Wishing Marcus a very happy 8th birthday!
Marcus Duggar and Michael Duggar
Photo courtesy duggarfamily.com
Wednesday, June 2, 2021
104 comments:
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A very happy birthday to Marcus! EIGHT is such a GREAT age! All the kids are growing up so fast and it looks like Michael is a really good big brother.
ReplyDeleteI hope he had a nice birthday and that he and his siblings are safe and well.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Marcus!!!
ReplyDeleteIt’s crazy that he is already 8 years old! I hope he has a fabulous day!
ReplyDeleteThey grow up too fast! Have a blessed birthday Marcus!❤❤❤
ReplyDeleteHow could "family comes first" do that to those poor innocent children.
ReplyDelete@10:27 I know, all of it makes you sick.
DeleteHe's probably going to say he didn't do it.
DeleteToo gutless to use your name?
DeleteMy heart goes out to these kids!
ReplyDeleteMine too. I hope they are safe and well.
DeleteSame here, if their father goes down for twenty or more years it will be such a shock for the children, it will feel the same as when a family member dies and on top of that, they have to live with the shame, those lovely children don't deserve all this sadness.
DeleteMO- Same here, beautiful children. :o)
Delete@1:04 Why do these children have to live with the shame? The shame is their father's not theirs.
DeleteAnon 1:04. I don't think we can compare a parent going to prison for a crime with a parent dying. I feel very sorry for the kids. They are innocent victims in this whole mess.
DeleteMine too. They are innocent children, but will be living with the shame that their father created for them. Of course they will have support of their family members, but it's a traumatic experience for all of them. Now, and when they are older and can find out from internet what their father was doing.
Delete@2:57 It's the shame of their father putting his own desires above the value of his children. That's the shame the children will feel.
DeleteActually, both are significant losses, just of a different nature. With all due respect to those who have have lost a father (as have I quite recently), at least with that type of loss, the loss itself is a one time event (waves of grief notwithstanding and you will certainly miss that person each day). Having an incarcerated parent, much less a reality TV one that everyone knows about, is an ongoing traumatic daily event, not only while that parent is incarcerated, but also if/when he is released. The drama and trauma continue with fear of friends/strangers reactions to said parent's behavior and release, ongoing familial strain in the immediate family and extended family during the incarceration and post-release, the children's ongoing attempts to reconcile who is telling them the actual truth about the incarceration and the person they have known as their parent, etc. While those around you attempt to "normalize" the parent's absence, there's nothing normal about having your seemingly respectable dad suddenly incarcerated (and potentially in this case for 20 years or more) and these children are old enough to perceive that. There's nothing normal about your dad not being in your home daily, nothing normal about having to be searched before you're taken by a correctional officer to small room and talking to your dad behind a fairly thick glass partition. In their world, their dad is considered their umbrella of protection and the family unit is centered around the dad as the authority, spiritually and otherwise. There's going to be a sense of shame when everyone else's dad is at an event but not yours (whether it's a family event or family camp). That's a very damaging thing for these young children-praying they get real children's counseling. <3
DeleteAnon 1:04. There's a HUGE difference between "Dad died and went to heaven to be with Jesus" and "Dad is in prison because he committed a crime". Let's be realistic.
DeleteI'm really wondering how the "not guilty" plea is going to be defended. If Josh has told himself he's not guilty, I can only imagine what his poor kids have been told.
DeleteYes. Every time Josh is "sent away" they know he's done something bad. What a burden he is to his family.
Delete4:52 With the strong evidence against him, I think his attorney will come to some plea deal. I doubt they want this to go to trial and risk max sentencing.
Delete@8:29 Plea deal would mean certain jail time and I don't think Josh wants that either. If his attorneys can bring strong enough doubt to the case, they could prevail. That or a hung jury, mistrial, and more time is bought until the case can be tried again.
Delete2:57 -- They don't "have to" live with shame, but imagine how you'd feel if you found out your own supposedly loving father was a grievous child abuser? I would want to crawl under a rock. Only with the Holy Spirit's help would I be able to continue.
DeleteWishing you a day of fun and a year of happiness and blessings. God Bless.
ReplyDeleteHAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY MARCUS
Joan,Marion and Marilyn
Cute little guys. God bless and protect them and all children.
