Maxhell- Part 5

[SPHASH]

1 hour ago, freejugar said:

What the hell is up with that wedding picture? why so blurry? 

Smug was the photographer that's wht.

[mango_fandango]

36 minutes ago, SPHASH said:

Smug was the photographer that's wht.

"Joseph did an incredible job with the pictures". Yeah right. Dream on, Poor.

[Myfanwy]

Quote

 Your marriage is a sweet testimony of Christ’s love toward His Bride. Thank you for encouraging us by sharing your lives with us via the blog. 

This is part some someone's comment. Now, I understand every individual word in both those sentences, yet I have not one goddamn clue what the sentences mean. 

 

[divadivine]

Will someone tell Stevhovah that Anna needs to burn this awful skirt? Please. 

[alba]

Many of you are in the trenches with your young children. It is hard for you to picture a day when your children would be leading your family in ministry, with you as the helpers not the ones in charge. May we encourage you to stand steadfast and persevere.

I find this paragraph, from Teri's post on the county fair, so incredibly sad. I know small children are a lot of work, but they should bring joy, too. And even though a key part of parenting is about ensuring your children will become adults who show traits like compassion and critical thinking (an arena in which Stevehovah and Teri have failed), their childhood isn't some unfortunate stage to be tolerated until they grow up.

To me this paragraph shows just how badly Steve failed Teri when he concluded that more babies would cure her depression.

[kpmom]

12 hours ago, mango_fandango said:

"Joseph did an incredible job with the pictures". Yeah right. Dream on, Poor.

Do the Maxwells believe they and their siblings ever not do an incredible job?  In anything?

So much of their blog is patting themselves and each other on the back.

That attitude definitely shows itself in the Moody books too.

  The Moody's lead people to the Lord.  The Moody's help the elderly.  Another mom's kid acts out at the farm field trip, certainly not the Moody kids.  Mr. Moody saves the day during the exploding bratwurst incident, and lectures a man older than himself about the need to keep the grill clean.

If you just follow our lead, buy our crap and do x,y, and z, you too will have perfect kids.

[Jana814]

53 minutes ago, kpmom said:

Do the Maxwells believe they and their siblings ever not do an incredible job?  In anything?

So much of their blog is patting themselves and each other on the back.

That attitude definitely shows itself in the Moody books too.

  The Moody's lead people to the Lord.  The Moody's help the elderly.  Another mom's kid acts out at the farm field trip, certainly not the Moody kids.  Mr. Moody saves the day during the exploding bratwurst incident, and lectures a man older than himself about the need to keep the grill clean.

If you just follow our lead, buy our crap and do x,y, and z, you too will have perfect kids.

That's the problem. They act that their kids are perfect. The people who are suck into their blog and buy their crap think exactly what this poster has said. 

You have to imagine that a family that follows them if one of their kids acts up a parent would say "well (interest moody kids name or a Maxwell kids name) dosen't do that so you shouldn't either". 

[SolomonFundy]

9 hours ago, alba said:

 

I find this paragraph, from Teri's post on the county fair, so incredibly sad. I know small children are a lot of work, but they should bring joy, too. And even though a key part of parenting is about ensuring your children will become adults who show traits like compassion and critical thinking (an arena in which Stevehovah and Teri have failed), their childhood isn't some unfortunate stage to be tolerated until they grow up.

To me this paragraph shows just how badly Steve failed Teri when he concluded that more babies would cure her depression.

 

I assumed that Teri was specifically referencing a book that's been bandied about in some circles over the past few years. It's called "Loving the Little Years: Motherhood in the Trenches." The Catholic mommy bloggers that I follow seem to like it more than the fundies, but I've seen it referenced by fundylites a few times. I've seen "trenches" equated with child-rearing more in the 6 years since that book was published than at any point previously. Maybe the Maxwells are trying to seem "hip". 

All of that said, I think your perception of Teri's view of children is absolutely correct. Her children were something to be endured and overcome. Thanks to unmanaged mental illness, by her reckoning, her babies stole her peace, her happiness, and her sanity bit by bit. Steve was and is a selfish, self-aggrandizing prick who cared more about his outward appearance of virility than the health of his wife.

[VooDooChild]

4 hours ago, kpmom said:

Do the Maxwells believe they and their siblings ever not do an incredible job?  In anything?

So much of their blog is patting themselves and each other on the back.

That attitude definitely shows itself in the Moody books too.

  The Moody's lead people to the Lord.  The Moody's help the elderly.  Another mom's kid acts out at the farm field trip, certainly not the Moody kids.  Mr. Moody saves the day during the exploding bratwurst incident, and lectures a man older than himself about the need to keep the grill clean.

