!), and our little shotgun house really has seen better days. Space is tight, with just one bedroom, but now that we've saved up a little and the boys are making some extra money with selling home-grown fruit and vegetables, Abner is planning on adding on a room or two at the back of the house so we'll have a little more space. We also really need to fix up the walls - kids are really rough on them - and the floors, but I believe that with a new coat of paint, it'll look like a new house!
From Candice Miller's Simstagram
Hi, I'm Candice Miller! I'm a devout follower of the Watcher, and I live in Newcrest, close to my large family, with my precious husband Abner and eight of my ten children! My two oldest, Daisy and Lily, are both married to military men and currently stationed in Strangerville (which is such a pity, because I never get to see my precious, precious grandchildren!), but I still have eight at home, and that is plenty to keep us busy!
My oldest three boys, Acton (22) and the twins Alden and Arden (19), are all hard-working young men who really love the Watcher! Acton is a police officer, and Alden and Arden are building a Watcher-honoring gardening service here in the suburbs! But they're missing the most important thing in a man's life - a wife - so, if you know any nice young ladies looking for a family man, send them our way! I need some grandbabies closer to home!
And then there's the five younger ones! Rose (18) is a stay-at-home daughter and helps me with chores and with the little ones, and then there's Ashton (15). He's such a handsome young man and will make a young lady very happy one day, and he is such a pillar of the community! He has wonderful friends among the boys at church, and while he's currently focusing on his studies, I'm sure he'll get a job soon and learn how to provide for his family!
His younger brother Acklay (12), on the other hand, is our problem child. Always willful and belligerent, he's becoming more and more unmanageable the older he gets, and our only saving grace is that he's not influencing our younger set of twins that much. Adair and Acacia (both 7) are just two precious little souls, they love each other so much and have that special twin bond even though they're a boy and a girl, and they're both so creative. Adair loves to draw, and Acacia is musically gifted, and it's wonderful to see how they're honoring the Watcher through their gifts!
From the Bell Family Simstagram
Praise the Watcher! He is so good! It's me, Gwen Bell, and I've just hopped here on Simstagram to announce that my daughter-in-love Kayleigh has delivered my son Nathan's fourth child! We're all so excited to get to know little Miriam Bell and love on her! She's Nathan and Kayleigh's first girl after three boys, and already such a sweet little soul with fiery red hair (red hair runs in our family!). And with three strong older brothers and a protective daddy, all her future suitors will have to get thoroughly vetted before they can get to her!
We were so worried about Kayleigh and the precious little one after her difficult last pregnancy, but the Watcher is so good. Mom and baby are both happy and healthy and Mom is resting, so I took it upon me to announce the joyous news to the world! We're all so grateful to the Watcher that he protected my daughter-in-love and my precious granddaughter Miriam, and we can't wait what He has in store for our family during the next season of our lives!
(That's it for the Bells for this season, and I'll be taking a bit of a break now. My work schedule got crazy a couple weeks ago, therapy is intense, and I want to build up a bit of a queue again before I start with the Miller-Rogers Shotgun Wedding Drama! See y'all soon!)
From Kayleigh Bell's Prayer Journal
I was so looking forward to this vacation... and now I'm back home, and I am so disappointed, even though I pray for contentment and a grateful spirit. I just wanted to rest and put my feet up and nap all day, because I'm in my third trimester, my back hurts, my feet hurt, I have to pee every five minutes, and I'm still nauseous, because the people who said the nausea goes away after the first trimester? They're wrong.
But Nathan said that it was an opportunity of a lifetime, and he dragged me here, and he dragged me there, with that boundless energy of his, and we had to go look at everything, and we went fishing, and then when we got to our vacation home, he got to put his feet up while I cooked a dinner I couldn't even eat because there was fish in it, and cleaned up everything, alone, without Donna's help. The place didn't even have a proper stove, just a fire pit and an outdoor grill, so I had to cook three meals a day on that! I thought I was done with that when I married Nathan, but no! It's an adventure, he said! It's not an adventure, it's just memories of me crying because the kindling wouldn't take and my younger siblings screaming for the food I couldn't make now! Staying at home would have been easier, but I can't say that out loud. I don't want to sound ungrateful... it was so expensive, and we won't be going again soon, and...
"Kayleigh? What are you writing?"
"Nothing. Just my prayer journal."
