Maxwell 17: Life After John Left

[MamaJunebug]

5 hours ago, Maggie Mae said:

You can take my down vest over my cold, dead body. You'll need it to stay warm. 

I get that and feel the same way about my CuddlDuds! I just imagine the Maxdsughters constantly cold because of the patriarchal proclamation about the thermostat.  

[SolomonFundy]

My fundy acquaintance has her 5 kids at abortion protests on at least a monthly basis. They've done this since the second oldest was in diapers. Her kids have been told that abortion clinics are where "women go to kill children". So she just bypassed the "baby killing" crap and went straight for the implied threat to children of every age. 

Keeps her kids in a constant state of tearful agitation while they are protesting, which is better for pictures/propaganda. Never underestimate the willingness of a fundy to harm a child under the pretense of preventing harm to children.

[SuchABlessing]

Anna Marie is quite an eloquent writer. I'm impressed. 

I also don't think I'll be making it a point to teach my kid that evil people kill babies in mommy's tummy before they learn their ABCs....

 

[lilith]

I clicked through to the post about the Maxwells attending their anti choice protest, and saw this again...

Of course it’s a person, Mary. It’s a baby of, I would guess, 4 to 6 months of age. Utterly unlike the first trimester fetuses that the vast majority of abortions remove. Nobody is killing infants, no matter what your brainwashed little nieces tell you.

[Myfanwy]

Mary probably has about as much knowledge of abortion as Liddy and Ruthie.  Mums KILLING babies. THE END.

What a messed up belief system. No, no you cannot go to the supermarket alone. Oh off to protest abortion, wrap up warm!

[ophelia]

8 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

This is what these sick fucks do to their children when they take them to abortion protests. They tell their kids women are killing their babies and it scars these children. This is The Activist Mommy's daughter. I'm sure TAM loves this picture of her daughter distraught over abortion. 

This picture is heartbreaking and I have tears in my eyes. How fucked up can you be to treat your kids like this and let them feel so desperate on purpose. Sick assholes!

And BTW: fundie circles are small - the girl in the background of the pic is one of the Campana daughters. Their stance on abortion is just as extreme as the Maxwells.

[Foudeb]

NRAnna's post reminded me of the women Patricia Lockwood describes in her memoir:

https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/a-childhood-in-the-pro-life-movement

I hope her kids grow up with Lockwood's critical thinking skills. Unlikely, what with the being kept back from proper education, but who knows.

[ViolaSebastian]

16 hours ago, SPHASH said:

I. Just. Wanna. Scream!  Little kids don't need to know what abortion.  I first heard about abortion when I was about 10 or 11.  It was on an episode of Dallas and Jenna was knocked up and debating about ending the pregnancy cuz her baby Daddy Bobby Ewing went back to his ex wife Pam.  I had no idea you could end a pregnancy like that!  I knew about menstruation at that age but still didn't know what it took to get pregnant.

I have a similar story, but with Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman and prostitution. My father explained the *ahem* ins and outs and I was mortified. 

[browngrl]

Did anyone else find this wording odd? 

"With John’s leaving, Jesse rearranged the area and moved his desk into the corner where John’s bed had been. Jesse showing us his new area."  (bolding mine)

I guess for the Maxwell's "area" is what other people call "bedroom". 

[nomoxian]

29 minutes ago, browngrl said:

I guess for the Maxwell's "area" is what other people call "bedroom". 

 

If you are sharing a bedroom, it might make sense to use "area". Like each person has their own "zone" to use? Mr. Nomoxian and I share the same office space. We made a large L shaped desk. I use one portion and he uses the other, and we call them "my desk" and "your desk". Same goes for the bed dressers and area next to our double bed... Though I doubt the Maxwell house (meaning Steve) permits much personalization or clutter in ones "personal" space.

[johnhugh]

15 hours ago, Toothfairy said:

Well damn. That comment threw John under the bus

I doubt we will see very much of John on the blog - we hardly see anything of Joey even though he seems more “Godly’. As P Sarah says John was often away travelling so they haven't noticed he has escaped.

I will take myself to the prayer closet straight away, but does Stevie  now do daily duvet inspections since Jessie and his imagination has his own room?