If you just follow our lead, buy our crap and do x,y, and z, you too will have perfect kids robots.

Fixed that for ya.  I suppose the word accessories would work just as well.

[Granwych]

7 hours ago, kpmom said:

If you just follow our lead, buy our crap and do x,y, and z, you too will have perfect kids.

Perfect zombies, you mean.

[fundiefan]

The anniversary tells me I have been following them-not as they like their followers to be though - for a little over six years. And in all that time, they may have added to their cult through births and another marriage, but absolutely nothing else has changed. Nothing. They're not traveling with the dog & pony show but they still "put it on" every single day. Never has an entire family failed to grow or learn, together, for so many years. 

Pick a random post from 1, 5, 6, 8 years ago...doesn't matter. It will be just like one from 1, 5, 6, 8 weeks ago.

[PopRox]

Quote

" It’s hard to believe six years have already passed since that beautiful, rainy autumn day in Washington when you became husband and wife."

Fixed that for you, Sarah.

[Honeysuckle]

10 hours ago, kpmom said:

Do the Maxwells believe they and their siblings ever not do an incredible job?  In anything?

So much of their blog is patting themselves and each other on the back.

That attitude definitely shows itself in the Moody books too.

  The Moody's lead people to the Lord.  The Moody's help the elderly.  Another mom's kid acts out at the farm field trip, certainly not the Moody kids.  Mr. Moody saves the day during the exploding bratwurst incident, and lectures a man older than himself about the need to keep the grill clean.

If you just follow our lead, buy our crap and do x,y, and z, you too will have perfect kids.

Yes! I was thinking about this the other day, actually. I got given ~25 books from a series called Sugar Creek Gang, written in the middle of the last century, that are about the adventures of a gang of Christian boys. The books are honestly not great, but I read five or six of them over the weekend while deciding whether to give them to my nieces as the gifter intended or just give them to a thrift shop. Even if I glossed over some (okay most) of the Jesus bits, the plots were engaging enough that I wanted to know what would happen next. Compare that with Sarah's writing. I would struggle to read five Moody books in a month much less a weekend because they're boring. Sarah doesn't know how to write regular kids who have struggles. In Moody land there is no room for making a mistake. There are no surprises and nothing that leaves me wondering what will happen next. I'll tell you what will happen next. There will be another chapter where the deadly dull Moody kids do something boring and it's presented as though they're the only kids in the whole world who would ever think to help an elderly neighbor with her lawn. It kills any desire to finish the book I'm reading much less seek out another. (Whereas I may look online and see if I can find a source to buy the Sugar Creek Gang book where they kill a bear and keep its cub as a pet, just because a reference to it in another of the books piqued my curiosity.) Successful kids' books with a Christian slant can be done, but Sarah simply doesn't have a good frame of reference for how kids act when they're not forcibly molded into bland, interchangeable, one-dimensional Jesus-bots.

I often say that for all their talk about what blessings they are, fundies don't actually like children that much. The Maxwells are exhibit A. They don't like spontaneity or mess or the often hilarious ways kids try to make sense of the world. They just grimly raise them until they are old enough to stop messing up the ceiling fan dusting schedule by acting like children.

[PopRox]

Sugar Creek Gang! They used to play the radio drama of it on a Christian Radio station that I used to listen to before we moved. I would catch bits and pieces of it on my way to work some afternoons... it was definitely hokey, but in a kind of charming way.

(Aw, now I'm homesick again. That's the third time today.)

[Granwych]

" It’s hard to believe six years have already passed since that beautiful, rainy autumn day in Washington when you became husband and wife"

I'm surprised that she didn't write it as "man and wife."  Here's the FJ take--, "dull and boring."

[SPHASH]

I gave all the over 18 Maxwells nicknames as a fuck you to them for nicknaming people, like NR Anna and her younger sister.  A rundown of all the names and why I picked them

Steve (Coward)-he is so afraid of the world he won't let his kids experience it.  Also he disables comments on his debt free series posts which means he doesn't like being questioned

Teri (Griselda) like Teri Eleanor Roosevelt suffered from depression.  When she had her bouts with depression she called them her Griselda moods.

Nathan (Crazy Eyed) ever look at his eyes, he looks psycho and drugged

Chris (Prissy) He is so prim and proper and started the tradition of no touch courtship

Sarah (Poor) we call her Poor Sarah cuz she is in her mid 30s and still living at home

Joe (Smug) an FJer who met him said he was the most arrogant

John (Stud) because everyone here wants to fuck him and make him a real man

Anna (Goofy) cuz she has the goofiest grin and wore her ponytail on the side

Jesse (Forgotten) no one pays any attention to him

Mary (Scary) see Nate

Melanie (Wonder Woman) she is still alive with all her difficutl pregnancies

Anna Marie (Amish) no explanation

Elissa (Invisible) cuz she isn't on the blog much.

