Say if Shrek came home one day and said he found a boy that he wanted one of his his daughter to marry, would she be allowed to say no? Would saying no to her parents tarnish her reputation to future suitors?
I’ve noticed there’s a lot of misinformation floating around about the Rodrigues family’s housing and moving history, so I thought I’d try to put together a basic timeline and clear up some of the confusion.
All of this information is available on Free Jinger, which is the primary source for Rodrigues family snark history. Registration is required to access some of the forums, including the Rodrigues subforum, which is located under “Quiver Full of Snark.”
How the Rods were discovered
The Rodrigues family first came to Free Jinger’s attention around 2012 / 2013, when a snarker spotted their distinctive van in the parking lot of a buffet restaurant in West Virginia. The snarker found the family’s blog, and that was essentially the beginning of Rod snark.
A couple of important points that seem to get confused: the Rodrigues family was already living in West Virginia when Free Jinger discovered them. And the blog was started when they lived in West Virginia not New York.
We know David and Jill were originally from New York State, but Jill wasn’t blogging during their time there, so there isn’t nearly as much information about that period.
We also don’t know for certain why they left New York. There was speculation that they may have had some sort of falling out with a church, but as far as I know, that was never confirmed.
The Looneyville rental and the RV
When the Rods were first discovered, they were living in a rental house in Looneyville, West Virginia.
They were eventually evicted from that house, although I don’t believe the actual reason for the eviction was ever established.
Around the same time, David and Jill decided to enter full-time ministry. They purchased the RV and began traveling to churches to raise financial support for their ministry through what they referred to as “deputation.”
For roughly the next year, the family lived in the RV full time.
During that period, they were also looking for a permanent home. According to Jill, someone at one point offered to help them purchase or possibly give them a house located on very rocky, hilly property. They declined the offer.
Of course, that version of events comes from Jill, our famously unreliable narrator, so who knows what the actual circumstances of that offer were.
The Honaker Lane house
Eventually, the Rods found and purchased the house on Honaker Lane in West Virginia. They had a mortgage on this house, they didn’t get the house for free. We know they had a mortgage because mortgage information is public record.
Buying the house did not mean they stopped traveling in the RV. They were still doing deputation and continued traveling extensively for several years. The difference was that they now had an actual home base to return to between trips instead of living continuously in the RV.
The Honaker Lane property also had a garage, which gave David space to establish the family’s printing ministry.
So during this period, they owned and lived in the Honaker Lane house while also spending significant amounts of time traveling in the RV. They were not living in the RV full time for all of those years.
CPS and the events of 2019
This is where the timeline gets especially muddled because there are documented events mixed together with a lot of snarker speculation.
In 2019, Jill publicly posted about the family being investigated by CPS.
Shortly afterward, she posted photos of the two youngest girls at a doctor’s appointment. The girls were posed smiling with the doctor, and Jill made a point of saying that the appointment had gone well and that the girls were healthy.
Not long after that came another memorable Rod post: the family “crying and praying at Burger King,” which was a very on brand Rodrigues family activity during their West Virginia years. Jill didn’t explain exactly what they were crying and praying about.
Then, not long afterward, Jill announced that the family was moving out of West Virginia.
Naturally, snarkers connected those events and began speculating that the move might be related to the CPS investigation.
There was also speculation that a change in West Virginia law involving homeschooling and families under CPS investigation may have played a role in their decision to leave.
That part is important to distinguish from the known timeline: none of this was ever confirmed.
The timing certainly caused people to wonder, but Jill never said that they were leaving West Virginia because of CPS, and as far as I know, there has never been documentation establishing that as the reason for the move.
The move to Ohio
After announcing the move, the Rods listed the Honaker Lane house and loaded the family back into the RV while they searched for a property that would give them more room to expand the printing ministry.
They eventually found the Ohio barndominium and put in an offer.
The offer was accepted, and they entered approximately a 30-day closing/escrow period. During that time, the Honaker Lane house sold and closed.
That meant there was another relatively short period when the family was living in the RV while they waited to take possession of the Ohio property.
They closed on the barndominium in January 2020 and moved in. Again, they have a mortgage on the barndo and we know that because it is public record. You can verify this for yourself by searching for property records. You’ll need to find the county name and navigate the county website to find the information. I’m not posting the name of the county because of doxing reasons but it’s easy to find.
So, the basic housing timeline is:
New York → rental house in Looneyville, West Virginia → eviction → approximately one year living full time in the RV → Honaker Lane house in West Virginia → brief period living in the RV during the move → Ohio barndominium
The biggest misconception I keep seeing is that the Rods spent years and years continuously living in the RV. That isn’t what happened.
