Maxwell Summary

[mango_fandango]

Here is the Maxwell summary I've been working on. It'll probably take up a few posts.

The Family Members and Basic Family History

 

Parents: Steve and Teri

Children: Nathan, Christopher, Sarah, Joseph, John, Anna, Jesse, Mary

 

Nathan is married to Melanie (née Maher). They have six children "on Earth" as fundies say: Abigail Hope, Bethany Faith, Christina Mercy, Andrew James (referred to as Drew), Benjamin Steven and Deborah Carol. Their first child, Susannah Joy, was born in March 2007 but sadly died three days later, having shown no signs of life, of an unknown cause.

Christopher is married to Anna (née Hamilton) (referred to as NR-Anna by FJers and Anna Marie on the blog). They have six children: Joshua Christopher, Ruthanne Elizabeth, Lydia Joy and Daniel Titus,  Elizabeth Grace and newest addition Simon Peter. (Yes, they did re-use Ruthie's middle name. Guess they only have a limited pool of names). Whilst still pregnant with Simon, Anna was diagnosed with a lump in her breast; which was confirmed as breast cancer. She has undergone chemotherapy and other treatments and things appear to be going well.

Joseph is married to Elissa (née Frost). They have three children, Calia Grace, Kyle Jeremiah and Caleb Alexander. 

John is married to Chelsy (née Bontrager). They have two sons, Axton John (born January 2019) and Elliot Rex (born June 2020). Chelsy is currently pregnant with #3, due in late September.

Jesse is married to Anna (née Craig). As with Joseph, no mention was made of the relationship on the blog prior to a photo being shared on the day of the wedding, which was on 23rd May 2020 during the time of coronavirus. There are no children or pregnancies as of their first anniversary (that we know of). 

FAMILY HISTORY

Steve and Teri married in August 1974, on Teri’s 19th birthday. They were not “saved” until a few years into marriage. Originally, they were relatively “normal”; Nathan and Christopher went to school (admittedly a private Christian one, but still school), they played sports, Sarah occasionally wore pants. It was at this time that Teri began suffering from depression. In Managers of their Schools (more later), Teri includes a letter to her mom about how she suffered from depression and couldn’t wait for Sarah to enter school as well, yet despite this she decides to homeschool. Steve had also had a vasectomy. At one point, Steve decided to read the Bible to see what it said about children, began weeping (this is a common thing in this family) and decided to have the vasectomy reversed. Bear in mind, Teri could barely cope with the three she had. Joseph is seven years younger than Sarah. Youngest child Mary recently celebrated her 21st birthday. Teri began homeschooling in 1985; Mary graduated in 2015, allowing Teri to claim that she had homeschooled for thirty years.

Just in case you had no idea/forgot what Steve and Teri look like:

Spoiler

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by mango_fandango
added info about Susannah

[mango_fandango]

As mentioned, Nathan, Christopher and Joseph are married and have moved out. Their houses are all within 1 mile of the main Maxwell compound. They, and their families, are referred to on the blog as "extended family". Auntie's Playtime is regularly scheduled, as is Grandparent Time. Auntie's Playtime involves all grandchildren at once, and Grandparent Time is just with one set of grandkids at once, e.g. Teri reading to Nathan's kids. 

Nathan's family info:

Spoiler

Nathan married in January 2002, to Melanie Maher. The family cried once Nathan had left. This may be understandable had Nathan and his young bride hopped states or even out of the country… their house is across. the. street. It took the newlyweds over four years to conceive the first child. When the current blog started back in August 2006, Melanie was pregnant. It soon became apparent that there were many health issues. Susannah Joy Maxwell was born March 21st 2007. She was not breathing and showed no signs of life. She passed away three days later. Sarah commemorates her passing every year on the blog, and is possibly the only time the Maxwells seem human. Fourteen months later, Abigail Hope was born (May 2008). She was born at 34.5 weeks via emergency c-section and spent time in the NICU. She appears to be doing well and has not seemingly suffered any long-lasting effects. Melanie also had difficult pregnancies with her subsequent babies, and has had to take progesterone shots. Her newest child is Deborah Carol, born in May 2019, five days before Abigail’s 11th birthday.

