Another Maxwell Boy

[Miggy]

A few thoughts ...

# Still fail to see the appeal of John (and still secretly lusting over Joseph)

# I'm thrilled they are having a boy. Less chance of Josh becoming an evil brat if he has to share grandpa's attention with another male cousins.

# Melanie doesn't seem as loopy as the rest of them. I don't think her girls will suffer too much for having a brother. I'm not saying there won't be a difference in the treatment of boys and girls in the house but I don't think it will be all for the son and suffer the daughters. Melanie will help keep some balance.

[YPestis]

After giving it some thought, I think having a son could help steer Nathan in a more positive direction. No matter what Steve says, I get the feeling that Nathan (more so than Christopher) misses sports. He's into fitness; he seemed to really enjoy it when his girls got their first bicycles. This is a man who will want to play ball with his little boy. He also strikes me as the least crazy Maxwell of the bunch. His girls do occasionally participate in non-Steve approved activities with Melanie's family. I can't help but wonder if Nathan will be tempted to take this to the next level with a boy? Sometimes parents have issues involving same-gender children that just don't crop up with opposite-gender children. For example, a woman who was the proverbial wallflower in high school might push her daughter into cheerleading or beauty pageants, whereas this same mom wouldn't even think of doing this type of thing with her son. I can see something similar happening with Nathan and this new little Maxwell. Everything Steve took away from him could come back to haunt him.

That's an interesting idea. We do know Nathan used to (?) attend a gym and, at some point, followed sports. With his daughters, he can defer their day to day activities to Melanie. However, with a boy, Nathan will feel obligated to set rules. He may feel tempted to play sports with is son, go to sporting events, maybe eventually want to see his boy play on a team....The fact that they keep in contact with Melanie's far less fruity family helps. It means Nathan and Melanie will not lose support if they choose to leave the Maxwell craziness.

As others have noticed in various Maxwell threads, Christopher and Nathan do not appear to socialize with each other. Their children each have their own activities and the only time we hear/see the two brothers together is when they're with the parents. I suspected for years that Christopher is the more fundie brother. He started out courting a girl similar to Melanie in fundie-ness, and then broke it off for a far more fundie gal that is NR-Anna. He went with the 'no-touch' rule for his courtship (vs Nathan and Melanie holding hands). Christopher also appears more picky about brides, marrying much later than his brother. It makes sense that Christopher probably don't appreciate having his children playing with Nathan's more secular brood.

I'm not sure if the Maxwells hold some type of higher status for the grandsons. It seems in quiverful families, having daughters would be far more helpful than having sons. Not much farm work these days, even for rural families, but plenty of cooking, cleaning and childcare still needs to be done. Therefore, I'm not sure if Nathan feels vindicated that he will finally have a son to compete with Christopher against. In quiverful families, it seems the larger competition is who can have more children. You think the Bates and Duggars are counting how many sons they have? Children are all just a number at this point. I can imagine Christopher secretly feeling smug that his wife is so fertile and can pop babies out like crazy, but I'm not sure he's all giddy that he has a son and Nathan does not (yet). Anyway, just my two cents.

[16strong]

That's an interesting idea. We do know Nathan used to (?) attend a gym and, at some point, followed sports. With his daughters, he can defer their day to day activities to Melanie. However, with a boy, Nathan will feel obligated to set rules. He may feel tempted to play sports with is son, go to sporting events, maybe eventually want to see his boy play on a team....The fact that they keep in contact with Melanie's far less fruity family helps. It means Nathan and Melanie will not lose support if they choose to leave the Maxwell craziness.

As others have noticed in various Maxwell threads, Christopher and Nathan do not appear to socialize with each other. Their children each have their own activities and the only time we hear/see the two brothers together is when they're with the parents. I suspected for years that Christopher is the more fundie brother. He started out courting a girl similar to Melanie in fundie-ness, and then broke it off for a far more fundie gal that is NR-Anna. He went with the 'no-touch' rule for his courtship (vs Nathan and Melanie holding hands). Christopher also appears more picky about brides, marrying much later than his brother. It makes sense that Christopher probably don't appreciate having his children playing with Nathan's more secular brood.

I'm not sure if the Maxwells hold some type of higher status for the grandsons. It seems in quiverful families, having daughters would be far more helpful than having sons. Not much farm work these days, even for rural families, but plenty of cooking, cleaning and childcare still needs to be done. Therefore, I'm not sure if Nathan feels vindicated that he will finally have a son to compete with Christopher against. In quiverful families, it seems the larger competition is who can have more children. You think the Bates and Duggars are counting how many sons they have? Children are all just a number at this point. I can imagine Christopher secretly feeling smug that his wife is so fertile and can pop babies out like crazy, but I'm not sure he's all giddy that he has a son and Nathan does not (yet). Anyway, just my two cents.

I think that Christopher may see Melanie's fertility problems as being a result of his brother's more, ah, mild lifestyle. I think Christopher believes his own wife's higher fertility level is down to God being more approving of his and Anna Marie's lifestyle. Hence the smugness and the lack of comraderie between brothers. I expect, however, that we will see a post of both families lovingly spending time together soon. It's the Maxwell way. Also, if this is the case, I can see Nathan becoming less and less fundie over the years as he watches his brother's descent into extreme fundiedom and he gets treated increasingly worse because of it.

[memmy]

I had started a new topic before seeing this...

but my only comment to their pregnancy is that probably everybody else is thinking that Nathan got it "right" this time...

[kpmom]

It's funny how everyone here thinks Christopher is smug, because Steve told a story in one of his books ("...Children's Hearts" I think), where he basically confirmed this.