"You must be overflowing with gratitude, after a vacation away from home, without the kids!"
"I..."
"In my day, I never got a break from the kids! Mommy is always on duty! It must have been very nice that someone else was taking care of them for you."
"Yes, so very nice. Thank you so much."
From the Bell Family Simstagram
With my due date with baby #4 is approaching, and our 10-year wedding anniversary, my husband Nathan had SUCH a sweet surprise for me! We went on a babymoon to Granite Falls, while my in-laws took care of Levi, Elisha, and Simeon! I was so excited, it's my first vacation ever, and it was so lovely! We rented a little vacation house where we could cook our own food, and then we went on a lot of wonderful hikes, and we went fishing together! With me being pregnant, the smell of fish makes me nauseous, but Nathan was so happy, I didn't mind sitting a bit apart from him so he could have his fun! I even cooked the fish he caught for dinner for him, he's such a wonderful provider!
I cannot believe that we've been married ten years already! Time flies, and now we have three (almost four) beautiful babies to show for it! When I was a girl, I never would have imagined that I'd have such a good husband and such a wonderful family, and that I'd be walking through the seasons of life with Nathan by my side!
From Donna Bell's Prayer Journal
I thought I was hopeless before. Now I know that I am doomed. I don't even have a fellowship group anymore, unless I get married. I feel so alone. Old. Unwanted. Like used-up chewing gum, even though I never kissed a man, much less slept with one, because that would be a sin. And now I'm thirty-five and alone.
I got kicked out of the Church Girls group, my family does not appreciate me, my best friend Madison just uses me for free cleaning and cooking and childcare while she makes those videos on Simstagram that make her life look perfect, but I'm not in those videos. I'm not important enough.
I have two dead-end jobs, and now I can't even rely on the church I was raised in anymore. And I've been thinking... sometimes, men approach me at the coffee shop where I work as a barista, but when they ask for my number, I always give them my father's, and direct them to talk to him if they want to go on a date with me. And they never call. But this is just a test by the enemy! There will be the one the Watcher has for me, the one I've been waiting for for over twenty years now. The Watcher's plan will prevail, and I will have a family of my own. It's His promise.
"Donna, thank you so much for staying behind. This is about your membership in the Church Girls Youth Group."
"What about it?"
"Don't you think you're a bit... old for that?"
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Look, there's no good way to say that, and I'm really sorry, but we need you to leave. You're 35 now, this group is for girls six and up... you're making the younger ones really uncomfortable."
"Can I join the married Ladies' Group then?"
"Well... that is for married ladies, and you're not married. We need to have candid conversations about marriage there, and marital relations, and it would be uncomfortable with someone there who's not in the club."
"What am I supposed to DO then? This church is supposed to be my community, and you're kicking me out?"
"You still can come to services and such... or you could get married."
"Just get married. As if that isn't what I've wanted for the last twenty years! You're my sister, Abilene! You're supposed to be on my side!"
"And I'm also the pastor's wife. I'm sorry, Donna. David has decided this is the best thing to do."
From the Bell Family Simstagram
Life continues in the Bell family, and with a sweet little surprise! I'm expecting Baby Bell #4! I'm already in my second trimester, everything's going well (which is such a blessing after my last, hard pregnancy with Simeon) and we can't wait to meet our newest little one! We hope to have another home birth this time (though of course, if there are complications, we would go to the hospital in an instant!) and Nathan is already preparing everything for our newest blessing! He is such a sweetheart!
Now that our oldest, Levi, is old enough, we've allowed him to go to the park behind our house alone. He's only six, but the park is adjacent to our house and Nathan's sister Candice's house, and there's almost always a cousin on hand to play with, or an older one to keep an eye on things. It's such a blessing to have such a big family living in the same neighborhood!
Of course, there are risks to having your children strike out on their own. That missing tooth is from a little skating accident. But Levi was so proud of having lost his first tooth in such a manly fashion, and we were so proud of him for not crying even the littlest bit, and going back to skating on the same day so he would not develop a fear of it! Boys need to be rough and tough and tumble, and I'm so proud that Levi is just as strong and stoic as his daddy!
Levi also excels at his homeschool studies, and his little brother Elisha is not far behind! Elisha loves books and being read to, and whenever Levi has to do worksheets or homework, Elisha gets jealous and wants to do homework too. We're working on his letters and numbers right now, and it's such a blessing to have a child so eager to learn! It makes pre(home)school such a breeze!
