Maxwell 18: Creating at Least One Mini-Steve

[Ozlsn]

1 hour ago, usmcmom said:

Two grandchildren are arriving soon - also known as number 11 and number 12, I believe. Number 13 might be on the way and we just don't know it. 

So, all these "blessings" are about to be bestowed upon The Compound and Sarah writes about...death??? 

Okaaaaaaayyyy-uh. 

Yeah I still think she's depressed. I will hold out hope that she met someone at the wedding though!

[Eternalbluepearl]

Do the maxwells count Susannah in their grandchild numbering?

[CyborgKin]

I too had the "who died? oh Sarah's just terrible at writing" reaction.

I guess it's nice that she's still somehow hopeful about her future?

[anjulibai]

1 hour ago, Eternalbluepearl said:

Do the maxwells count Susannah in their grandchild numbering?

They do not, which I find odd in some ways, not in others. It's for families, in my experience, to not count a lost child in day to day conversation, because that just makes things painful and awkward. My grandmother always says she has 3 children, even though she had four and her younger son died at the age of 3. That doesn't mean my grandma doesn't care about her son, just that it's not something she wants to talk about regular. 

That said, with the Maxwells and their pro-life obsession, you'd think they'd make reference to Susannah more. I'm not sure why they don't, though I remember when Melanie and Nathan announced the pregnancy with Christina that they said she was to be their 6th child, including Abby, Bethany, Susannah and two miscarriages. They didn't, though, refer to Drew as their 7th child or Benjamin as their 8th. 

[kpmom]

41 minutes ago, CyborgKin said:

I too had the "who died? oh Sarah's just terrible at writing" reaction.

 

I thought maybe she was referring in a round about way to the Florida school shooting.  But, they supposedly don't follow the news, so maybe not.

[PennySycamore]

@anjulibai,  you're so right about it being awkward to count a deceased child when you are just casually talking to others.  You have to explain and then get sympathy from folks.  It's not that we bereaved parents forget our children that have died, but most of us do learn to live again and the child's death does begin to hurt not so terribly.    (That takes a while, though.)  It becomes a very sad part of your life and one that you must accept.  

I had five children including my premie Katherine, but I have four living girls.  To casual acquaintances, I'd just say I have 4 daughters.  No disrespect for Katherine intended.  Hugs to your grandmother, @anjulibai!

[SPHASH]

5 hours ago, Ozlsn said:

Yeah I still think she's depressed. I will hold out hope that she met someone at the wedding though!

Kind of hard to meet someone when your relegated to picture taking duty (Poor Sarah) or babysitting your brothers kids (Goofy Anna and Scary Mary).

[Dandruff]

3 hours ago, CyborgKin said:

I too had the "who died? oh Sarah's just terrible at writing" reaction.

I guess it's nice that she's still somehow hopeful about her future?

I'm having the STFU Sarah, everyone knows that death can be sudden, no one needs your holy roller, shock tactic bullshit reaction.  I'm pretty sure she'll be spouting the same crap in twenty years from the same perch in Maxhell, and it'll be just as useless as far as the fate of anyone's soul is concerned.

[Ozlsn]

9 minutes ago, SPHASH said:

Kind of hard to meet someone when your relegated to picture taking duty (Poor Sarah) or babysitting your brothers kids (Goofy Anna and Scary Mary).

Actually picture taking duty sounds like a good way to meet people - you can chat while you're organising them. Kid duty is harder, but if there's a young man wanting to run around with the kids for a while it's not impossible! (Note to fundie men who are looking - go and play chasey with the kids for a bit, that's where all the maidens are!)

[MamaJunebug]

11 hours ago, gameofunbeknowns said:

Could anyone imagine the blowback if any of the spinster sisters were in a picture with a woman wearing a sleeveless shirt who has tattoos like the ones of Elissa and her cousin

What the what?? Where might I find this photo, please - and thank you!!! 

[catlady]

5 hours ago, MamaJunebug said:

What the what?? Where might I find this photo, please - and thank you!!! 

I think the cousin in question posted the photos on her public FB; one of them was shared here.  the Joseph branch of the Extended Maxwells went to a wedding last spring/summer on Elissa’s side of the family. E’s cousin was photographed holding Calia, and it was a really cute picture. But the noticeable bit was that the cousin is the mirror image of Elissa, so the biggest difference between them is the cousin’s tattoo(s) and nose ring.  Many of us noted that our first thought was, “oh my Rufus, does Elissa have a tattoo?”  

 Whichever Maxwell thread was active at the time will show the photo. 

[crawfishgirl]

Regarding the nursing home church - recently, I have been looking at retirement homes for my inlaws.  Most of the homes have multiple church services to meet the needs of most of their residents.  I saw at least 3 or 4 different churches and/or denominations listed on the activities calendars.  So my guess is that Steve's church services there are just one of many and totally voluntary.  Retirement homes are expensive as hell, and if they receive complaints from residents or family members about a particular group, the group would be asked to leave - the facility wouldn't want to alienate its residents over something like that.

[OhNoNike]

What’s the new blogpost about?  Is it someone the family knew or taking advantage of a local tragedy to prosethletyze? 

[johnhugh]

1 hour ago, crawfishgirl said:

Regarding the nursing home church - recently, I have been looking at retirement homes for my inlaws.  Most of the homes have multiple church services to meet the needs of most of their residents.  I saw at least 3 or 4 different churches and/or denominations listed on the activities calendars.  So my guess is that Steve's church services there are just one of many and totally voluntary.  Retirement homes are expensive as hell, and if they receive complaints from residents or family members about a particular group, the group would be asked to leave - the facility wouldn't want to alienate its residents over something like that.