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Marcus.🎈🎁🎂 Hope your day is awesome.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful birthday Marcus!🎈🎂🎈
ReplyDelete😀 Happy 8th 🎂 birthday Markus Anthony Duggar. I hope you have a great day. May God bless your day. I can't wait to see what he has in store for you. I can't wait to see your siblings, your mom and you hopefully on season 12 of counting on. Natasha b
ReplyDeleteHAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET BOY!!!🎂🎈🎈🎈🎈🎁🎁🎁🎁
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday Marcus! You are such a big boy! God bless you! You are a fine young man!🥳🎂💕🙏
ReplyDeleteDear Marcus, I hope that you are having, a fantastic 8th Birthday!!!!
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday Marcus! Already eight years old, boy the time just flew by. I hope your Birthday was a special one you little cutie. 🎁🎈🎈
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday!!🎂
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday big guy! Your mama has a heart of gold. You’re going to weather anything storm. Many people are rooting for you and your siblings and mama!
ReplyDeleteEight year olds shouldn't have to be weathering storms, especially not this kind. It's not a lesson in strength that any parent should bring about their children. At eight Marcus should be worried about whether his little league team is winning, not where his father is.
DeleteAnonymous @ 3:51- Well said and couldn't agree with you more! Parents are supposed to provide emotional, physical, financial, and spiritual security and stability for their children, but in order to do that they have to be willing to be self-sacrificing (not self-indulgent at their expense). Without good, honest certified professional counseling, these children will have PTSD and carry these scars a lifetime, no matter how much the extended family moves to shelter or support them. There will come a day when they're old enough to realize their father loved himself more.
Delete@7:07 Very true! Imagine being the oldest of 19 kids and growing up when your mother was constantly pregnant or taking care of a newborn, and your father was involved with a political position and a TV show contract. Did Josh ever feel loved as a child? Or was he left to make his own way and left to do what he felt made him happy? I see all of his actions, from teen years on up, as a cry for love and attention, and a plea for relief from the internal pain and conflict he must be experiencing. People often say "It's not the parents' fault!" but is that really true? Where are the roots of the problem? Your comments were great and spot-on, thanks.
DeleteAnon 8:53. I don't think you can blame the home environment for Josh's behavior. He may have not had the attention he wanted as a child, but his actions have been far from that of a normal person. I don't know if counseling from a professional would have helped as his behavior is so inappropriate and usually an inborn trait that doesn't change. Perhaps JB and Michelle's preoccupation with fulfilling their own needs compounded the problem but it didn't create it. The rest of the children in the family turned out just fine as far as we can tell.
Delete@ 8:53- Our family has firsthand experience as we're the adults going through professional counseling because of self-indulgent parents. As a child, you not only naturally love your parent, but you also intuitively depend on your parents for stability and security. When the parent(s) step out of their God-given role and drops their responsibilities to "entertain/indulge" themselves, in making those choices, they do in fact prioritize their own selfish desires over their spouse and children with no regard for them or how it will affect them in the moment or in the future. So, the child grows up conflicted-loving that parent and being angry (some even secretly hating) that parent for what they have done to the spouse and the children. Then the child hates themself for being angry with/hating the parent because they don't want to be angry with/hate their parent and as good Christians we're supposed to love everyone, right? It's absolutely a less visible form of child abuse. As they mature, they're going to know their parent valued the sin/crime more. If the spouse continues to "support" that parent, the children will grow up to realize the spouse chose other things over the children's welfare and security too. Not a good ending.
DeleteAnon 9:25. There's no such thing as perfect parents. Some do a better job than others but at the end of the day we don't have to be angry with parents who didn't do a very good job. I had a very tough childhood with an abusive mother and a lazy self-indulgent father. I don't harbor resentment. That's a choice I made. I just left home at 19 as did my siblings. We all just got jobs and made a better life for ourselves and none of us carry any sort of grudge. We just accept our parents for who they were and tried to do a better job with our children.
DeleteAnon 7:09- Totally agree that no parents are perfect and most of us are trying to do the best we can because we love our children...and we make mistakes sometimes. It sounds like you and your siblings have made peace with your specific situation and that's really good. I'm glad you all are well on the road to healthier, happy family relationships. :) Your situation is very different from this one though. Neither of your parents starred on a show promoting family values, purity,Christianity, etc. It's also likely one of your parents didn't have Josh's history, plus the current situation, with children your age at the time. Not quite the same, not a mistake, and not out there for the whole world to see.