Christopher's Family: 

Spoiler

Christopher’s first experience of courtship/engagement was not with NR-Anna. He was originally in a relationship with Sara Smith. The wedding was due to take place in March 2007. For unknown reasons, the relationship was called off, and Christopher subsequently courted and married Anna Hamilton in October 2010. Joshua Christopher was born June 2012, and they have subsequently had five more. The announcement of baby #6 was made at the end of a post about a grandkids photo shoot. The final photograph featured NR-Anna with her daughters, all sporting baby carriers, and all with bare feet, which FJers agreed was a depressing reminder that the Maxgirls are only destined to be wives and mothers, no other choice. As mentioned in the first post, Anna Marie is currently facing a serious health issue (breast cancer), and had to be induced with Simon, who was her first hospital birth.

 NR-Anna is originally from Washington state where she helped on the family goat farm, making soap out of goat's milk. Their house is just behind the main family house. Chris takes wedding photos for a living; however they are derided on FJ for their poor quality.

Joseph's Family:

Spoiler

Joseph was also involved in a failed engagement, to Elizabeth Munck. The relationship had progressed incredibly fast and with barely any face-to-face contact, Joseph preferring to phone Elizabeth’s father. Part of being eligible to court is buying a house in cash – explained later – and so for a period of two years (the original wedding was due to take place in August 2012) Joseph owned a house but did not live in it. All references to both Sara and Elizabeth were scrubbed on the blog. Joseph’s wedding to Elissa Frost was announced the day it had taken place (6th September 2014), with no courtship announcement beforehand. Their first child, Calia Grace, was born in October 2015, their second, Kyle Jeremiah, in March 2018, and their most recent, Caleb Alexander, in January 2020. Joseph’s family is not featured as much on the blog, perhaps because they live further away (a whole 0.7 miles!) 

 

Edited January 29, 2020 by mango_fandango
clearing up

[mango_fandango]

Sarah:

Spoiler

Eldest daughter Sarah is 39 and still lives at home. It is widely-accepted fact on FJ that it is highly unlikely that she will ever marry. The feeling was further heightened in Sarah’s birthday post in 2019: “We know you envisioned your life to be a stay-at-home mom homeschooling children, but God hasn’t directed  that way by bringing the right man into your life. So you have focused your energies on what He has given you to do and had an amazingly  productive life in that.” To add further insult to injury, Sarah’s bio states that “she would love to become a wife and mother, but is waiting on the Lord for that right guy”. Given the isolation the Maxwells live in, it seems unlikely that she will meet someone. She appears to do a lot of work behind the scenes and wrote the Moody Family book series (more later). Whether her sisters will marry is also up for speculation. Sarah does have her own dog, Ellie.

Last year, @SPHASH discovered that Ellie was going to be bred. There was a website that featured photographs of Sarah and Bethany, Kansas Goldens. Despite this, no definitive information about puppies appeared until around May of this year. At a recent vet appointment that was meant to be a confirmatory ultrasound, it was discovered that Ellie had an infection and had to be spayed.

John:

Spoiler

Mentioned on FJ as the best-looking of the sons, hence @SPHASH's nickname of Stud John. He has an agriculture design business and is a licensed real estate agent in Kansas. He has had the most freedom of the Maxwell kidults and has gone to California for work conferences, as well as a mystery trip abroad.

John married eldest Bontrager daughter Chelsy on December 30th. It was first mentioned on the Bontrager blog; it took a long time for the Maxwells to mention that John was engaged. The explanation was that they were going to wait until after the wedding, as they had done with Joseph, but the Bontrager announcement necessitated a Maxwell one.  When expecting her first child, Chelsy again announced it on her own blog way before the Maxwells mentioned it on theirs.

The wedding itself was very WTAF. After coming down the aisle, Chelsy went to play the piano. Then followed a long period of typical male-fundie-bloviating... during which Marlin, Chelsy’s father, hauled the Reversals to the front and SPOKE ABOUT STEVE’S VASECTOMY REVERSAL. Yep, you read that right!! Nobody in the thread understands either. At one point, BOTH Chelsy and John ran back down the aisle, ostensibly because Chelsy had left her vows in a back room... hmm. The rings were flown to the front via drone, possibly one of the more normal moments...