They lived in the RV full time for roughly a year after losing the Looneyville rental. After purchasing the Honaker Lane house, they continued traveling extensively in the RV for their ministry, but they had a permanent home in West Virginia to return to between trips. They then lived in the RV again for a relatively short period while transitioning from the Honaker Lane house to the barndominium in Ohio.
EDITED TO ADD: There are a couple of other occasions where Jill mentioned CPS investigations, one of which occurred in the RV. I only included the 2019 investigation because there is a lot of confusion around that and the housing timeline.
He doesn’t work, he doesn’t do childcare, he doesn’t cook, he doesn’t clean, he doesn’t appear to have any hobbies, he doesn’t have social media, he doesn’t appear to have real friends, he doesn’t exercise, he doesn’t appear to read. He does his printing thing two days a year and preaches on (some) sundays.
What else is left?
I know he’s been shown doing a lot of “preaching” (rambling and ranting) at his family and he most likely spends some time preparing for future sermons but literally what else is there?
Actually asking.
Another day, another YT short. This time it’s Gabe & Sam singing with some other guys at church for Father’s Day. I’m unsure if she previously posted it on actual Father’s Day or not; either way she’s just doing it to show what an apparently great husband and father David is 🤢
(EDIT: this was a YT Video not a Short, not that it matters too much but just to be accurate)
But I can't see the posts on her profile. Are those private or did she delete them?
I'm not surprised. Someone smarter than him probably convinced him that confessing his sins publicly wouldn't absolve him in a court of law.
I know there’s some discussion about what it was that Kaylee did to distract precious Nurie and what actually happened. This is obviously still a Jillified version that she made Nurie write (or let’s be real…Jill probably wrote it) when she had her set up a $20k GoFundMe. Oops sorry, Nurie did it all on her own to surprise her parents 🥸 Of course they used a picture of poor Kaylee because her injuries outwardly appeared more tragic.
Ultimately, Kayle adjusted the AC, and Nurie had to look down to “make sure Kaylee had done it right”.
Also love the part where she reminds everyone that giving money to the Rods=eternal rewards. Aka, you can your way into Heaven by giving Jill money!
“Hello, my name is Nurie Rodrigues. I am 19 years old and the oldest of 13 children and my parents are in full time ministry. We LOVE serving the Lord together as a family! We have a Printing Ministry and we also travel and sing as a family.
Yesterday (Thursday - June 14, 2018), I and my 16 year old sister - Kaylee (pictured above)- were en route to a pro-life Crossroads Pregnancy Center where we volunteer.
The car was VERY hot, making the steering wheel burning HOT! My sister and I were trying to turn the AC all the way up in the car to cool everything off. We had JUST left home and were nearly at the end of our curvy, West Virginian road; when I looked down at the AC to make sure my sister Kaylee had done it right.
It was at that DREADFUL moment when I took my eyes off the road for a second, that the road curved to the left with the DEEP ditch straight ahead. I knew in an instant, I was in trouble. The car brutally smashed into a boulder rock and it created a COMPLETE turn over of the car INTO the ditch!!
We landed UPSIDE down with the air bags projected and I was TRAPPED in my seat belt UNDER water! My sister Kaylee was knocked unconscious. I struggled to get out, but could not.
I began to think this was the day I was going to meet my Maker. Yet, I had a desire to live. I began to faint, when my sister Kaylee woke up!! Praise the Lord! She called my name and did not hear me answer. So, she began to reach for me. She found my buckle, unbuckled me, and quickly pulled me out of the water. GASP! I was thankful for air!
We found a way out of our open car window. We suffered MUCH bruising, cuts, and stitches and staples had to be administered to patch us up. However, we were BEYOND grateful to still be alive!!
My parents quickly made their way to the scene of the accident with TEARS of joy we were okay.
I am SAD to say though, that I totaled my parents’ vehicle. They did NOT make me feel bad about this at all, but assured me it was our LIVES they were GRATEFUL were spared with no major injuries!!
However, their car insurance will not cover this accident due to it being an older car and ONLY having collision insurance.
As you can imagine, I feel TERRIBLE about this!! My heart and mind INSTANTLY began swirling of ways that I could raise some money for my faithful, hard-working, forgiving, sweet parents.
Being in the ministry is already an intense life of faith. God is good to always take GREAT care of us and my Dad ALWAYS makes sure the bills are paid and there is food on the table.
However, the expenses in our home, with 13 children and being in full time ministry…….well, it leaves NO extra money to buy a car!!