Simeon, on the other hand, is our little whirlwind! He plays hard (and then crashes hard), and he loves the toddler slide we have on our front porch. Often, I sit out there on the rocking chair, knitting to fulfill orders from our store, and he just goes up and down and up and down and up and down. It's just the sweetest!
Last, but not least, I'm so grateful for my in-laws! They're all such an encouragement in our walk with the Watcher, and it's so wonderful to still see them in love after over forty years! When I look at them, I see my and Nathan's future, and that is such a comforting thought!
There is so much energy in the house as a #boymom, and it never goes boring! So do you think our little one will be another boy, or a little girl? Either way, we'll praise the Watcher!
"Nathan, guess what... I'm expecting again!"
"Oh, Kayleigh, that is wonderful!"
"Yes... I..."
"What is it? Why are you crying?"
"I don't know..."
"We prayed for the next test to be positive last evening, what has gotten into you?"
"I... I don't know... I was hoping for a baby but I'm so scared now..."
"But why? The Watcher is in charge of our lives, and you just have to give all of your cares to Him!"
"It just came back to me, how hard my last pregnancy was, how scared I was..."
"But it all turned out fine, didn't it? Don't fret, it will be fine this time, too."
From Kayleigh Bell's Prayer Journal
Please, Watcher, give me Your grace, because keeping sweet is hard right now! I know that Nathan only means well, but it hurts that I am not allowed to homeschool my own children! He has never said those unkind words, but all I hear when he talks about how my mother-in-law is better suited to homeschooling them is "You're too stupid to teach your own children!" And if it were just this one thing, this one hurt, I could let it go, but...
I've been married for almost a decade now, and I still don't feel like I'm part of their family. There's my parents-in-law, and there's Donna, and my husband, and my children, and yet somehow, I am not one of them. You say that when children are married, they should leave and cleave, and yet, we have not left - we still live in my in-laws' house - and instead of turning to me when important decisions are to be made, Nathan turns to his mother and father. And it is good and wise to heed their council, but I need to be heard, too! I am his wife!
It feels terribly prideful to think my voice deserves to be heard, but I cannot help it. And the worst thing about it is, I have nobody I can talk to about it, except you, Watcher. I know better than to go to Nathan, because he sees nothing wrong with how he treats me, and how he defers to his parents. And my mother and sisters... they think that my life is perfect because we have more money than they have, and a house instead of a cabin and a trailer and a tent, and whenever I talk to them about Nathan, they say I'm lucky that he would have me at all after I snuck out with him (we didn't even do anything!), and that I have to keep sweet, and pray for You, Watcher, to do a work and change his heart. So please...
From the Bell Family Simstagram
Birthday time! My boys are growing up so fast, I can't believe it! Little Levi is already starting home school, and Simeon joins his big brother Elisha, toddling around and following his daddy everywhere he can! It's so precious to see them grow up, and also the sweet love they have for each other! They're like three peas in a pod, and it makes me so happy as a mommy!
My husband Nathan has decided that for now, my mother-in-law Gwen will handle Levi's homeschooling. With two little ones, he says that I'm too busy, and there's always a chance that the next pregnancy might be has hard on me as Simeon's. I'm to focus on being Elisha and Simeon's preschool teacher instead, because those foundations of letters and numbers are so important for their later life!
We had a family party for them, but if you know me and Nathan's family, just family is a lot of people for us! Our tiny house was absolutely packed to the rafters, and I'm still finding confetti everywhere when I'm cleaning! But the boys had a lot of fun with all of their aunts and uncles and cousins, and that's the most important part!
"Nathan, we need to talk about Levi's schooling."
"What is there to talk about, he'll be homeschooled like me and my sisters."
"Yes... but by whom?"
"Kayleigh, of course. She's his mom, and homeschooling is a mom's job."
"Nathan, don't you think someone more... qualified should teach your sons?"
"What do you mean?"
"Kayleigh is a wonderful, sweet girl, and I'm so grateful to have her in our family... but she's not very smart, isn't she? She's overwhelmed following a recipe, I don't see how she can follow a homeschool curriculum."
"Mom... I can't do that. Think of Kayleigh..."
"Think of your children. I'll homeschool them, and your wife will just have to live with it."
"I..."
"And don't slouch like that. It is unbecoming."
"Yes, ma'am."