John and Chelsy have two boys, eldest Axton John and Elliot Rex. Many people have commented on the harsh sound of Axton’s name, particularly when combined with Maxwell. Elliot’s middle name is after John’s late grandfather (Teri’s father). Chelsy is currently pregnant with #3.

Anna:

Spoiler

Anna is mentioned on the blog as a great cook. She also featured in a recent video speaking against abortion, where she pretended to be... wait for it... an unborn fetus. DA FUCK??

Jesse:

Spoiler

Jesse is probably the least-mentioned child on the blog, hence @SPHASH's nickname for him of Forgotten Jesse. He is mentioned as having a heart for the unborn. He works as a programmer and helped design the current blog and made it mobile-friendly.

A couple of months ago, an FJ sleuther found an online wedding registry for Jesse and a young woman called Anna Craig, who is from Ohio. On 23rd May, a photo of Jesse and his bride was posted on the blog, without any prior mention of a courtship/engagement, similar to what happened with Joseph and Elissa. No children as of yet, but they’ll probably come as tends to happen with fundies.

Mary: 

Spoiler

Mary is the youngest. She is mentioned as a "creative" (noun, not adverb) and does some graphic design work. She illustrated a couple of Moody books. 

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by mango_fandango

[mango_fandango]

BASIC SUMMARY OF THEIR BELIEFS AND THEIR MODESTY STANDARDS:

Once the eldest Maxwell children were taken out of school, the isolation was stepped up to its current level. Steve began disallowing sports, television (referred to as The Beast) and several other things. In fact, the list of approved activities is tiny; if an activity does not glorify Jesus, it’s blacklisted. To this end, none of the family watches the news, watches movies or TV programmes, or in fact does any kind of cultural activity at all. 

Family beliefs are fairly standard: believer's baptism (although there seems to be no minimum age, as Abby was baptised at 6, Bethany was baptised at 4 (at the same event as Abby) and Christina was at the age of 5), girls must wear skirts, KJV-only. (There’s not been any mention of Chris and Anna’s kids being baptised, so whether or not this has happened remains to be seen).

Modesty Standards:  

Like many fundie families, the Maxwells dress modestly. For several years clothing for the girls consisted entirely of t-shirts and frumpers (ankle-length jumper dresses), photos of which can still be seen on the blog. For events such as conferences and family photos, the girls and Teri dressed in matching patterns. From around 2011/2012 they modified their standards slightly; they now wear t-shirts and ankle-length skirts. Collarbones MUST be covered and the girls frequently wear a base layer underneath their main t-shirt to achieve this. The guys, of course, can wear normal pants and t-shirts/shirts/polos.

Abby, Bethany and Tina are not subjected to such restrictions (currently) and frequently wear knee-length skirts. NR-Anna appears to be the “fundiest” of the wives, and as such is rarely seen out of a frumper. Ruthanne and Lydia also wear frumpers (or else long dresses) and have never been photographed in t-shirt and skirt mix like their cousins. Elissa appears to be more like Melanie and Calia is dressed accordingly.

Spoiler is a family photo from 2010. The Maxwells did NOT wear matching outfits every day... 

 

Spoiler

 

BOOKS AND USER-COUNT TITLES:

Steve and Teri began homeschooling in the mid-80s when the movement was still quite small. They published a number of self-help books. These are the frequently mentioned ones:

·         Managers of their Homes (MOTH)

·         Managers of their Chores (MOTC)

·         Managers of their Schools (MOTS)

·         Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit

·         Keeping our Children’s Hearts (KOCH)

·         Making Great Conversationalists

·         Buying a House Debt-Free: Equipping Your Son

·         Redeeming the Time

·         Preparing Sons to Provide for a Single-Income Family

·         Moody Family Series (by Sarah)

·         Teri also wrote some devotionals: Sweet Journey and Sweet Relationships.

