Joseph Maxwell and Elizabeth share their heartwarming tale.

[Guest Anonymous]

Grandpa & Gigi haven't been in a blog post for quite a while. I wonder how they are doing. I think Grandpa was quite the "card" in his day. :dance:

The whole cult clan will be gone quite a while for the wedding and vacation/honeymoon. I wonder who will help Gigi? At least when the horse & pony show is occuring, Mel and Anna will be home. I'm going to assume G/G will not be able to drive to TN for the wedding.

Boy, Alzheimer's in both Steve's Mom and Teri's Dad. The kids better watch out. (I don't mean this in a snarking way.)

Teri's sister has taken Grandpa and Gigi on a cruise holiday and a trip to the mountains recently; maybe they will stay with her? I would imagine that after Grandpa passes away, Gigi will go to live with Teri's sister and the house will become free for John or Jesse.

It will be worse than the usual brand of awful for the Maxwells if Steve gets Alzheimers or any other dementia. He could get increasingly whackadoodle in his demands of the family for a long time before they recognise it as an illness and not God's direct word to them.

[Justme]

Teri's sister has taken Grandpa and Gigi on a cruise holiday and a trip to the mountains recently; maybe they will stay with her? I would imagine that after Grandpa passes away, Gigi will go to live with Teri's sister and the house will become free for John or Jesse.

It will be worse than the usual brand of awful for the Maxwells if Steve gets Alzheimers or any other dementia. He could get increasingly whackadoodle in his demands of the family for a long time before they recognise it as an illness and not God's direct word to them.

I hope Aunt Teri is invited to the wedding. Did she go to Chris's? Does anybody remember.

[Guest Anonymous]

I think they invite quite a broad section of family/friends to the weddings, so that they can preach at them, so I imagine the aunt will be there.

At Anna and Christopher's wedding, the theme of the sermon was 'reconciliation' or something similar, which they chose for the benefit of those attending.... :roll:

[thoughtful]

It will be worse than the usual brand of awful for the Maxwells if Steve gets Alzheimers or any other dementia. He could get increasingly whackadoodle in his demands of the family for a long time before they recognise it as an illness and not God's direct word to them.

This.

And, even if they came to recognize it, then they'd have to deal with it!

It is always agonizing for a family to help a respected elder who is no longer able to function, but doesn't realize it. Can you imagine what that would be like for the Maxwells with The Mighty Steve? :(

[lilwriter85]

This.

And, even if they came to recognize it, then they'd have to deal with it!

It is always agonizing for a family to help a respected elder who is no longer able to function, but doesn't realize it. Can you imagine what that would be like for the Maxwells with The Mighty Steve? :(

I think Nathan is already being groomed to take over. Nathan seems to have the same douchey type ego that Steve has. Once Nathan takes over, things won't be that different from Steve's reign.

[thoughtful]

I think Nathan is already being groomed to take over. Nathan seems to have the same douchey type ego that Steve has. Once Nathan takes over, things won't be that different from Steve's reign.

When Steve dies, that's probably the plan.

But I was talking about the process involved if Steve develops Alzheimer's or some other form of dementia. There is often a stage when the person going through that does not understand they are not OK, and still wants to be independent, even in charge of others.

That's traumatic enough for most families, but imagine that process with God-speaks-directly-to-me-and-I-rule-the-compound Steve!

Can you imagine them trying to get Steve into the facility for the Elderly?

[YPestis]

I think Nathan is already being groomed to take over. Nathan seems to have the same douchey type ego that Steve has. Once Nathan takes over, things won't be that different from Steve's reign.

I actually see Nathan as perhaps less strict than Steve. It's hard to say at this point though. Melanie has never worn frumpers, even when the Maxwell girls were pumping them out like mad. Nathan hasn't been too involved in the family projects. He only went with them on tours when he had his ITOnRamp to sell. We don't know if Nathan does family church but he doesn't do the nightly Bible thing with Steve. There's a certain distance between the two families in that Nathan doesn't cling and do everything with Steve and co. Nathan's still a fundie man, but maybe slightly less crazy than his dad.