[nelliebelle1197]

14 hours ago, usmcmom said:

*deep breath*

I am generally pro-life (ducks to dodge flying fruit). I think I talked to my kids about abortion when they were late elementary/middle school age - when they asked about it.  I told them the basic facts - what the procedure was and why women might choose that option- because women DO have the right to make that choice. I never used the words "killing babies," and I was very careful to let my kids develop their own belief system on that issue, just like I tried to do with other major life issues. 

Frankly, Anna and Christopher are cruel for burdening their small children with this information, especially since they did not give them FULL information and they worded it in such a cruel way. I can't imagine the thoughts and images that go through the minds of those poor kids. 

As long as you are personally anti-abortion and don't wish to legislate the actions of anyone else, then no one will throw anything at you.

9 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

What these idiots don’t understand is that making abortion illegal won’t eliminate it. People will just go to backstreet abortionists... which can be fatal. I’ve seen (I think) two episodes of Call the Midwife (tv series set in the early sixties, you can probably guess what it’s about) where a pregnant woman got an abortion from a backstreet abortionist, both of them nearly died. 

Abortion has existed since ancient times. It’s never going to go away. Indoctrinating toddlers is cruel and wrong.

My great aunt was married to a gangster in New Orleans during the 1920s. She did not want kids with him and had three illegal abortions. By the time she married her last husband, she was sterile from all the abortions. That is what illegal abortion means when it does kill the woman.

[JermajestyDuggar]

4 hours ago, ophelia said:

This picture is heartbreaking and I have tears in my eyes. How fucked up can you be to treat your kids like this and let them feel so desperate on purpose. Sick assholes!

And BTW: fundie circles are small - the girl in the background of the pic is one of the Campana daughters. Their stance on abortion is just as extreme as the Maxwells.

TAM is good friends with the Mortons and Campanas. She's friends with a decent amount of VF people and used to promote VF on her old website that is on the way back machine. So I'm guessing she attending some VF stuff back in it's hay day. 

[usmcmom]

1 hour ago, nelliebelle1197 said:

As long as you are personally anti-abortion and don't wish to legislate the actions of anyone else, then no one will throw anything at you.

 

No, I have no wish to legislate anything. I recognize that women have the right to choose abortion and I have no desire to take that away. I have never been to a right-to-life demonstration; nor do I plan to attend one. EVER. 

*here comes the obligatory "some of my best friends..." comment*

I am very close to a few women who have chosen abortion. I simply treat it as a decision that is different than one I would make - like thousands of other things in life. I love these women and support them just like they love and support me when I do something that they would not choose. A couple occasionally feel the need to talk about it* and I hope I am a good supportive listener. That is my goal; again, just like in thousands of other things in life. 

*I think these rabid pro-lifers, like the Maxwells, don't realize that the decision is often a difficult one and women need love and support at those times when that difficulty weighs heavy on them. Nobody deserves to be suffocating in doubt, shame and guilt. 

I think this has all come across as humble bragging (my apologies) and I should delete it but..."submit reply." 

[daisyjane1234]

I must agree with usmcmom.  Thanks for posting.

I am with you in that I could personally never have had an abortion.  I have a profoundly disabled child, and even decided to forgo significant prenatal testing for our next child.  I knew that I would carry any pregnancy to term and care for any child as best as I could - regardless of the situation. Prenatal testing FOR ME was irrelevant.  The only time I would have personally considered an abortion would be if the pregnancy threatened my life and would leave my living children motherless.

All that said, like usmcmom, I am pro-choice when it comes to anyone else. Their body.  Their life.  Their decision.  Like usmcmom, one of my closest friend had an abortion because of significant risk of Down syndrome.  It broke my heart,  particularly given my proximity to the 'disability community', but it was HER decision and I supported her without question.

There is so much wrong with the Maxwell's education about abortion.  In my opinion no conversation about abortion is complete without also covering topics like bodily autonomy, sexual assault, poverty, abuse, and so on.  Things I have no doubt never enter the conversation in Maxwell-land.  But then again, in the Maxwell world men control women's bodies rather than the women themselves so a great deal of the conversation falls apart before it even begins.  That and the Maxwells are utterly unable to nuance anything.

[usmcmom]

10 hours ago, MamaJunebug said:

I get that and feel the same way about my CuddlDuds! I just imagine the Maxdsughters constantly cold because of the patriarchal proclamation about the thermostat.  

Maybe Steve keeps the house cold so the girls will HAVE to layer up and cover their evil feminine forms. 