Stevies’eses ‘church’ services may well be voluntary, but think lonely elderly person, use the extnteded grand children as tempting sticks,....

Edit - I mean that as ‘how cute’ not the other meaning....

 

[nomoxian]

3 hours ago, OhNoNike said:

What’s the new blogpost about?  Is it someone the family knew or taking advantage of a local tragedy to prosethletyze? 

There was a driver killed by a truck in their area recently. 

If you go to the webpage for Leavenworth Times (I assume it's one of those free local newspapers given door-to-door) the first thing you will see is a picture of a cyclist. Maybe the story about the bike crash was a bit of artistic licence?

[nomoxian]

19 hours ago, kpmom said:

I thought maybe she was referring in a round about way to the Florida school shooting.  But, they supposedly don't follow the news, so maybe not.

I think if they would have wanted to talk about that, they would have been more direct about it. They could have used it as a reason to homeschool, make sure your family is safe, keep your childrens hearts, blahblahbleh!

[Foudeb]

And this from a family who claims they don't follow the news. Interesting. 

[theologygeek]

23 hours ago, CyborgKin said:

I too had the "who died? oh Sarah's just terrible at writing" reaction.

Wait...No one died?  I thought her friend died or something.  I also wondered why he was on the highway with a bike, why he changed lanes on the highway with a bike, and why he did not stay on the right hand side. 

[theologygeek]

3 hours ago, nomoxian said:

There was a driver killed by a truck in their area recently. 

If you go to the webpage for Leavenworth Times (I assume it's one of those free local newspapers given door-to-door) the first thing you will see is a picture of a cyclist. Maybe the story about the bike crash was a bit of artistic licence?

The only thing I saw was a crash with a car and a truck.  Is Sarah talking about a bicycle, motorcycle, two cars, or did she just make the story up? 

[nomoxian]

Just now, theologygeek said:

The only thing I saw was a crash with a car and a truck.  Is Sarah talking about a bicycle, motorcycle, two cars, or did she just make the story up? 

I think it was two stories - one with a vehicle (she used the word "drove") and truck, and another with a bike and car.

See Steve; this is why public school is a good thing. Sarah could have received feedback on her essays, so she would be more clear when describing things.

[Fascinated]

On 2018-02-16 at 11:56 AM, anjulibai said:

I find the chose of ages she mentions interesting. Sarah is herself 36 and Mary is 21. Has she been thinking about the difference in their ages and life experiences lately? 

What, pray tell, are these differences in life experiences of which you speak?

[anjulibai]

19 minutes ago, Fascinated said:

What, pray tell, are these differences in life experiences of which you speak?

Well, for one, they were certainly raised differently. Sarah had to bear the brunt of Teri's depression, while Mary was probably mostly shielded by all that by, well, Sarah. Sarah was in essentially in charge of the household by that point. The family was fully entrenched in their lifestyle by the time Mary was born, whereas Sarah has memories of normalcy - a normalcy she's probably been guilted into thinking is bad and having any sort of desire for is bad. The idea of marriage being Sarah's only option in life was probably pushed heavily on her, but I suspect that was probably toned down for Mary, with the idea of her staying home for the rest of her life being scene as a viable option for many years now. 

[fundiefan]

23 hours ago, Dandruff said:

I'm having the STFU Sarah, everyone knows that death can be sudden, no one needs your holy roller, shock tactic bullshit reaction.  I'm pretty sure she'll be spouting the same crap in twenty years from the same perch in Maxhell, and it'll be just as useless as far as the fate of anyone's soul is concerned.

Yeah, that. I read her latest post and felt like gagging. So fake, useless, canned...irrelevant. 

[Black Aliss]

On 2/12/2018 at 9:57 AM, theologygeek said:

 Beans are nice once in a while, but not all the time.  Mexican food is nice a couple of times a year, but I'm not big on that either. 

We eat a lot of beans, but never as burritos, which I consider to be a fast food option and a kind of joyless option at that. There are so many different kinds of beans and so many different ways to prepare each kind that they are never boring. In the last couple of weeks we've had baked beans, white beas, kale, and sausage soup, bean and pasta soup, black lentil dal, and a fabulous dish of Christmas limas with gorgonzola cheese (ya, it sounds weird, but it was amazing). And that's just a fraction of my legume/pulse repertoire.

 

20 hours ago, theologygeek said:

Wait...No one died?  I thought her friend died or something.  I also wondered why he was on the highway with a bike, why he changed lanes on the highway with a bike, and why he did not stay on the right hand side. 

That was my initial reaction--that these were things that happened recently to close friends or family members. But, no, I suspect the Maxwell's favorite home entertainment is a game my kids and I call "The Most Terrible Thing" where people* take turns reciting a tragic incident they read about or heard on the news and everyone else disects the story to determine what, if anything the victim could have done to avoid it happening. Then everyone shakes their head sadly, tsk-tsks, and it's someone else's turn.

*people=relatives we avoid spending time with

[mango_fandango]

They hear about the news from neighbours, people in supermarkets etc. I bet Stevie keeps an eye on the news, just occasionally looking on websites etc, so that they can find stories like this and use them as moral lessons (eg this post) or for directed prayers ie hurricanes/other natural disasters. They knew about the eclipse last year.