After Steve passes, and if there are still unmarried children, my guess is the oldest unmarried son will take charge of the unmarried sisters and Teri. When all sons are married off, the unmarried sisters (aka Sarah) and Teri will probably go live with one of the brothers, maybe one who has a large brood and a bigger house. From what I've seen of most families, once the grandparents start dying off, the family tend to scatter.

[VintageJen1984]

Grandpa & Gigi haven't been in a blog post for quite a while. I wonder how they are doing. I think Grandpa was quite the "card" in his day. :dance:

The whole cult clan will be gone quite a while for the wedding and vacation/honeymoon. I wonder who will help Gigi? At least when the horse & pony show is occuring, Mel and Anna will be home. I'm going to assume G/G will not be able to drive to TN for the wedding.

Boy, Alzheimer's in both Steve's Mom and Teri's Dad. The kids better watch out. (I don't mean this in a snarking way.)

I would have said this last week as well, but I've only just recently come to learn it's not as true as it's rumored to be. The Alzheimer's Association says only 5% of cases are inherited.

[quinoa]

I would have said this last week as well, but I've only just recently come to learn it's not as true as it's rumored to be. The Alzheimer's Association says only 5% of cases are inherited.

That's neither here nor there in assessing the likelihood of the Maxwells, or anyone, inheriting Alzheimer's. That statistic indicates that most cases of Alzheimer's are spontaneous, if you will, but it says nothing about the probability of someone developing Alzheimer's if a parent had it. It's also important to keep in mind the substantial increase in life expectancy in this century. We haven't really had enough generations in which people commonly live long enough to be likely to develop Alzheimer's to assess the degree to which it's hereditary. There are certainly genetic components to the disease that are not really well understood, but are actively researched.

Do the Maxwells have any clue about genetics or heredity, though? It has probably never occurred to them to consider that they might be at higher risk. They certainly aren't doing anything mentally stimulating enough to have any sort of neuroprotective effect. At least they exercise, though.

[Deleted03]

That's neither here nor there in assessing the likelihood of the Maxwells, or anyone, inheriting Alzheimer's. That statistic indicates that most cases of Alzheimer's are spontaneous, if you will, but it says nothing about the probability of someone developing Alzheimer's if a parent had it. It's also important to keep in mind the substantial increase in life expectancy in this century. We haven't really had enough generations in which people commonly live long enough to be likely to develop Alzheimer's to assess the degree to which it's hereditary. There are certainly genetic components to the disease that are not really well understood, but are actively researched.

Do the Maxwells have any clue about genetics or heredity, though? It has probably never occurred to them to consider that they might be at higher risk. They certainly aren't doing anything mentally stimulating enough to have any sort of neuroprotective effect. At least they exercise, though.

there was an article in the NYTimes recently about this family that was used to understand early Alzheimer onset as I think about 10 out of 14 siblings got Alzheimer before they were 55, and many of their children got it too.

I think that some generations ago it was also only chalked off, as being old. so diagnosis over generations might be harder.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Congratulations to both of them! Cute couple. You state it is a no touching, but didn’t he put the ring on her finger when he asked her to marry him?

No touching would mean she put the ring on herself.

Okay. So now I gotta ask - does this "no touching" business start at the moment of courtship acceptance, or what? The Maxwells visited with the Muncks before, and the Muncks (kids in tow) have been to Maxwell dog-and-pony shows. Is it not possible that in those initial meetings Elizabeth has indeed touched Joseph, just casually there at the book table, or while setting the table at her parents house, or tapped him on the arm to get his attention, or anything like that?

Or do the Maxwells practice strict sex segregation to the point that they don't let their children ever touch ANYONE of the opposite sex? Or maybe only people they see as spiritually pure enough to maybe be a contender? Or what?

I mean, if their fingers have touched before when she handed him a book at the table or similar, it seems a bit pointless to make her put on her own ring. And if ANYTHING sexualizes young people and makes everything all about sex 24/7, it's this seeming belief that any stray touches are going to lead instantly to fornication because it's just THAT damn tempting and they have THAT little self-control. Insisting on not touching ever? Might as well wear a sign saying "Hi! I'm a total horndog."