This summer, our family (unexpectedly) has an entire trip out West planned due to needing to drop off my brother Timothy to Bible College. We have meetings in churches along the way that our family will be singing at, but this trip was a step of faith for us. We were scraping our pennies already to afford this trip. Now, we are VOID a car, with ONLY our big van left.
The car was a tow behind car that we brought with us on trips as an errand car once we were hooked up with the RV at various churches, etc.
Also, it was an errand car for us grown children and for my parents. It helped save LOTS in gas, as opposed to taking the BIG van to run small errands in town.
I would love nothing more to SURPRISE them (especially my dad) by raising enough money to help him purchase another MUCH needed car!!
Please prayerfully consider what you could do to help me make this happen! **Remember, your investment would be eternally rewarded, as we are a FULL time ministry family and striving to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a PASSION!!
With a Heavy Heart and Humble PLEA to Help Me,
Nurie Katelin Rodrigues
James 4: 7-8″
The zillow listing for the WV house is a trip. The pictures of the interior, it's like looking into a time machine of rod lore. The pics are from when the rods lived there, you can see all their stuff, and how the furniture was arranged and how the entire house was laid out.
Ps- I feel ok posting because the address is publicly available, the rods posted it publicly in newsletters and posts, and they no longer live there.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/845-Honaker-Dr-Charleston-WV-25312/22658997_zpid/
As we’ve been reminded this week by their dual post and burn endeavors.
Discuss!
Way more grim than I thought. I knew it was a bad crash but I had no idea the car was submerged in water!
Does anyone know how long they lived in the RV and why? I cannot imagine living in an RV with 15 people, 13 of whom were children of all ages. How did they cook? How did they shower? How did they store their stuff, especially food? Was it parked in a permanent spot or did they move around? Did it have heat and/or AC? Did they live in it for financial reasons, and if so, how did they buy their current house? I’m sure Jill and David were cozy and sprawled out in the big bed while desperately trying for #14, but how and where did all of the other kids sleep? I feel smothered just thinking about it!
At this point, it seems obvious to me that Jill moved her Full-Time Ministry (TM) to YouTube for two reasons:
YouTube allows her to post the same content she'd been posting on Facebook and Instagram while trying to make a few bucks. By diverting all of her fans and snarkers to a single YouTube account, she can increase its views somewhat and increase her paycheck from five cents to ten.
YouTube allows her to turn off comments, avoiding well-deserved criticism and constructive feedback. She wants to get her message out while avoiding outside commentary.
What do you think?
While we are waiting for the return to abnormal
programming and reminiscing about the weirdest old days, I submit my minor memory of choice - that time Jill did an absolute bonkers room makeover for Phil’s short lived trip to the randomly Phillipino bible college. Featuring a sadly starved Phil. God these people did their kids dirty
Prefacing with: I absolutely do not think this, or support it, but we know in fundie culture that it’s super common to get married as early as you can.
Renee is 24, unmarried, and Jill has already scared away at least one suitor. Do we think she’s struggling with it? Do we think Jill ever gives her grief about it? Do we think there’s any chance of her getting married soon? Has Jill scared off most local men? I can’t imagine the Timothy situation is helping either.
Being in that home as a 24 year old (or any age, really), seems like absolute hell, but I know the alternative of marrying someone you barely know can’t be great either. I hope there’s still a chance of her setting off on her own, but I know there’s like maaaaybe a 1% chance of that due to how hard Shrek and Jill have kneecapped their children.
I know it took Jana Duggar until her mid-thirties to get married, but at least she lived in her own tiny house on the Duggar property. I can’t imagine how horrifying it would be to be stuck with Jill and Shrek, no escape or space, for that long.
The recent post about Timcel’s failed Bible college experience got me reminiscing on all the years I’ve spent snarking and all the gems that have come from this family. I’ll go first.
- Tim was dropped off at Moody Bible college with $20 and a pat on the back.
- They left their dog at an RV park by accident and took over a week to drive back to pick up the dog (they asked the person that found the dog to keep it for a few weeks because the rods were busy on their church tour).
- Nurie’s first failed courtship was with a dentist, and he left because of Jill. Renee’s first courtship also left because of Jill.
What is the story with Phillip? I tried to look it up on the sub but was a bit lost, did he have some kind of mental break? Also, how many adult childred are living at home? Do they work or go to school?
If someone could do the lords work and break it down I would be thankful.
***Thanks for all the info, it's been a lot to unpack. Poor Phillip, Jill and Shrek should rot.
As of 9:50 AM EST, over $20,000 has been raised for Heidi and Charlie!