DeleteAnon 10:38. You are so right. I think JB and Michelle did their children such a disservice by putting them on a TV show. Most families have their problems (although it usually doesn't involve the types of behavior Josh engaged in) but they get to resolve the problems in private not on the public stage. The Duggars have their share of detractors who will never let this current issue go. IMO the pursuit of fame and fortune was not worth what is happening now.
DeleteTime 12:17AM Thurs 6/3/21
ReplyDeleteHappy late BDAY Marcus your getting
So big. The rest of family got u
The best gift of all loves & kisses.❤❤❤❤❤❤❤🎂🎂🎂🎂🎂
Oh wow i remember his birth... hope he had a good one
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthay, God bless
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday, Marcus. I feel so badly for Josh and Anna's kids. I hope he cant sleep at night with what he's put his family through.
ReplyDeleteAnon 6.14. I can’t believe any man as lucky to have 6 such beautiful children could do what he has. Iv always thought Anna’s children were beautiful, well brought up polite appearing children. Many men wish they had a family such as god gifted Josh with. I hope young Marcus has the best of days & he is shielded from what’s going on. Hope he has a perfectly happy day with his siblings. 🥳
DeleteJosh threw the chance for happiness away with both hands and brought misery on a lot of people. There's no way to shield the kids from what's been going on unless you twist the facts, and you know what twisting facts equals. You can't help but wonder how much of this could have been avoided if he had been given proper professional help after the first incident as a teen.
DeleteHappy Birthday Marcus!
ReplyDeleteI really hope Marcus had a Nice Day but i doubt IT. Children his age are aware of situations. And i m sure hè s asking why his dad is not home. Josh caused a lot of suffering.
ReplyDeleteHard to say. I hope it was good.
DeleteI agree. I'm not sure what they've told the children, but the kids KNOW there's something very wrong.
DeleteMaybe it would have been ok to stop your sentiment after "Nice Day."
DeleteIt's a bad situation. The kids were used to Josh living with them and now they have to visit him at someone else's house. I don't know what they've been told but they know something's wrong.
DeleteThey know something is very wrong but that's their fathers mess to carry. They have the right to live a dignified life and be celebrated on their special days and accomplishments in life so we should give the children encouragement and happy birthday comments for who they are and not drag any adults in their lives into it who have made horrendous choices in life. That's how I feel about it.
DeleteAnon 3:42. It's impossible to isolate Josh's bad behavior from the rest of the family. Their lives are too intertwined. It's not just Josh's mess, it's their mess too. His pattern of bad behavior has had a negative impact on his family and will continue to do so. The children will deal with it in their own time and way but ignoring the elephant in the room doesn't make it go away.
Delete@3:42 Unfortunately, their father's "mess" as you call it is theirs to carry too because he's not allowed to be around them and has already been sent away from the house twice in the kids' short lives. If he gets sent away for longer, the kids will know the absence even more profoundly. You can't really separate the children from the situation. They are already involved and feeling the consequences.
Delete@1:47,you're right, I mean for them to be separated from a loved one is going to be very tough on them,it's a parent they love, how can people think they will get over it, I remember an episode years ago when Josh was working (Washington DC) and Michael was crying for his Dad when he left for work, so you can imagine how tough it's going to be now when they keep asking when is he coming home, I lost my mom at three years old and was always crying and asking for her and so will these children when they don't see their dad so yes it is the same as losing a parent to death,poor Anna is going to have to be so strong for them when she will feel like crying all day, especially now she's bringing a new life into the world.
Delete3:42 Josh took that dignity away from his entire family. It's not up to us to pretend it didn't happen. It's up to Josh to stop it and fix it. Feeling ashamed didn't stop Josh last time, so let's hope it helps him change his ways this time.
Delete4:32, yes, he took dignity away from the family, but they can push past a victim mentality and take responsibility for how they view themselves, how they live, what their attitudes are going to be moving forward.
Delete4:32 This time, he’ll have to answer to a judge and possibly a jury, and face prison time.
DeleteAnon 10:43. Josh hasn't fared well in the "court" of public opinion in the past. I think he will fare even worse in a court of law.
DeleteMarcus I hope you have a wonderful birthday. Many people are praying for you and for your family.
ReplyDeleteEsmerelda
Happy Birthday Marcus. I hope you got nice presents
ReplyDeletePlease let us not turn the post about a child's birthday into a rant about his father.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately he's made it the elephant in the room.
DeleteThe tragic reality is that exposing these children to public comment will undeniably lead to reminders of their father's actions and arrest. People have strong feelings about this horrifying situation and feel sorry for the innocent ones so affected by it.
Delete"Avoidance of the obvious is very well, provided that it is not itself obvious; but, if it is, all is spoilt." - Fowler's "Modern English Usage"
DeleteIn other words, it's better to talk about the obvious than obviously trying to avoid it.
Anon 5:14. Yes. I don't think the children will pay much attention to what random stranger say on a blog, but the public comments their relatives have made will sting for years to come.
Delete@5:14 Comments are not the issue. Every minute that their father is not in the house is a reminder. It's happened to the kids twice now.
DeleteI would hope that the adults do not allow uncontrolled access to the internet. Even this blog should not be read by any of the minor children in the family.
DeleteNo rants, but every time Josh has to go and live elsewhere the children know he's in some sort of trouble. It's very sad for them
DeleteFirst of all, Marcus doesn’t read this blog. I think it’s acceptable to post our feelings for Marcus because when you think of Marcus you think of Josh’s crime. Father and son’s lives are too intertwined to not feel sorry for and express our sympathies for his and the other children. The innocent victims of Josh’s crime are children themselves!!!
DeleteHappy Birthday Marcus! Let's just wish Marcus a happy birthday and leave comments about his father out of it. I'm certain that Anna is handling the situation with her loving manner and common sense.
ReplyDeleteIgnoring the situation doesn't make it "go away". These kids are facing an uncertain future and it doesn't hurt to wish them well.
DeleteThen let's say poor Anna for having to handle yet another situation.
DeleteCommon sense? Oh well!
DeleteCommon sense is a good thing. It often is applied to the number of children a woman chooses to have. A woman can make this choice without her partner's knowledge and common sense if she does so.
DeleteHow about we leave Anna alone?
DeleteBut whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. Matthew 18:6
DeleteAmen! Until we've walked in her shoes................
DeleteYes. Anna should apply for sainthood.
DeleteMaybe the first time when she married him; the second time in DC when she forgave him; but to stay with the man after this grievous offense and not rescuing her children by leaving him does not make her a saint.
DeleteAnon 6:29. I think there was a bit of sarcasm in the comment you're referring to.
DeleteI’m sure Marcus isn’t going to be reading this blog and the birthday wishes here. But I don’t think there is a single person here who doesn’t wish the innocent kids well.
DeleteI remember how Marcus was born still in Arkansas, and then the family moved to DC a few weeks later.
ReplyDeleteYes! I remember that. We've moved with a newborn before. Kind of stressful!
DeleteIf they knew then what they knew now, they never would have needed to move.
Delete3:37 Being a paid spokesperson for the FRC was not a wise decision in the first place. But then, Josh is not known for making good choices.
DeleteAnon 5:12. The optics of the job looked good. Young man moving into a leadership role. Didn't work out due to the scandal that erupted.
Delete4:25I’m sorry moving with a newborn is stressful. Just do it! Put it in a basket and move it with you. And don’t have 18 more kids once you are in your new house! And you’ll be fine.
DeleteAll the best to Marcus and a wish for brighter days ahead.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. The poor children, hope for brighter days!
DeleteDear Garrett: I hope that you are having, a fantastic 3rd Birthday!!!!!
ReplyDeleteOoops you're on the wrong post.
DeleteNow that is really off the subject.
Delete😀 Happy 3rd 🎂 birthday Garrett David Duggar. I hope you have a great day today. May God bless your day. I can't wait to see what he has in store for you. I ♥️ love the pictures of you & your family. I can't wait to see you & everyone on season 12 of counting on. I really ♥️ love the show. Natasha b
ReplyDeleteIs it Garrett or Marcus who is having the birthday.
DeleteNatasha B., this is the anonymous poster from June 8th --3:52am. I wanted to thank you, for joining me in wishing Garrett a Happy 3rd Birthday.
DeleteI hope Anna stops at seven.
ReplyDeleteMe too. Depends on what happens next month.
DeleteDepending on the length of Josh's sentence, she may have no other option.
DeleteHoping Marcus had a great birthday and has many wonderful days ahead in store for him! May God bless him and keep him, and make His face shine upon him and give him peace.
ReplyDelete