Maxwell 13: And Another One Bites the Dust - John is Engaged

[Jana814]

39 minutes ago, Marian the Librarian said:

J&C's "The Knot's" description of the Bontragers' Dutch Country Inn hotel says that "Cable television is provided for your entertainment." 

Brace yourselves, everyone, for the loud coming from the direction of Leavenworth,  KS - Stevehovah's head is exploding in 3...2...1...

 

I thought I heard a loud boom recently. It must have been Steve's head exploding and I'm in New Jersey!  

[MamaJunebug]

5 hours ago, MamaJunebug said:

6 am on Monday, October 9, 2017, The Bon blog announced. I’ll be happy to start the clock:

Not quite 6 pm  on Wednesday, October 11, 2017—

— almost 60 hours that titus2.com has ignored John’s engagement!

Update!

[singsingsing]

How much do you want to bet that Jesse will be engaged within a year? I'm just guessing he's not going to want to be the only son left at home.

[FloraDoraDolly]

2 hours ago, Jana814 said:

How is John least isolated.  But glad that someone posted something about the Maxwells being so isolated. 

It's worth noting that Chelsy defended John and said *he* was not isolated. She did not defend the whole Maxwell family. Just John. 

[Tatar-tot]

I feel John’s finance is a a strong message about what he wants his future to look like.  John wants a happy joyful home.  I think he got the short end of the stick between being home schooled by a woman with self proclaimed mental health problems and no normal outlet for a young boy’s energy in something like sports.   John does not want his future to look like his past.  

 Chelsy is adorable.  She loves and embraces life.  John is going to have a wonderful life with her.  They make such a cute couple.

I am flabbergasted the Maxwells have posted ZIPPO!  If I was Chelsy’s Mom I would be highly insulted.  

My guess is after a couple of years the couple will relocate to Iowa under the  pretext it is better for John’s business.  

There is a really sick dynamic in the Maxwell household.  They would all benefit meeting with a counselor to establish healthy boundaries and get medical treatment for mental health issues. 

[lilith]

Posted 24 minutes ago

This engagement has me so excited I've returned to FJ after a 2 year break.

Firstly, I've been expecting a Bontrager/Maxwell engagement for a while. Anna Maxwell redesigned Chelsy's website, the Maxwells were scheduled to appear at a Bontrager event that was cancelled for the wedding, and, most tellingly, the Maxwell women have occasionally commented on Bontrager blogs, which is practically unheard of.

But Chelsy is a positively scandalous Maxwell bride. She wears bright makeup! She and John were TOUCHING in their engagement shots, in which her bright red dress reveals her knees! She plans to keep blogging after marriage! She's appeared onstage for years and is from a prominent enough family that she won't simply disappear into Maxhell upon marriage! She's very worldly by Maxwell standards - which fits, I guess, cause John is the rebel son by Maxwell standards.

i remember reading a post in which she said that she didn't think it was sinful to wear pants and that she wore skirts out of respect while living in her family home. The implication was that she wouldn't after marriage. Sadly, I don't see John being brave enough to defy Steve and allow pants, but then, he is marrying a knee flashing face painting harlot, so we will see!

I also seem to recall Chelsy posting about enjoying matchmaking. I bet she will try to find husbands for Mary and Anna from among her vast fundie acquaintance. 

 

Sorry to double post, but I wanted to say - I am infinitely more excited by this than yet another Duggar wedding. The Bontragers have long been one of my main fundie obsessions, and a Bontrager Maxwell union, in which Steve can't control the narrative, is a blessing beyond price.

Sorry to double post, but I wanted to say - I am infinitely more excited by this than yet another Duggar wedding. The Bontragers have long been one of my main fundie obsessions, and a Bontrager Maxwell union, in which Steve can't control the narrative, is a blessing beyond price.

[FloraKitty35]

If Jesse ever gets engaged and marries, will Sarah finally have her own room?  

[SPHASH]

3 minutes ago, FloraKitty35 said:

If Jesse ever gets engaged and marries, will Sarah finally have her own room?  

No.  He will buy Gigi's house, marry and Gigi will move in the boys room at the mothership.

[terranova]

I hope Steve doesn't come down hard on this union before they even get married. I can just imagine him being "called" to cancel the wedding and rein his son in.

[Captain Obvious]

38 minutes ago, terranova said:

I hope Steve doesn't come down hard on this union before they even get married. I can just imagine him being "called" to cancel the wedding and rein his son in.

He'd be in a bit of a bind then.

I suspect Steve knows the Maxwells might actually need the association with the Bontragers to extend the reach of their brand,  in the same way they need the association with IBLP. Their product sales and conferences have dried up and it's not going to get better until they increase the network of potential buyers. That's why they presented at IBLP and why Steve was also going to present at one of the Bontrager preach-a-thons in September, before it was cancelled due to the weddings.

Ignoring the couple's own feelings for each other, which surely matters little to him, another broken engagement would not only cut them off from that network but cast the Maxwells in a poor light among people they need to impress.

They need this wedding - well, not as much as they need husbands for the girls to fall from the sky, but that's not going to happen.

[HereticHick]

I I hope Chelsy's Christmas wedding colors are red + black, because I think that would annoy Steve the most!

[anjulibai]

If this marriage failed, that would be 3 out of 4 sons with failed courtships/engagements.

John was always the most difficult child, he's the one they've had the give the most freedom to to keep in the cult. 

No, Steve would not risk it shutting this engagement down. The silence from the blog speaks volumes, though. 

