Growing up. Josh and Anna Duggar’s children reunited with family in-laws Robert and Hilary Spivey in Texas, Hilary revealed in an Instagram post on Monday, July 3, capturing the kids in a rare photo. While the brood of eight – Anna, 35, and her seven kids Mackynzie, Michael, Marcus, Meredith, Mason, Maryella and Madyson – were in the state visiting the family and attending vacation Bible school, Josh is currently serving a 12.5 year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institute (FCI) Seagoville in Seagoville, Texas, about a 45-minute drive from the Spivey residence of Fort Worth.
It remains unclear if Josh’s family has moved to the state and if they visited him in prison. The rare post comes days after rumors started to swirl that that Anna is no longer living on the Duggar family property belonging to father-in-law Jim Bob Duggar. On June 29, a source told The Sun that the Duggar family patriarch forced Anna to move after they reportedly got into a heated fight in April.
“Jim Bob made Anna move out of the warehouse on his property a month and a half ago,” the source alleged. “They got into an argument.”
Meanwhile, James Duggar shared a cryptic message on social media following the reports, posting via Instagram on June 30, “All frustrations come from within, but with the Lord by our side, we hold the power to accept or decline the invitation to be upset when the outside world provokes us. Let his presence guide us in choosing peace over frustration.”
Hilary and Robert, meanwhile, are in-laws to the Duggar family through daughter Claire Duggar (née Spivey), who married Justin Duggar in February 2021. The couple have six children together, celebrating daughter Paige’s 17th birthday with Anna and her kids over the same July weekend.
Posting a carousel of pictures from the celebratory weekend, Hilary included a snap of a group of children at a bowling alley, with Josh, 35, and Anna’s daughter Mackynzie front and center. A commenter asked of the Duggar child, who is 13, “Is that Josh and Anna’s daughter in the pink? She is growing up, beautiful young lady very like her mama.”
Hilary responded with her own comment back, “Yes!! She has matured so much recently! A sweet young lady!”
While Anna was not pictured amid Hilary’s post, blogger Without A Crystal Ball claimed that the mom of seven was present, including in their own post, “Other Duggar kids are there because Anna & all of her kids are in Texas.”
Anna’s relationship both with Josh amid his prison sentence and the Duggar family as a whole has been under the spotlight since Josh was found guilty of one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography after nine days on trial. The latter charge was later dropped. Having deleted her own social media, Anna has stayed relatively under the radar, but a source told In Touch in January 2023 that she has been “questioning their future.”
“She took her wedding vows seriously and she wants to stand by her man and all that, but the reality of her situation is very difficult,” the source said. “[She’s] trying to stay positive, but it’s not easy. … [She] wants Josh by her side, as a husband and as a father to their children,” but that “isn’t physically possible for now, or the near future.”
Another source, meanwhile, told In Touch amid the fallout of the Amazon documentary Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets that family members Jill Dillard (née Duggar) and her husband, Derick Dillard – who spoke about the family dynamic, the controversial religious organization known as the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) and more – are no friends of Anna’s.
The source revealed that Anna “doesn’t want to watch the documentary,” adding that she’s not “a fan of Jill” and “thinks the people who participated are toxic.”
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