He said when Christopher was about 21 he was getting pretty full of himself about how creative he is (Steve's words, not mine!). The Lord made Christopher's hands go numb for several weeks and he had to take a break from all his many creative endeavors.

This humbled our Christopher, and he is (supposedly) not nearly so smug anymore.

So, you all weren't far off the mark. Except of course Christopher is Mr. Humble now.

[16strong]

It's funny how everyone here thinks Christopher is smug, because Steve told a story in one of his books ("...Children's Hearts" I think), where he basically confirmed this.

He said when Christopher was about 21 he was getting pretty full of himself about how creative he is (Steve's words, not mine!). The Lord made Christopher's hands go numb for several weeks and he had to take a break from all his many creative endeavors.

This humbled our Christopher, and he is (supposedly) not nearly so smug anymore.

So, you all weren't far off the mark. Except of course Christopher is Mr. Humble now.

Bwahahahaha!!!! *snort*

Humble he is, my ass.

[usmcmom]

16strong said: I think that Christopher may see Melanie's fertility problems as being a result of his brother's more, ah, mild lifestyle. I think Christopher believes his own wife's higher fertility level is down to God being more approving of his and Anna Marie's lifestyle. Hence the smugness and the lack of comraderie between brothers. I expect, however, that we will see a post of both families lovingly spending time together soon. It's the Maxwell way. Also, if this is the case, I can see Nathan becoming less and less fundie over the years as he watches his brother's descent into extreme fundiedom and he gets treated increasingly worse because of it.

*******

I agree with you on all counts, 16strong. I think Christopher is probably very smug about his wife's fertility. I think, however, it is much more basic than "filling his quiver." I think all these fundie men want a fertile wife so the world can see how virile and "manly" they are. Kind of like "ARGGGGH!! Look at us! We had sex and I made a baby...again!!" If there are no babies, people might not know they are actually having sex, ya know.

I'm also waiting on that post about brotherly love and family harmony.

[Dandruff]

I'm glad that Joshua will have a male cousin. Who else will he be allowed to play with?

[usmcmom]

The more I read about Christopher and his arrogance, the more I worry about his wife, Anna. I have a feeling she is really brow beaten in that home. She will always smile and keep sweet, but I wonder if she lives in fear of him. I also wonder how much she gets to see her family. I'm sure her parents would love to see their grandkids as much as possible. I wonder if Steve and Christopher allow that.

[FloraDoraDolly]

I'm glad that Joshua will have a male cousin. Who else will he be allowed to play with?

We don't know if Josh will be allowed to play with his male cousin. They're both boys, yes, but their respective families don't seem to spend much time together. At any rate, I expect Christopher and Anna Marie will keep having kids and that they'll be one of those fundie families where the brothers and sisters "are each other's best friends." Age, gender, and interests don't seem to matter in these families. Look at Joy-Anna Duggar. Has it ever occurred to Jim Bob and Michelle that she might be lonely as the only girl in her age cohort and that, at the very least, it might be good for her to participate in some regular activity with other girls her age? Ditto for poor Wizzy Arndt. Joshua Maxwell will "socialize" with his siblings, regardless of how many (or few) of them there are. If Josh is nine and his only brother is two, he will be expected to play happily with the two-year-old.

[Jana814]

It's funny how everyone here thinks Christopher is smug, because Steve told a story in one of his books ("...Children's Hearts" I think), where he basically confirmed this.

He said when Christopher was about 21 he was getting pretty full of himself about how creative he is (Steve's words, not mine!). The Lord made Christopher's hands go numb for several weeks and he had to take a break from all his many creative endeavors.

This humbled our Christopher, and he is (supposedly) not nearly so smug anymore.

So, you all weren't far off the mark. Except of course Christopher is Mr. Humble now.

Oh my!! Did he say why his hands went numb?

[kpmom]

Oh my!! Did he say why his hands went numb?

It's been a while since I read it and I don't recall. Hopefully, he had it checked out by a doctor, but I just don't remember.

It always amazes me when grown people ascribe such silly, simple minded reasons to life's problems ("God made his hands go numb to humble him.") I'm sure there was an actual scientific explanation behind the numb hands, but you know how fundies and science don't mix.

[Justme]

It's been a while since I read it and I don't recall. Hopefully, he had it checked out by a doctor, but I just don't remember.

It always amazes me when grown people ascribe such silly, simple minded reasons to life's problems ("God made his hands go numb to humble him.") I'm sure there was an actual scientific explanation behind the numb hands, but you know how fundies and science don't mix.

And I don't suppose they took him to a doctor to make sure it wasn't something serious. :(

[Elinor]

From way back when, I remember hearing that the italics refer to words that aren't literally in the text word for word but were added to make the English translation make sense. Or something like that.

That's right. An example is "The LORD is my shepherd." Without "is," that sentence is not proper English.

[DrPusey]

I confess to being surprised as well that they put the sex reveal on the blog, given that this hasn't happened for any prior Maxwell grandchildren.

I will say that Melanie looks really, really good. I hope she's having an easier pregnancy, as she did with Christina. We haven't heard that Sarah and the reversal girls are cleaning her house this time around, right?

[WonderingInWA]

I confess to being surprised as well that they put the sex reveal on the blog, given that this hasn't happened for any prior Maxwell grandchildren.

I will say that Melanie looks really, really good. I hope she's having an easier pregnancy, as she did with Christina. We haven't heard that Sarah and the reversal girls are cleaning her house this time around, right?

I think they did clean her house early on, before the pregnancy was announced as I think she routinely suffers from morning sickness, but she does look radiant and happy now, so she's probably feeling good. It would be nice for her to have another relatively carefree pregnancy like she did with Christina.