The Moody Series:

·         Summer with the Moodys

·         Autumn “”

·         Winter “”

·         Spring “”

·         Summer Days “”

·         Autumn Days “”

·         Winter Days “”

·         Spring Days “”

·         Exciting Times “”

·         Colorado “”

 

Managers of their Homes is essentially about SCHEDULING. This is BIG with the Maxwells. Teri has basically said that scheduling saved her from depression. The Maxwells’ lives are scheduled in half-hour increments. Included are daily Personal Bible Time and Family Bible time which are non-negotiable. Lunch and dinner times are also always at the same time every day (noon and 6pm). The Duggars famously used a MOTH schedule (although of course whether or not they still use it is unlikely). Jim Bob has also done forwards for a couple of other books.

Managers of their Chores introduces Chore Packs; essentially, list the chores your child should do every day and put them in order in a little plastic wallet that can clip to your clothes, so that the child can keep track of what they are doing.

Managers of their Schools is all about the Maxwell method of homeschooling. This can be summarised by using textbooks so that you don’t actually have to teach your child.

Keeping our Children’s Hearts is all about how to isolate/shelter your child and keep them at home till marriage. If you follow this book your children will supposedly never rebel.

Making Great Conversationalists is a highly ironic title. Given how sheltered the kids are it is highly doubtful that they are good at conversation. FJers who have met the kids in person report how they appear to stick to a pre-approved script and get flustered if forced off said script. Shyness is absolutely not allowed.

BaHD-F: Being debt-free is another Maxwell maxim. All three married men bought their houses in cash, and do not have mortgages.

The Moody Series is unutterably dull and plotless. (Again, irony is to be expected with the title Exciting Days). One only has to read the sample chapters on the website to see how stilted and badly-written the Moody Series are. There are four children: Max, Mitch, Mollie and Maddy. The books are all very samey and clearly based on the Maxwell lifestyle. The children never do anything wrong; even the smallest of mistakes is immediately apologised for as though it’s some serious crime. Exciting Days is the source for the “exploding bratwursts” story referred to on FJ, where a Moody neighbour attempted to grill bratwurst only for grease to spurt everywhere. The illustration in the sample is, obviously, full of innuendo.

In addition to the books, Steve and Teri also produce “Seriously Dads” and “Mom’s Corner” articles. All previous Corners have been uploaded to the Maxwell site, and some of the stories contained within are frequently mentioned on FJ. These (amongst other bits of Maxwell lore) have given rise to a number of user count titles (see spoiler): 

Spoiler

·         Batshit with a Mahoosive Sense of Paranoia (425): Stevie in a nutshell. (I came up with this one).

·         Moody Family Fanfic Author (950)

·         Passed the “Good Person Test” (1050): the Maxwells evangelise at their county fair. They use Ray Comfort’s Good Person Test as well as a quiz about the Ten Commandments. This is in conjunction with “Where Will You Go When You Die?” (Death is a BIG THING with Stevie – he gave a whole sermon on it at Chris and NR-Anna’s wedding, which was live-streamed and spawned a long thread on Yuku).

·         Swift Otter’s Chief Synergist (1375): Swift Otter is a website design business. It used to be full of Christianese which has since been edited out.

·         Reversal Baby (1600): referenced above. The five youngest are called the Reversals (on FJ).

·         Awaiting the Lord’s Pizza Delivery (1650): a Corner story. In a nutshell, Teri decided that reminding Steve to pick up a pizza delivery would not be sufficiently “reverencing” her husband. Title of the Corner was “A Wifely Victory” and is from April 2000.

·         Reverencing My Cheese Paper Sandwich (1800): a blog-post story. Whilst in Uriah (explanation later), Teri ate half a cheese sandwich before realising that some cheese paper was still in it. This was, apparently, hilarious. The blog post came complete with photo.

·         My Kids Have Never Even Heard of Halloween (1900): Halloween is of course a BIG no-no. The older kids used to be frightened of Halloween decorations. The younger kids had, err, never heard of the holiday. Corner is from November 2000.

·         Pepsi is my Idol (2750): Teri Maxwell used to have a Pepsi addiction. This was perceived as an “appetite” and therefore banned. Similarly, any other “appetites” for something are swiftly forbidden.

·         Savoring 2 Animal Crackers (3250): Steve frequently fasts to pray for people. His birthday fell during one such fast, and his family were allowed TWO WHOLE ANIMAL CRACKERS for dessert. Whenever a new fast is announced, FJers will have their own anti-fast.