(Granted I find the entire thing silly so perhaps I'm not wondering this in the proper frame of mind.)

[darkplumaged]

All excellent questions, gardenvarietycitizen. I doubt we could ever get straight answers from the almighty Steve, though.

(Aside: I must be purer than I thought--I had to put on my own engagement ring! We chose the stone and setting together, after we were engaged, and my now-headship happened to be out of the country when it was ready at the jeweler's. I couldn't wait any longer to wear it (we'd already been engaged for months!), so I picked it up myself.)

[SeaSaltCaramel]

I have to snark on Sara's grammar errors

Will we get to here Elizabeth’s side of the story — with the more feminine touch and emotions? Josephs’ was very manly, stating much of the facts, but not the exciting bits…

The use of hyphens and commas is a bit odd too. Oh well, so much for SOTDRT :lol:

[marmalade]

Grammar errors aside, what a lameass comment. How on earth was Joe's "story" manly? Especially in light of the fact that it was originally presented as THEIR story. Nice "man" you raised up there, Steve-o-rino. :dance: :dance: :dance: :dance:

[fundiefan]

What does this even MEAN? Don't most of us know our spouses before deciding to marry?

What the ever loving fuck? People who choose to marry after dating and getting to know each other actually, you know, know each other before marriage! The fail in that is epic multiplied by infinity.

I wonder how well he knew Teri before they got married?

[moreorlessnu]

Someone (maybe it was someone in the Kristina camp??) said that if a couple met each other at 13 and shook hands, then began courting at 19, it would be okay that they had shaken hands when they were very young, when they were not courting.

I've always wondered what happens if the woman stumbles (literally, as in tripping over her feet) and the guy instinctively reaches out to catch her. Or, does he stand there doing nothing as she performs a face plant?

[luckystone]

Someone (maybe it was someone in the Kristina camp??) said that if a couple met each other at 13 and shook hands, then began courting at 19, it would be okay that they had shaken hands when they were very young, when they were not courting.

I've always wondered what happens if the woman stumbles (literally, as in tripping over her feet) and the guy instinctively reaches out to catch her. Or, does he stand there doing nothing as she performs a face plant?

Reminds me of this: http://wikitravel.org/en/Bang_Pa-In (The Death of Queen Sunanda)

It seems to be a bit of a legend that's not confirmed as true, but shows some real dangers of no touch!

[lilith]

What the ever loving fuck? People who choose to marry after dating and getting to know each other actually, you know, know each other before marriage! The fail in that is epic multiplied by infinity.

I wonder how well he knew Teri before they got married?

From the way Steve talks about his sinful life before coming to Christ and the fact that the physical restrictions grow more extreme with each boys courtship, I would assume he knew her in a biblical sense before marriage. And quite possibly blames her depression and any other problems in their marriage on that fact.

[slickcat79]

Someone (maybe it was someone in the Kristina camp??) said that if a couple met each other at 13 and shook hands, then began courting at 19, it would be okay that they had shaken hands when they were very young, when they were not courting.

I've always wondered what happens if the woman stumbles (literally, as in tripping over her feet) and the guy instinctively reaches out to catch her. Or, does he stand there doing nothing as she performs a face plant?

Considering how Peter Bradrick let his future wife Kelly roll under a fence through the dirt rather than risk a lapse in purity...I'm gonna go with face plant.

[marmalade]

Considering how Peter Bradrick let his future wife Kelly roll under a fence through the dirt rather than risk a lapse in purity...I'm gonna go with face plant.

Holy fuck, where was I when they were "courting?" And why didn't Kelly's father stop the courtship after that happened? Ole Pete's behavior since marriage hasn't improved; if anything, he's douchier than ever. I have a feeling Kelly will be dead before she's 30.

[Patsy]

Considering how Peter Bradrick let his future wife Kelly roll under a fence through the dirt rather than risk a lapse in purity...I'm gonna go with face plant.

I'm guessing her acceptance might demonstrate a "very rare balance between beautiful femininity and sturdy womanhood". :roll: