Maxwell's lastest post

[lilith]

The relevant thing about Mary blossoming into a conventionally beautiful woman is that it will probably be her ticket out of Maxhell.

Many have commented that all the Maxwell "girls" look lovely in real life, but the blog is really their advertisement to the world, and in photos Anna looks awkward and Sarah looks defeated and lifeless.

Conventional beauty matters even more in fundie land, where it is one of the only attributes women are allowed to have, than it does in the mainstream, and if someone comes a courting for Mary it will probably be because she looks gorgeous and sweet on the blog.

[lilith]

I was also surprised when I found out the relatively young ages of Dave and Liz. I kept on thinking they must be O L D if the Maxwell kids are allowed to interact with them. I think it's very possible the couples were friends of Nathan or Christopher. I assume the couple is fundie with the typical quiverful/submission//patriarchy outlook so no harm in letting them interact with the Maxwell children. Still, it's nice to see the older Maxwell kids (especially Sarah) interact with someone born in the same decade as them.

I used to feel sorry for Anna Maxwell because she was sandwiched between the boys and since she'd never experienced "normal" life, she never had girlfriends her own age (Mary was besties with Jesse given their close age at that time). Sarah, at least, remembered sleepovers and playing with neighborhood kids. Now, with Mary grown up and closer in age to Anna than Sarah is to Anna, I feel Sarah's the one left out. Plus, we can pretty much discount Sarah ever marrying and having a family. Anna may still get that chance.

Re: Mary's look. I used to think Mary was pretty homily during those awkward teenage years. It's amazing how quickly she's blossomed into the pretty lady she is. I think the comparison to Chelsea is not exactly the same though. Chelsea had to put a lot of hard work into changing her appearance (straightening her hair, heavy makeup etc). While I wouldn't consider her conventionally beautiful, she's decent looking now. Mary doesn't look like she's put in nearly as much effort. She's changed her clothing to be more stylish and she's plucked her eyebrows and gotten her braces off but I think it's mostly that her face matured and settled to a distinct look.

Anyway, none of that matters. Mary is stuck in a weird family cult. If she's lucky, her father will realize he needs to marry at least one of his daughters off to continue to sell the family lifestyle and he will acquiesce to one of Mary's suitors. My hope is that the man Mary chooses will be slightly less restrictive than her family. Maybe someday Mary will live a life where not every minute is scheduled and where she can have fun without feeling guilty about it. Maybe she will even get a chance to meet people her own age! I bet she would love to have girlfriends.

Surely you mean the man Steve chooses. I don't think Mary will get much say in it.

[nausicaa]

Yes, I have a gut feeling that Mary will be the first(only?) girl to escape. Which just makes me feel that much worse for Sarah (who is actually really cute and beautiful in her own right).

Beauty already dictates so much for a person in mainstream society, I can't imagine being in a situation like theirs where it essentially determines the outcome of your life and really is their only tool for escape. I wonder how much they realize this.

[SPHASH]

The relevant thing about Mary blossoming into a conventionally beautiful woman is that it will probably be her ticket out of Maxhell.

Many have commented that all the Maxwell "girls" look lovely in real life, but the blog is really their advertisement to the world, and in photos Anna looks awkward and Sarah looks defeated and lifeless.

Conventional beauty matters even more in fundie land, where it is one of the only attributes women are allowed to have, than it does in the mainstream, and if someone comes a courting for Mary it will probably be because she looks gorgeous and sweet on the blog.

All three girls are pretty. If Christopher would learn some real photography skills and the girls would learn how to pose they would look stunning.

[twin2]

The relevant thing about Mary blossoming into a conventionally beautiful woman is that it will probably be her ticket out of Maxhell.

Many have commented that all the Maxwell "girls" look lovely in real life, but the blog is really their advertisement to the world, and in photos Anna looks awkward and Sarah looks defeated and lifeless.