·         Dusting the Ceiling Fans (4700): Many boring-as-fuck household chores get their own blog post. Photos always feature the Maxwell girls posed and smiling as they dust their ceiling fans or clean their cupboards.

·         Following the Minute-by-Minute Schedule (5450): as explained above.

·         Divinely Inspired to Invent the “Shopping List” (5600): Teri writes inane blog posts that point out the bleeding obvious. The key to success at a family event is to write out a shopping list and evaluate said event afterwards. NO SHIT SHERLOCK.

·         On the 1TonRamp (5700): The Maxwells used to run an online how-to-use-the-Internet course (IT on Ramp) which has closed down. The logo spelled “1 Ton Ramp”.

·         Grew Up Around Cameras (6050): why the Maxwell grandkids are so good at posing for photos.

·         Captain of “Flowing Streams Christian School” Water Sports Team (7450): This is the name of the Maxwell homeschool. (More like Stagnant Pond Christian Prison given the amount of freedom the kids have).

·         Escaped Maxhell (13500): What we wish the kids would do.

·         On What Some Might Call a Vaction (14250): The Maxwells go to Colorado every fucking year to hike 14ers. The girls wear their long skirts. Each hike merits a blog post. It’s always the same story. (They wake up early, read the Bible, drive varying distances to whichever mountain it is, they walk up it. Snacks are vital; trail mix, Pringles, chocolate.)

 

Edited May 27, 2021 by mango_fandango
clarification

[mango_fandango]

Other Dribs and Drabs:

The Maxwells used to tour the country in their RV, Uriah, to give conferences; in other words, spreading the Maxwell message. They began in around 2000/2001 ish and ended around 2014/15. By then they had largely dried up. Uriah was acquired at the end of 2007 and sold at the end of 2014. John got to drive Uriah alone all the way to California. 

The Maxwells built their current house by themselves. There are blog posts about it starting from around 2007. Christopher then took ownership of the old house, directly behind the current one.

When the Maxwells do something, they always do it as a family. No outside friends are allowed (although Sarah has occasionally gone to help a family friend with childcare). Christmas follows a set program. Decorations are Christ-centred and no tree is allowed. Easter is “Resurrection Sunday” and no “bunny stuff” or egg hunts are allowed. Steve cut contact with a family member who did this. They go carolling in December and take along baked treats, which in the past have included cinnamon rolls and lemon poppy seed loaves. Naturally, there's a little evangelism thrown into the mix. The remaining Maxwell kidults also get driven around in the van listening to the 12 Voices of Christmas every year (to see the local Christmas decor/lights), and there is always a rather depressing photo of the kidults obediently strapped into their seats.

Their health insurance is with Samaritan Ministries (frequently referred to as Scamaritan). They also take part in Operation Christmas Child which is organised by Samaritan's Purse. (Easy to get the two confused like I did!)

Whilst on the conferences, they often sang at the churches. Their voices are very nasal and this has been snarked on as “Trust Een Obey”. A frequently-mentioned song is “Holy, Holy, Holy”. Joseph also notably recorded a video of himself singing Elissa’s favourite hymn, “Channels Only”, in the Colorado mountains. He also sang the song at their wedding.

Sarah frequently posts family recipes on the blog. They famously eat “bean burritos”; Steve apparently declared that there was no difference in taste between meat and bean burritos. The burritos have been derided as lacking in any spice. In posting one recipe (for seven-layer-salad IIRC), Sarah said she’d write a future post on using a pizza cutter to slice lettuce leaves. This was promised over a year ago and still has not appeared, and as such has become an FJ running gag.

ETA: Just remembered these things! As part of the sheltering, Steve has weekly meetings with each kidult still at home where they discuss things the kidult may be struggling with etc. When they were little, Steve also recorded himself talking to each child (recordings were played during nap times which were required until the child was five), addressing them by name and telling them areas they could improve in amongst other things. He notably didn't make one for Anna, so she was given John's tape as a (rather poor) substitute. Father of the Year right there /endsarcasm.

To sum up, the Maxwells live one of the blandest existences imaginable. We all talk about how dull their lives are, but we still follow their blog…

AND I AM DONE. 

Edited September 26, 2017 by mango_fandango
added about carolling

[SPHASH]

Thanks for the summaries @mango_fandango.  Especially the explanation for my nicknames.  Not to nitpick but Susannah was not mentioned.

Edited September 24, 2017 by SPHASH
ETA

[Palimpsest]

Good job!

I suppose I would only add:

• the term "the Reversals" was coined by the Maxwells themselves.  Which, I think, means an unhealthy obsession with the state of Dad's scrotum.
• Samaritan’s Purse (operation Christian Child much loved by the Maxhellions) and Samaritan Health sharing crap https://thehealthcoop.com/products-services/health-care-sharing/ are different entities (I think).
• Christopher's expertise in wedding photography is highly questionable.
• Some FJers find John extremely hot.

[mango_fandango]

Oh yeah. @SPHASH has nicknames for all the Maxwell adults. Other names we use include Stevehovah, Stevie and Terified. 

2 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

Good job!

I suppose I would only add:

• the term "the Reversals" was coined by the Maxwells themselves.  Which, I think, means an unhealthy obsession with the state of Dad's scrotum.
• Samaritan’s Purse (operation Christian Child much loved by the Maxhellions) and Samaritan Health sharing crap https://thehealthcoop.com/products-services/health-care-sharing/ are different entities (I think).
• Christopher's expertise in wedding photography is highly questionable.
• Some FJers find John extremely hot.

I did briefly mention Chris's bad photography and John's hotness, but it was in the spoilers. Thanks for mentioning!

[Palimpsest]

I got a bit confused with the spoilers.  Sorry.

Can you add Terifying to Teri's nicknames.  Having seen her in action I find it more appropriate.

[mango_fandango]

Susannah was mentioned in the Nathan section. I put the spoilers in mainly because of the photos and the giant blocks of text would've made for some long posts, so I thought it'd look a bit neater. I was having issues with the Nathan/Chris/Joseph post and didn't write Nathan before his spoiler, and couldn't figure out a way of doing so. 

Here's the Susannah bit:

Quote

 When the current blog started back in August 2006, Melanie was pregnant. It soon became apparent that there were many health issues. Susannah Joy Maxwell was born March 21st 2007. She was not breathing and showed no signs of life. She passed away three days later. Sarah commemorates her passing every year on the blog, and is possibly the only time the Maxwells seem human.

Edited September 24, 2017 by mango_fandango

[TatertotAsserole]

Thank you, @mango_fandango! 

 

As someone new to this forum and therefore new to fundie families, this was incredibly helpful. 

[mango_fandango]

@SPHASH's nicknames for each Maxwell adult are as follows: Coward Steve (because he is terrified of the outside world); Griselda Teri (when Eleanor Roosevelt suffered from depression, she called them her Griselda moods); Prissy Chris (forget why); Poor Sarah (obvious reasons); Smug Joseph (he has seemed the most smug at conferences), Stud John (already mentioned), Goofy Anna (she has a goofy smile), Forgotten Jesse (already explained) and Scary Mary (she has the fundie wide-eyed look down pat, which makes for a rather scary look). I forget Nathan's name. Melanie has been named Wonder Woman for surviving multiple difficult pregnancies (and for going through them), I forget NR-Anna's name, and Elissa is Invisible Elissa as she rarely features on the blog.

[SPHASH]

14 minutes ago, mango_fandango said:

@SPHASH's nicknames for each Maxwell adult are as follows: Prissy Chris (forget why), I forget Nathan's name, I forget NR-Anna's name.

Prissy Chris cuz he seems to be the most prissy and uptight of all the Maxwells, he was the first one to go through the first no touch courtship.   Crazy Eyed Nate cuz he has the weirdest eyes.  Amish Anna cuz she dresses like straight off Little House on the Prairie even when she isn't wearing the frumpers.  Also with Goofy Anna she sported that ridiculous Lolly the Clown outfit.

 

Edited September 24, 2017 by SPHASH
Clipping quote

[Palimpsest]

I love and appreciate @SPHASH, but I admit I don't like her nicknames.  That is why I don't use them.  Sorry.

I like Stevehovah and Terifying because they are.  For the rest, I'm happy to divide them into the reversals and non-reversals.

They all (especially the boys) have scary eyes.  They are all prissy,  Anna is no more Goofy than Mary.  And Jesse is the forgotten nerd.