Speaking of CuddleDuds...I bought a new blanket this winter. Okay, I bought it to give as a gift but decided to keep it for myself. I like to keep a blanket on each chair/sofa in our living room in winter and, when this one is not on my body it is on one of my two matching chairs. I decided I "needed" a second one so my chairs would REALLY match (I have issues; I love symmetry). 

SO. I checked to see what brand it was so I could order its twin. It's CuddlDuds!  CuddleDuds makes blankets!! I could not find it on their website but did splurge a bit and bought one from Amazon. 

Sorry for the rambling post but this blanket is soooooo wonderful, I really wanted to type in all caps with eleventy heart emojis. 

Ok; back to snarking. 

[IReallyAmHopewell]

I commented on their blog about the John is a corner caption....

On MRS. Anna and her kids. Nobody needs to know this at those kids' age. Nobody.

If you must explain then try this: "Mom and Dad do not agree with a law that we think is bad for the country. We want it changed so we're standing out here freezing to make a point and get the law changed."

Ridiculous that they can traumatize them with "doctors who kill babies" . Imagine if that kid now has to see a doctor, for one thing. Will he/she be petrified? I know they probably use Scamway essential oils to "heal" but emergency room visits happen. How horrible to tell a little kid that.

[Jana814]

I have a hard time with the fact that she tells her kids that a doctor could kill a baby. Little off topic but I was watching an interview with the singer Celine Dion. She talked about how she told her twins that their father had died.  She did it a way to not scare them about doctors or getting sick. What she did was right, not Anna-Marie's way. I wonder if it was influenced by Steve. 

[Hane]

I posted a comment—because I could not help myself—saying, “This is reprehensible, terrifying little children this way. Pro-life activism is an adult undertaking  and involving young children does nothing to forward your agenda.”  Of course, my post will never see the light of day.

[usmcmom]

Married Anna's kids will soon have a new sibling. What are they going to think about when that baby has to go for his/her first doctor's apointment? Do they take their kids to the doctor? 

It seems like I remember a post or two where it was mentioned that the aunties watched Anna and Christopher's children because they had a "baby doctor appointment."  Each time that term is used, what must those children think about?  

This whole thing is really bizarre and upsettinf. Filling their children with such fear and hate...I just have no words. 

[OhNoNike]

14 hours ago, Hane said:

My daughter was 9 when “Dirty Dancing” came out, and maybe 10 when it was released on video. I didn’t want her to watch it because I thought the part about the abortion would be too upsetting to her. Somehow she managed to watch it anyway, and the abortion situation sailed right over her head.

I have thought of this exact situation many times as a parent myself.  I also saw Dirty Dancing when I was young. I loved it.  As an adult, I watched it and was sort of shocked.  I had NO idea she got an abortion.  Probably because I also didn’t know what an abortion was.  

My lesson for myself as an adult is that kids see things through kid eyes based on their experiences.  

[Ms. Squishels]

Could someone tell the story of the animal crackers?  I see it referenced all the time, but don't know the story.  Where could I find it?

[usmcmom]

11 minutes ago, Ms. Squishels said:

Could someone tell the story of the animal crackers?  I see it referenced all the time, but don't know the story.  Where could I find it?

I think it comes from a post about Steve's birthday. Sarah wrote that since he was on a diet they did not have a special dessert. (Of course, when Steve diets, everybody diets.) When asked about it in the comments,  Steve replied that he decided they could have animal crackers and they each had two. 

Or I may have that completely wrong. 

Edit: Sorry I did not provide a link. I will look for it now. 

[SolomonFundy]

This is the post: https://blog.titus2.com/2009/08/09/sweetbitter/

It's in the comments. @usmcmom remembered correctly. Steve was on a diet, and got out the animal crackers and doled out two per person so that they had a proper Singing of the Birthday Boy ceremony for him despite the lack of a proper dessert.

I've always been charmed by his rigid insistence on specifying the number of animal crackers. The had TWO EACH, not just "some" animal crackers as a family. Animal cracker hedonism was avoided another day.

 

[mango_fandango]

Let’s just hope that NR-Anna explains that not every doctor “kills babies”. Ruthie went to the ER once although she likely doesn’t remember.

I’ve never been pregnant. I hope I’m never in a position where I’m considering an abortion. I can’t actually say whether I’d have one, though, because it would depend on the circumstances at that time. I’d certainly never tell another women what to do. Her body, her uterus, her opinion.