[mango_fandango]

Hold up, how did I miss this post?? 

https://blog.titus2.com/2017/10/06/what-is-titus2s-most-valuable-asset-to-the-blog/

And I'm surprised that none of the leghumpers have commented. Unless they have and Steve has just deleted so that he can post a photo of John and Chelsy after the wedding and pretend like it was a huge surprise. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

@Captain Obviousyou br ing up a good point about fundies and "image." 

I really wish I could tell more young fundies stuck at home that they have more power than they think if their parents are obsessed with their perfect fundie family image. Lets say Sarah meets a nice fundie guy that is a little too worldly for Steve's taste and he wants Sarah to move to HIS homestate if they were to marry. Sarah could possibly have steve by the balls if Steve hadn't completely squashed her spirit years ago. She could threaten to elope. Steve would flip his shit over a court house wedding where no one was invited. That would completely ruin his brand and there's no way he could spin it. But no. Most fundie kids have been squashed and can't stand up to their parents like that. 

[terranova]

Did Nathan have a failed courtship before Melanie?

[MamaJunebug]

19 minutes ago, terranova said:

Did Nathan have a failed courtship before Melanie?

No. Pristopher has one terminated courtship and one broken engagement. Joseph had a broken engagement. Nathan and Melly married before Steve dragged the fam out of actual church membership. 

And because I can, and because I need to get to sleep:

HOURS SINCE THE BONTRAGERS’ ANNOUNCEMENT HAS BEEN IGNORED ON THE TITUS2 BLOG: 64

Effectve 10 pm Wednesday 11 October

Pleasant dreams, y’all!  

(Free Jana, Sarah and The Rest!)

[lilith]

18 minutes ago, terranova said:

Did Nathan have a failed courtship before Melanie?

No, Christopher did, long ago.

[Corntree]

I first found the Maxwells not too long after Nathan and Melanie got married so I would obviously have no remembrance of a failed courtship. But really I think we don't know if one happened or not b/c Steve and Teri would've erased all evidence of it from the site like they did with Christopher and Joseph. Unless someone out there who followed them prior to Nathan courting Melanie remembers. @MamaJunebug, Christopher had a terminated courtship AND a broken engagement? All I know about is Sarah Smith and I don't remember any relationship before that. Did I miss something somewhere?

I personally don't think a courtship that ended pre-engagement should be a failure to fundies. If a courtship is about determining whether two people should get married, if they decide they shouldn't, isn't that okay? And if they did it "right" then they didn't get emotionally involved or give away pieces of their heart, so nobody really did anything wrong. I think some fundies get too obsessed with marriage being the goal of courtship and they treat a failed courtship like a failed engagement or marriage... or they maybe think a failed courtship is too similar to dating. What is the point of the courtship period if it's treated the same as being engaged or whatever? Get rid of it or accept that a broken off courtship isn't necessarily a failure.

And what the hell is up with the latest Seriously Dads? I think Steve is saying no one should go to college (b/c debt is always the greatest evil) and you should just trust God to give you a job and basic necessities and stuff. Real life doesn't work that way, buddy. Especially these days when so many jobs require a degree. I don't see God handing out good jobs to everyone who avoids the evil of college debt. Maybe Steve thinks if people forgo a degree and trust in God, he's going to magically restructure society so degrees aren't important anymore. And apparently people go to college so they can have "the good life." Is he thinking like eating caviar on your yacht or something? That's not what happens for most people with degrees. Of course, he finds many normal, common activities to be a waste of time and money, so I don't know what he's thinking of as "the good life." Maybe he's thinking it's having more than two animal crackers for dessert. I do agree that college debt is problematic, but I don't agree with him on any other points.

[johnhugh]

3 hours ago, Tatar-tot said:

  Chelsy is adorable.  She loves and embraces life

But is so adorable she calls gay guys like me Sodomites.

[lilith]

13 minutes ago, johnhugh said:

But is so adorable she calls gay guys like me Sodomites.

Yeah, she was pretty active during the Cruz campaign, active in her own right, not just tagging along to support the men. Her politics are out there for all to see and they are ugly, no matter how pretty she is or how short she wears her skirts.

[CyborgKin]

Ahhhh of course this got announced while I was away from the internet!

I guess I should go away more often if we get stuff like this for it

[terranova]

I guess all the boys could have had failed courtships and we wouldn't know if they didn't want us to. And if John Marie was hanging around all that time, maybe he was a failed courtship of one of the girls too.

[SolomonFundy]

The dynamics of these two families joining will be pretty interesting to see, mainly in terms of how Steve reacts. Of all the relationships they've solicited and achieved for their "children", this Bontrager alliance is the only one that brings a more publicly recognized family into the Maxwell mix. Though they aren't very well known outside of fundy circles, the Maxwells have had the upper hand when it came to family/brand recognition when negotiating courtships with the women who have married into the family. Steve is incredibly proud of his name and brand, and obviously has struggled to reconcile himself to the loss of interest in the Titus line of products. I think he desperately wants this marriage for the reasons @Captain Obvious outlined, but I also think that he's resentful of being the supplicant here. 

Ultimately, the Maxwells need the Bontragers a hell of a lot more than anyone needs the Maxwells these days. 

[Elegant Mess]

And the latest blog post is up.  Is it about John and Chelsy?  Aw, hell, no!  It's about gathering supplies for OCC!

C'mon, Maxwells, the cat's out of the bag, so just acknowledge it already!

[nastyhobbitses]

Maybe they're not blogging about it yet because Chelsy must complete the Maxwell Jedi Trials by constructing a pizza cutter from rocks found in a mystical cave, and then she must successfully slice through 10 heads of lettuce with it.