Colorado with the Moodys

[Dru]

Steve must really think god sucks. If every little scrap of fun must be banished to keep one on god's path, what does that say about said path and its creator?

 

I passed a church on the way to work that had a sign that read "Be the church. Enjoy this life." Both foreign concepts to Steve and company.

[defraudingjezebel]

I think Sarah's inability to perform naturally in front of the camera, or her inability to write believable dialogue proves that Steve Maxwell has absolutely no authority to write "Making Great Conversationalists."I haven't read the book myself, but I can imagine it does not urge parents to teach kids how to converse well, but rather force them to memorize scripted responses to certain situations. Part of being a great conversationalist is knowing certain cultural matters and current events so you can understand the references your conversational partner makes. Also, that kind of knowledge allows you to ask interesting questions about these matters. The Maxwell kids have extremely minimal exposure to interesting academic/scholastic questions, popular culture, literary canon, and current events, meaning they'd be unable to talk to someone if, for instance, they brought up the Syrian Civil War and formation of ISIS. They'd have zero understanding of fundamentalist Islam because its ~not of (their) God. 

[Justme]

I'm waiting for the sequel, "Keeping Your Adult Children's Hearts...... forever"

Sarah can be the cover girl.

[blessalessi]

I'm waiting for the sequel, "Keeping Your Adult Children's Hearts...... forever"

Sarah can be the cover girl.

That is actually an important part of the Maxwell Family Plan

Hearts has a chapter on writing a set of goals for your family, with scriptural references, and keeping copies pinned around the house, eg next to the bathroom mirror.

The final goal on the list is for the children to give their hearts to the parents for as long as they are living in the family home. 

 

[Jana814]

I'm waiting for the sequel, "Keeping Your Adult Children's Hearts...... forever"

Sarah can be the cover girl.

love this!!  

[WonderingInWA]

I'm waiting for the sequel, "Keeping Your Adult Children's Hearts...... forever"

Sarah can be the cover girl.

 

love this!!  

Such a fine line in her case between being a Cover Girl or being a Poster Child for Maxhell Syndrome.

[browngrl]

Steve, I know you read here so stop thinking of yourself or death or eternal damnation and do Sarah a favour by passing on this advice: 

Sarah, I have two pieces of advice.

 To be a good writer you also have to be a reader. My advice to you is read A LOT. Don't limit yourself to the Bible. There are many excellent books, so explore and discover but even a badly written book can teach you something. Don't only focus on learning - discover what a joy reading can be.

To be a good writer you need to talk with other writers. Join a writing group. Take a class or better yet get a degree. "Fellowship" with others who share your passion for writing. There is much that other writers can teach you. 

Wishing you all the best, Sarah.

She can't, though.  Not unless she leaves the Maxwell house behind.  Their whole thing is that the parents very tightly control what they read and where they go.  They explicitly do not want their children to go to college, and the only things that they can read have to have been approved by Steve.  So - nothing where there is conflict, nothing where the father is shown as anything other than the family leader, nothing with swears or sex or drinking.  She can't read anything.  She can't fellowship with anybody because if you allow your children to go to outside groups or events, even those hosted by the church, their hearts will be pulled toward the leader of those events, and that's how you lose your children's hearts.

I'm sure you know this already.  But I'm in the thick of Keeping our Children's Hearts, and all of these things are explicitly laid out.  No WAY can she join a group or read books that are written by good writers.  That would ruin the Maxwell brand, and also make her ripe for rebellion.  When she gets married, maybe her new husband will allow her to do that, but he has to be careful!  Because those things will steal a woman's heart away.

I know but Sarah kind of breaks my heart. I can't imagine there is any chance Steve will loosen his grip and I imagine that Sarah might already be so damaged that she can never recover, but I still hope for her. She just makes me so sad.

 

[twin2]

Steve, I know you read here so stop thinking of yourself or death or eternal damnation and do Sarah a favour by passing on this advice: 

Sarah, I have two pieces of advice.

 To be a good writer you also have to be a reader. My advice to you is read A LOT. Don't limit yourself to the Bible. There are many excellent books, so explore and discover but even a badly written book can teach you something. Don't only focus on learning - discover what a joy reading can be.

To be a good writer you need to talk with other writers. Join a writing group. Take a class or better yet get a degree. "Fellowship" with others who share your passion for writing. There is much that other writers can teach you. 

Wishing you all the best, Sarah.

She can't, though.  Not unless she leaves the Maxwell house behind.  Their whole thing is that the parents very tightly control what they read and where they go.  They explicitly do not want their children to go to college, and the only things that they can read have to have been approved by Steve.  So - nothing where there is conflict, nothing where the father is shown as anything other than the family leader, nothing with swears or sex or drinking.  She can't read anything.  She can't fellowship with anybody because if you allow your children to go to outside groups or events, even those hosted by the church, their hearts will be pulled toward the leader of those events, and that's how you lose your children's hearts.

I'm sure you know this already.  But I'm in the thick of Keeping our Children's Hearts, and all of these things are explicitly laid out.  No WAY can she join a group or read books that are written by good writers.  That would ruin the Maxwell brand, and also make her ripe for rebellion.  When she gets married, maybe her new husband will allow her to do that, but he has to be careful!  Because those things will steal a woman's heart away.

The other problem, is that I think the Maxwells are quite prideful, and think they can teach themselves pretty much everything they need to know.  I think they tend to believe they can do it better than everyone else, so what can anyone else teach them? 

I just keep thinking back to their prologue to "Making Great Conversationalist".  They could never have meaningful conversations with anyone, therefore, clearly the problem is with the whole rest of the world, and not the lowest common denominator.....

[CyborgKin]

I've got to wonder, how does Maxhell Syndrome compare to Botkin Syndrome?

[Dark Matters]

Surprise moody book party for Sarah.  Much fun (oops!) was had by all.

 

blog.titus2.com/2015/10/27/anna-marie-hosts-a-surprise-party/

[Seven Severn]

Surprise moody book party for Sarah.  Much fun (oops!) was had by all.

 

blog.titus2.com/2015/10/27/anna-marie-hosts-a-surprise-party/

Abby's getting so tall! And Melanie looks great.

They were so excited to see each other for the umpteenth time this week!

 

 

[Ellimenopy]

I agree that there's all sorts of bad patriarchy a la Steve in the Moody books, but it is pretty nice that they celebrated Sarah for a change.

[Justme]

I'm glad they did something nice for Sarah.  She always seems to be in the shadows.

There is a picture of Sarah driving. There has been some question if the "girls" had drivers licenses.

[Dandruff]

On the one hand, they had a big party.  On the other hand, it was to celebrate the death of the Moody series.  OK then.

[Letgo]

In order to bake cookies for the party, Anna mentions that she and Mary had Aunties' playtime at Anna Marie's "so Sarah wouldn't come visit us." Does that mean Sarah is not included as one of the aunties? Does she not like to play with the nieces and nephews? Sarah didn't seem to have a problem going to the home of Christopher and Anna Marie, so why would she not go there?

[socalrules]

I love snarking on the Maxwells but even I admit that the party was a sweet idea and it's nice that something was done for Sarah, who always seems to be on the outside looking in. What's interesting is that Sarah drove the car over to Christopher's house, which makes it seem as though she was able to travel alone. 

Also, in Anna's post, she says that they had a blast together. Isn't that the same as having fun?

[Black Aliss]

 She's never read Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, or Jane Austen either. It must be so strange trying to have any sort of conversation with her. I wonder how many basic phrases and references that people use just go right over the Maxwell kids' heads?

So far over head they look like contrails (or chemtrails if you're paranoid fundie.)

references to Monty Python sketches--whoosh!

memorable quotes from The Princess Bride--whoooooosh!!

[Antimony]

After dinner, the little ones went outside for a Moody I-J-N (In Jesus’ Name) project, picking up sticks at a widow’s house (aka Gigi’s house).

...woo, party hard!!

And Nathan knows Sarah's books better than she does, which is weird.  

[Guest]

This party didn't seem half bad, especially for a Maxwell party, and it was nice that they did something for Sarah.  Abby looks so grown up, and the picture of her hugging Anna was cute.  I wasn't sure if Sarah was allowed to drive, and apparently she is and can go out by herself, which I never would have expected.  Still no pictures of Lydia (I keep forgetting she exists), and no Joseph, Elyssa, and Calia.

[Charliemae]

poor Sarah was at J and E's house because they needed last minute help and she couldn't say no.  Than she was asked to bring a tool to C and A house and of course couldn't say no.  She had to text (everyone?) where she was going and that she would be late, because no unaccounted time.  When she got there C pretend to be working becuase anything else would seem out of the ordinary.  He asked Sarah (who was already late for dinner) to come inside and see something or other, she couldn't say no. Her party was a work project and bible time, which is pretty much a normal day.  At least they had cookies.  *Sigh* what a strange look into the like of Poor Sarah Maxwell. 

[FunFunFundie]

I'm glad they did something nice for Sarah.  She always seems to be in the shadows.

There is a picture of Sarah driving. There has been some question if the "girls" had drivers licenses.

In the Keeping Hearts book, Sarah talks about driving - she always has to have a sibling with her, which she joyfully accepts!  Because it holds her accountable, and now she loves her siblings!!

[quiversR4hunting]

 

I was just thinking about this today! On my run this afternoon (gotta love that grad school schedule), I listened to a podcast about Queen Victoria's early life. Of course, she did get the best education money can buy, being a niece of the king and first in line for the throne for most of her life, but until she was 18, she was isolated from most of the world by her mother and her mother's comptroller/possible lover. Victoria couldn't even walk up or down a flight of stairs by herself until the day she found out that she was queen. She had very few friends her age because her sort-of-stepdad decided who got any sort of access to her, and her mom tried to make herself regent by trying to force Victoria to sign an agreement to that effect while she was delirious with fever (Victoria still had the presence of mind to say hell no). And yet despite her very Maxwellian upbringing (seriously, while I was listening to what her childhood was like and all the rules John Conroy and her mom had in place, all I could think of was "wow, Victoria lived that Maxwell life before the Maxwells were a thing"), Victoria managed to be a very worldly (if incredibly imperialistic) and overall pretty successful queen. Though as I mentioned before, she did get a world-class education from her tutors and she was a princess, so that helped things.

Can I have your grad school schedule? I work full time, 3 kids & husband; I am struggling with my 2nd to last semester. I need about 2 weeks off to get things accomplished but I don't have 2 weeks to take off!

Enjoy your awesome grad school schedule! (I am very jealous)

ok now back to the moody "party"

[Eternalbluepearl]

Having a sibling drive with you, to keep you accountable...accountable to what? Or for what? She's in her 30's for God sakes. Why are they creating a prison life for nice, normal adults who have done nothing wrong? With those kinds of rules, you might as well do bad things! 

[memmy]

What i found interesting is that Teri is laying on the floor while attempting to complete the trivia. I would have never imagined that she would be so "un-classy" and lay on the floor like that.

Plus Andrew is attempting to do somersaults while remaining on his blanket? and one more from the same picture: is that Tina being blanket trained too?

[kpmom]

Yes, I noticed no Elyssa, Joseph and Calia too.  Hopefully everyone's well.  And now we know Sarah can drive by herself, at least a little under a mile from home.  Guess she can't blast a rock station for too long on that short a trip.

 

Also, glad to see Sarah get some love.