Conventional beauty matters even more in fundie land, where it is one of the only attributes women are allowed to have, than it does in the mainstream, and if someone comes a courting for Mary it will probably be because she looks gorgeous and sweet on the blog.

Honestly, at this point I don't see Steve letting any of his daughters go. He is too much of a control freak. All Steve is worried about is where he is going to go when he dies and he is convinced he is the only man on Earth who knows the true way to heaven, and a control freak. If he turns over headship of one of his daughters to someone else, he looses control over her path to heaven. Hell, even his sons only manage to leave and cleave in a 1 mi radius of HQs. Unless a suitor comes along who has a plan to move to 123 Maxwell Lane and work for And Sons Maxwell Inc. the girls are going nowhere. Think JMarie finally figure that out.

[WonderingInWA]

Honestly, at this point I don't see Steve letting any of his daughters go. He is too much of a control freak. All Steve is worried about is where he is going to go when he dies and he is convinced he is the only man on Earth who knows the true way to heaven, and a control freak. If he turns over headship of one of his daughters to someone else, he looses control over her path to heaven. Hell, even his sons only manage to leave and cleave in a 1 mi radius of HQs. Unless a suitor comes along who has a plan to move to 123 Maxwell Lane and work for And Sons Maxwell Inc. the girls are going nowhere. Think JMarie finally figure that out.

I do wonder about that. It's too bad, but we ain't seen him come 'round no mo'. He probably was interested in getting one of the girls, but he probably wanted to move her to east bum-f*ck Idaho, and that's just not allowed.

[Jana814]

Honestly, at this point I don't see Steve letting any of his daughters go. He is too much of a control freak. All Steve is worried about is where he is going to go when he dies and he is convinced he is the only man on Earth who knows the true way to heaven, and a control freak. If he turns over headship of one of his daughters to someone else, he looses control over her path to heaven. Hell, even his sons only manage to leave and cleave in a 1 mi radius of HQs. Unless a suitor comes along who has a plan to move to 123 Maxwell Lane and work for And Sons Maxwell Inc. the girls are going nowhere. Think JMarie finally figure that out.

Well said!! & I completely agree with you!

[nokidsmom]

I do wonder about that. It's too bad, but we ain't seen him come 'round no mo'. He probably was interested in getting one of the girls, but he probably wanted to move her to east bum-f*ck Idaho, and that's just not allowed.

I did notice that JMarie isn't hanging around. Totally agree that Steveovah will only allow his girls to get married if the suitor will move to his little bit of Kansas and agree to work for him or under his surveillance. The ironic thing is that he would require the suitor to have means of making a living but at the same time expect him to uproot himself from not just his home but his job. Even if said suitor is working for himself, in all likelihood he would have to leave behind a customer base and start over. So it's a real catch-22 for the suitor and wonder if JMarie got caught in that. Yet another way Steve finds a way to keep his daughters trapped at home and when Sarah becomes a 40 something SAHD, Steve is just going to believe that there was no one "godly" enough. And poor Sarah will believe it.

[WonderingInWA]

I did notice that JMarie isn't hanging around. Totally agree that Steveovah will only allow his girls to get married if the suitor will move to his little bit of Kansas and agree to work for him or under his surveillance. The ironic thing is that he would require the suitor to have means of making a living but at the same time expect him to uproot himself from not just his home but his job. Even if said suitor is working for himself, in all likelihood he would have to leave behind a customer base and start over. So it's a real catch-22 for the suitor and wonder if JMarie got caught in that. Yet another way Steve finds a way to keep his daughters trapped at home and when Sarah becomes a 40 something SAHD, Steve is just going to believe that there was no one "godly" enough. And poor Sarah will believe it.

I suppose there's always the chance that JMarie is still in the wings but undergoing a rigorous training and testing process like Pa Serven did to Steven Loomis before he would finally be proven worthy to marry Rebecca. I think Bradrick! was also required to jump through many hoops in order to prove himself, although I think in his case the marriage was arranged by Doug Phillips is a Tool and Scott Brown, so slightly different circumstances there (from the Loomis case) since the outcome was sort-of already pre-destined.

[albanuadh_1]

Who is JohnMarie? Are there any pictures or write-ups about him on the Maxwell blog? I haven't seen any.

[nokidsmom]

I suppose there's always the chance that JMarie is still in the wings but undergoing a rigorous training and testing process like Pa Serven did to Steven Loomis before he would finally be proven worthy to marry Rebecca. I think Bradrick! was also required to jump through many hoops in order to prove himself, although I think in his case the marriage was arranged by Doug Phillips is a Tool and Scott Brown, so slightly different circumstances there (from the Loomis case) since the outcome was sort-of already pre-destined.

I did think of the possibility that Steveovah might be putting him through various "tests" to prove his worth. I actually hope for his sake that JMarie said forget it and headed back to Idaho.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Who is JohnMarie? Are there any pictures or write-ups about him on the Maxwell blog? I haven't seen any.

John-Marie is the alias FJ assigned to a family friend of the Maxwells who looks to be the right age to possibly court one of the daughters (people speculate about Anna).

The relevant part here is, he lives in southern Idaho where he owns an irrigation business which he took over from his father. If you go to that part of the US (or better yet, fly over it) you'll see these giant sprinklers that rotate around a field from a central point, making big circular areas of planting. That's what his business plans, sells, and installs.

So it's not something that can too easily just uproot to Kansas. People do use those things there but not as much (particularly in the place around where the Maxwells live) and the market for those things in any given area doesn't support infinite players.

The logical thing if he marries someone who plans to be a SAHM would be for her to move to his current location where his business is already well established. Hence, possible problem.

Ages ago the Maxwell sons made a web page for John-Marie's business, it's all been linked in threads before, not sure what would be a good search but maybe "sprinkler" and "Idaho" along with Maxwell.

[Micah]

The Maxwells really remind me of a family my parents knew when I was a child. We were all in the same church (seperationist seventh day adventists. So all the nuttery of seventh dayers times ten.) They didn't allow their kids ANY toys and they weren't allowed to engage in any imaginative play, not even playing families or any other stuff normal kids do. Apparently imagination was a path to sin and took your thoughts away from the Lord. They lived their lives according to a regimented schedule with two hours of bible study morning and night.

For all the years we were in that church, at least my parents never tried to stifle my imagination. We were incredibly isolated and my only outlet was my imagination, if they'd shut that down I think I would have gone mad.

[salex]

Well said!! & I completely agree with you!

Which is one of the many upsides I see of watching the patriarchs. The most vocal of the members are the worst at putting it into practice. now, the servens in CA seem to marry their kids off, and are into the theonomy big time, however, most of the rest of the dominionists with their 200 year plan really can't see beyond their own lifetimes.....

[sparkles]

I think he'll marry off Anna and Mary, if only because they're young enough so that potential suitors of a similar age would be less established and possibly more willing to join the compound, as opposed to moving the girls to another location. However, I do think Sarah is doomed to be the sacrificial spinster. It's got to tear at her every time she has to put on a smile when she celebrates yet another wedding or holds another new baby. There was a "day in the life" blog post (around 2010 maybe) that talked about how they were training Anna to take on Sarah's ministry responsibilities (shipping, bookkeeping and so on), just in case god saw fit to provide a husband for Sarah. How sad that so many years later and still...nothing.

[albanuadh_1]

Ages ago the Maxwell sons made a web page for John-Marie's business, it's all been linked in threads before, not sure what would be a good search but maybe "sprinkler" and "Idaho" along with Maxwell.

Thanks, will give it a try.

[albanuadh_1]

Hmmm. should be 'gardenvarietycitizen"

[Brightonbelle]

Slightly off topic, but Anna really reminds me of an actress I was watching in Death Comes to Pemberley at Christmas. And her name.... Anna Maxwell Martin. Odd coincidence!

http://m.imdb.com/name/nm1269412/

[DefraudedByPlaid]

I did notice that JMarie isn't hanging around. Totally agree that Steveovah will only allow his girls to get married if the suitor will move to his little bit of Kansas and agree to work for him or under his surveillance. The ironic thing is that he would require the suitor to have means of making a living but at the same time expect him to uproot himself from not just his home but his job. Even if said suitor is working for himself, in all likelihood he would have to leave behind a customer base and start over. So it's a real catch-22 for the suitor and wonder if JMarie got caught in that. Yet another way Steve finds a way to keep his daughters trapped at home and when Sarah becomes a 40 something SAHD, Steve is just going to believe that there was no one "godly" enough. And poor Sarah will believe it.

Or, unfortunately, Sarah might believe that SHE isn't godly enough. :(

[rural juror]

I think Sarah had some marriage prospects, but something went wrong. Queen Mother confirmed this, saying there was something either Steve or Sarah ended up not liking about each guy. It wouldn't surprise me if Sarah turned him down, since she's probably terrified of anyone who is not a carbon copy of her dad/brothers, plus marriage would involve moving away from her family. A few years ago there were several posts implying that Sarah would be getting married one day. IIRC Steve posted urging people to book their conferences, since their touring years are numbered as the children would be getting married. Someone asked about the future of the ministry after Sarah gets married, and Steve answered that they were preparing for this. Then Anna started to be trained in Sarah's duties. Then, all these implications about Sarah getting married stopped. Her bio on the website was corrected and no longer mentions wanting to be a wife and mother. I think there was a serious prospect for Sarah, something went wrong, and the Maxwells took it to mean that they should leave it in the Lord's hands and not talk about Sarah's desire for marriage. I know way too much about these people.....

[WonderingInWA]

I think Sarah had some marriage prospects, but something went wrong. Queen Mother confirmed this, saying there was something either Steve or Sarah ended up not liking about each guy. It wouldn't surprise me if Sarah turned him down, since she's probably terrified of anyone who is not a carbon copy of her dad/brothers, plus marriage would involve moving away from her family. A few years ago there were several posts implying that Sarah would be getting married one day. IIRC Steve posted urging people to book their conferences, since their touring years are numbered as the children would be getting married. Someone asked about the future of the ministry after Sarah gets married, and Steve answered that they were preparing for this. Then Anna started to be trained in Sarah's duties. Then, all these implications about Sarah getting married stopped. Her bio on the website was corrected and no longer mentions wanting to be a wife and mother. I think there was a serious prospect for Sarah, something went wrong, and the Maxwells took it to mean that they should leave it in the Lord's hands and not talk about Sarah's desire for marriage. I know way too much about these people.....

Interesting that her bio has been changed. I'm guessing Stevie's had a lot of inquiries about that over the past few years so he decided to remove it. There! That'll shut 'em up!

[Justme]

What does Jesse do? He "graduated" in 2012. According to the bio's, the other guys do computer stuff. No mention of what Jesse does. He takes care of a few lawns. I'm guessing they belong to the family.

[Trynn]

Interesting that her bio has been changed. I'm guessing Stevie's had a lot of inquiries about that over the past few years so he decided to remove it. There! That'll shut 'em up!

I meant to quote this, not like it. Can't find the unlike button. Anyway, I can't quite blame Steve for not wanting to list that his kid is available. I mean, it's the Internet, there are some strange scary people out there that would love to prey on a sheltered naive girl like Sarah.

[terranova]

For inquiring minds this is John-Marie's website dropletirrigation.com.

He Christmas carolled with the Maxwells Christmas '12 and '11 but he didn't show up in their photos in '13, leading me to believe he's given up on the girls as potential wives.

[LurkerOverThePond]

I think they visited John Marie's family back in the summer. The visit involved lots of hard farm work out in the scorching sun (and in starched jeans for John Marie's part), cooking, "art" lessons, and special family Bible times. I think that's the last we have heard of JM.