[4 of 13] Julie's Deleted Posts - Let's Get It Started

[4 of 13]
Let's Get It Started
June 25, 2008

I feel like I need to rewind a little to fill everyone in. If you've read my previous posts, you'll come to find out that I'm Jodi's sister. I just want to start out by saying that I don't hate Jon and Kate, and I don't have any other motive in what I'm about to say, other than to tell the truth. I'm not judging them, and I'm not trying to be their moral conscience.

Jodi and I are very close, and although we live several hours apart, we talk almost daily. We both have web cams and it's a great way to feel like we're together, even though we can't see each other as often as we'd like. We vacation together, watch each other's kids and stay connected as much as we can.

Jodi has been involved with Jon and Kate's kids since the twins were born. She traveled (I think it was about an hour each way) to watch the twins while Kate worked. At that time, Jodi also had 2 young kids of her own. Jodi is the sweet, genuine person that everyone sees on TV. She adores children and has a special patience with them. After the sextuplets were born, we all know that Jon and Kate moved into Jodi's neighborhood, partly because of the support Jodi and Kevin gave them.

When Jon and Kate got the series, of course, it was exciting to think that we would be seeing people we knew on TV. I watched the first season, but found myself not really enjoying it. I'm not going to get into all of that right now, but I just wanted to let everyone know that I hadn't been watching the show. I have it set on my DVR and when I saw an episode that I knew Jodi would be on, I'd watch it or fast forward until she was on. I hadn't really watched much of season 2 or 3 until I heard about the episode with the gum.

I knew Jodi had been watching all of the kids while they were filming the one on one days. It was around that time that she had also traveled with them on several different trips for the show. So I went back and watched a few episodes, and I found myself very irritated with what I saw, especially knowing all of the "inside" information that goes along with the filming. Around that time, someone sent me a link to the TWoP board. I had never really looked up anything related to the show. None of my friends watch the show, so I didn't know what other's opinions were or what was being said in their speaking engagements.

I spent some time reading some discussion boards, and found it really interesting. I was amazed by what some of the viewers were able to pick up on by only watching the shows. I started asking Jodi some questions and she helped fill the blanks. Also around that time, there was some other "behind the scenes" controversy going on, which I will get to. It was only after a conversation on web cam that I noticed something was wrong. That's the beauty of web cam, it's more personal than a phone call, and I could see that she was visibly upset. She told me what was going on, and as the older, protective sister that I am, I wanted to take action. I wanted to cheer her up.

That's when I decided to start that group on Facebook to support Jodi. Things were going well for about two weeks and everyone responded in such a positive way. I didn't reveal my identity until the night before the comments started and I closed the group the next day. I started this blog a few days after I received the comment on my other (personal) blog. It started out more as therapy for me. I wanted to respond to the "cyberbully", but I wasn't sure how. I kept the blog private and then stopped reading everything and thinking about it for a few weeks. This was my first venture out into cyberspace and it was a little overwhelming.

The more I thought about it, the more I felt like I wanted to speak out. I didn't tell any lies and I've never been nasty or deceptive. I don't appreciate being called a liar in a public forum, especially when I know the depth of deceptions that are going on surrounding the show. I didn't like the fact that someone was trying to intimidate me, to keep me quiet. I didn't want to give in. So I've decided to come forward and tell my own personal experience and knowledge of the situation.