[Coconut Flan]

1 minute ago, Palimpsest said:

I love and appreciate @SPHASH, but I admit I don't like her nicknames.  That is why I don't use them.  Sorry.

I'm not a fan of them either.  It makes me cringe when I see them.  The forums are so much easier for me to read if real names or close to real names are used.  

[SPHASH]

40 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

I love and appreciate @SPHASH, but I admit I don't like her nicknames.  That is why I don't use them.  Sorry.

I like Stevehovah and Terifying because they are.  For the rest, I'm happy to divide them into the reversals and non-reversals.

They all (especially the boys) have scary eyes.  They are all prissy,  Anna is no more Goofy than Mary.  And Jesse is the forgotten nerd.

 

36 minutes ago, Coconut Flan said:

I'm not a fan of them either.  It makes me cringe when I see them.  The forums are so much easier for me to read if real names or close to real names are used.  

The reason I gave them all nicknames like that is because on the blog NR Anna is referred to as Anna Marie and her younger sister who's real name is Sarah was called Gracie.  The Maxwells must think they are the only ones who have the right to the names Sarah and Anna.  Even if its just to differentiate I still don't like it.  It wouldn't kill them to explain the difference between the two Anna's.

 

[OhNoNike]

Thanks so much for the recap. I just started reading about them and didn't know where to start.  They sound so exciting *yawn*

[Jingerale]

4 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

In addition to the books, Steve and Teri also produce “Seriously Dads” and “Mom’s Corner” articles. All previous Corners have been uploaded to the Maxwell site...

Can someone point me to where the Corners are posted? I have always been interested in reading them but didn't want to sign up on their mailing lists. I did a cursory search and haven't found anything. TIA!

[mango_fandango]

The Corners have a section on the blog. Click on "articles" on the top bar. NB: we call them Corners because they used to be both "Mom's Corner" and "Dad's Corner", but Steve decided a few years ago to end the longer "Dad's Corners" and write a new series of shorter articles called "Seriously Dads". "Mom's Corner" goes out monthly and "Seriously Dads" goes out weekly.

Here's the link to the section. The newest Corner/Seriously Dad isn't always uploaded straight away so if you are interested in reading then check back every so often. The entire backlog, dating to 1995, is listed on the right-hand side of this page. 

http://articles.titus2.com/

Edited September 25, 2017 by mango_fandango

[Naga Viper]

The ditto marks on the list of Moody books are everything.

[mango_fandango]

For those who are interested, Moody book samples are viewable through the "Products" section on the site. Scroll down till you see the Moody books (they have a block-colour border round the cover) and click on one, then click on "Sample Pages". It makes for... interesting reading.

[Jingerale]

3 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

The Corners have a section on the blog. Click on "articles" on the top bar. NB: we call them Corners because they used to be both "Mom's Corner" and "Dad's Corner", but Steve decided a few years ago to end the longer "Dad's Corners" and write a new series of shorter articles called "Seriously Dads". "Mom's Corner" goes out monthly and "Seriously Dads" goes out weekly.

Here's the link to the section. The newest Corner/Seriously Dad isn't always uploaded straight away so if you are interested in reading then check back every so often. The entire backlog, dating to 1995, is listed on the right-hand side of this page. 

http://articles.titus2.com/

Ahhh, thank you! I assumed someone was posting them on this website, and didn't think to check if they posted on theirs. 

[Bethella]

One addition: the Retirement Home Church (aka Amazing Grace Baptist Church). Originally held in a nursing home it is currently held at an independent living/retirement home. Steve is the pastor and the congregation consists of the extended Maxwell family and those few residents who haven't managed to escape. 

[mango_fandango]

They also have frequent visits to "the elderly" for such events as pie and game night. 

Menus for family events are always the same. If someone decides to go off-plan (e.g. having their burger or hotdog in a lettuce wrap as opposed to a bread bun) it'll throw Teri off-kilter and she won't actually remember to buy extra/less of an item for a while. If it ain't on the list she's not gonna remember.

[catlady]

it can also be noted that while they serve deviled eggs at their back-yard family gatherings, they call them "picnic eggs."  can't have Satan at the party....