[kpmom]

9 hours ago, SPHASH said:

I gave all the over 18 Maxwells nicknames as a fuck you to them for nicknaming people, like NR Anna and her younger sister.  A rundown of all the names and why I picked them

 

Anna (Goofy) cuz she has the goofiest grin and wore her ponytail on the side

And don't forget Lolly!  I'm trying to picture another Maxwell being Lolly and I can't. 

[Granwych]

On ‎10‎/‎23‎/‎2016 at 9:30 PM, mango_fandango said:

"Joseph did an incredible job with the pictures". Yeah right. Dream on, Poor.

Obviously, she hasn't seen them yet.  Or she needs glasses, SEVERELY.

20 hours ago, SPHASH said:

I gave all the over 18 Maxwells nicknames as a fuck you to them for nicknaming people, like NR Anna and her younger sister.  A rundown of all the names and why I picked them

Steve (Coward)-he is so afraid of the world he won't let his kids experience it.  Also he disables comments on his debt free series posts which means he doesn't like being questioned

Teri (Griselda) like Teri Eleanor Roosevelt suffered from depression.  When she had her bouts with depression she called them her Griselda moods.

Nathan (Crazy Eyed) ever look at his eyes, he looks psycho and drugged

Chris (Prissy) He is so prim and proper and started the tradition of no touch courtship

Sarah (Poor) we call her Poor Sarah cuz she is in her mid 30s and still living at home

Joe (Smug) an FJer who met him said he was the most arrogant

John (Stud) because everyone here wants to fuck him and make him a real man

Anna (Goofy) cuz she has the goofiest grin and wore her ponytail on the side

Jesse (Forgotten) no one pays any attention to him

Mary (Scary) see Nate

Melanie (Wonder Woman) she is still alive with all her difficutl pregnancies

Anna Marie (Amish) no explanation

Elissa (Invisible) cuz she isn't on the blog much.

Can we add "Constipated" to Prissy?

[Elegant Mess]

1 hour ago, Granwych said:

Obviously, she hasn't seen them yet.  Or she needs glasses, SEVERELY.

Can we add "Constipated" to Prissy?

What do you think would work better:. Prissipated or Constiprissy?

[nomoxian]

I looked at the Wiki for Sugar Creek Gang and they are published by MOODY Publishers. Ha!

[Lillybee]

I think that if Sarah makes any money from her Moody books, Steve doles it out to her a nickel at a time.

[uber frau]

On 10/24/2016 at 7:15 AM, freejugar said:

What the hell is up with that wedding picture? why so blurry? 

Because Joseph did an incredible job with the pictures.

[pikapika]

While reading their "County Fair Reports" I noticed that their face painting and balloon twisting are not bad, they could easily do both of those things at children's birthday parties and make some money for themselves, sadly that will likely never happen but if they ever need to survive hopefully they keep it in mind, a good face painter charges at least $100 an hour!

[VodouDoll]

You can make BANK face painting. One of my girlfriends made her first million building a respected chain of tattoo and piercing parlors, and in the last few years she's expanded to face painting booths at fairs, festivals, sporting events, anywhere a ton of kids might be. Her artists charge $15-17 a pop and she said her booths absolutely rake it in. The Maxwells could make a tidy side income this way, if they could bring themselves to go to worldly things like roller derby and music festivals.

[usedbicycle]

On 10/21/2016 at 0:49 PM, VooDooChild said:

I've been trying to think of a polite, non-threatening, godly way to ask if/how the girls are employed, but I got nothin'.

I posted a comment along the lines of "I'm curious to know if your children receive an allowance or get a more formal salary for working for the family business? Also, how do you deal with household expenses with adult children living at home?"

Steve didn't post the comment but emailed me back. (Hope he doesn't read here or I've been outed!) Basically the kidults don't get an allowance and do work for their parents. But still no idea on who pays for groceries and does Sarah get to keep all her Moody money.

Quote

Hi xxx,

I thought a private response would be better. 

I’m not sure how familiar you are with our resources. We speak regarding allowances in Chores and possibly Preparing Sons. Even with daughters you will find Preparing Sons applicable. 

We give our children a work ethic. We teach them to use their time, to learn, to serve, to work and take great enjoyment in them. You will also like the debt-free series that is a part of the blog. 

Basically, we didn’t give allowances like most do. We didn’t want to develop an entitlement mentality. 

Does that help?

Blessings, 

Steve Maxell