Maxwell 17: Life After John Left

[anjulibai]

I've been following the Maxwells since Sarah was in her 20s, so not a revelation. But she does look young and dress younger than she is. 

They used to post her age for her birthday, but stopped about the time she turned 30. I think they were embarrassed to admit how old she was while still living at home. That her age was allowed to even be referenced in the blog this year surprises me. They do still post the ages for the other siblings living at home, though. 

[albanuadh_1]

Have you read the latest Dad's Corner? Steve makes a list for Dads to have a happy home. One of the suggestions : Have you kept your end to "any agreements?" 

Now why would that be in quotes? The only reason I can think is you really don't have to have your wife agree with anything you do but just placate her.

 

[SassyPants]

You know how people have pet fundies? I like Sarah and Anna Maxwell. I cannot believe that Sarah is 36- if she ever marries, she'll not be birthing an army for her dad and his cult.

I hope those girls are happy. They do seem to have genuine relationships with one another. 

[Snarfblatt]

I am aware of how old Sarah is but somehow seeing those pictures of her at 18 and seeing how Anna and Mary were 5 and 3 really made the age difference between Sarah and her little sisters so apparent to me.  18 years ago she must have thought that she would be married within a few years and have her own family. I know life doesn't always go according to plan but given how she was raised that was not an unrealistic expectation at the time. 

Sarah is my pet fundie because I feel sorry for her. I think it is because I'm slightly older than she is and definitely perma-single but I'm really fine with it. I know I could date if I wanted to. 

[iweartanktops]

I have to admit, seeing Chelsy on John's lap at the table, made me smile. They look really happy and cozy together. 

[Grimalkin]

      It’s been a really long time since I visited the Maxwell blog. I was looking at the wedding pictures and for a moment thought Mary was Sarah. When i saw Sara’s pictures I was shocked at how different she looked to me. She doesn’t look bad and I’m not criticizing her but she looks like she has aged (as we all do) I just found it sad and depressing. More siblings are leaving and she is doing all the same things she has always done. I don’t even want to snark. 

     I was delighted to see Rebecca Eleventy!!!!!! Posted and she seems happy. She finished the first part of her cna. They have a foster boy in the house and he is adorable. It’s obvious they genuinely love him. He looks so happy too. Heartwarming to see. She still is a bit eh stunted, but not as much. I hope to see a happily ever after for her. She is such a romantic.

[CyborgKin]

36 reps of 7 different workout moves?  Well Sarah definitely earned her large third of a donut and generous amount of sweets

Here's her new board game: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhambra_(board_game)

I'm surprised but pleased that they didn't hide her age again.

I guess Sarah will have to be my pet fundie for now but I'd rather have the Botkinettes stick their heads above deck again.

[JermajestyDuggar]

10 hours ago, Grimalkin said:

      It’s been a really long time since I visited the Maxwell blog. I was looking at the wedding pictures and for a moment thought Mary was Sarah. When i saw Sara’s pictures I was shocked at how different she looked to me. She doesn’t look bad and I’m not criticizing her but she looks like she has aged (as we all do) I just found it sad and depressing. More siblings are leaving and she is doing all the same things she has always done. I don’t even want to snark. 

     I was delighted to see Rebecca Eleventy!!!!!! Posted and she seems happy. She finished the first part of her cna. They have a foster boy in the house and he is adorable. It’s obvious they genuinely love him. He looks so happy too. Heartwarming to see. She still is a bit eh stunted, but not as much. I hope to see a happily ever after for her. She is such a romantic.

I'm waiting for Rebecca to post about Chelsy's wedding. I saw her in the audience.

Sarah shared a donut three ways for her birthday. How lucky! 

[Ozlsn]

4 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I'm waiting for Rebecca to post about Chelsy's wedding. I saw her in the audience.

Sarah shared a donut three ways for her birthday. How lucky! 

Oh Sarah. For some reason that just makes me so sad. It's nice to share, yes, but unless it's a seriously megasized donut you should be able to have a whole one on your birthday at least.

[AllisonWndrland]

Good lord. Sarah, have the whole donut. What is so wrong with having an entire donut all to yourself? Your birthday should be the one day each year that "splurges" are expected and particularly after a WOD that includes box jumps, burpees, and the GHD.

The newly cropped photo in the header of the birthday post borders on the ridiculous. It did feature a very prominent 36 in candles on the cake and has been cropped. There's no shame in Sarah's age. The only shame stems from Steve and Teri's behavior in regard to the happiness and well-being, both emotional and physical, of their children. 

I have to wonder how the Arkansas conference is going to run now. Will John and Chelsy join the group? With Elissa due around that time I can't imagine she and Joseph will travel to sing and speak as they did for the Wichita conference right after their wedding. If the younger couples aren't involved, how does having three unwed daughters reflect on Steve and Teri? My guess is that Steve frames it as no suitable men have come forward, but that is a tough sell in a community as small as theirs. People talk and know each other. How far does that line get you when someone in your audience may know who has inquired about courting Sarah, Anna, or Mary? 

[nomoxian]

14 hours ago, CyborgKin said:

36 reps of 7 different workout moves?  Well Sarah definitely earned her large third of a donut and generous amount of sweets

 

And here I thought my "butt, leg, stomach" exercises were intense. Though I think she does bodyweight exercises and not machines, since the gym is too much of an eyetrap.

[johnhugh]

Quote

Gloria says:

January 24, 2018 at 2:07 pm

Hey Arnold is so cute!
A belated happy 36th birthday!!!
Love Gloria xx

Sarah Maxwell says:

January 25, 2018 at 9:26 am

Thank you!

Reply

No problem!

[anachronistic]

The thing that saddens me the most about Sarah is to see her squander her opportunities. Due to my learning and mental health disabilities, as well as autism, I will never work full time. I will never be able to live 100% independently. I will always have to have someone help me with finances and organization and banking. My sensory issues mean that eating in a restaurant is practically impossible, and I can’t handle bars, clubs, rallies, concerts or other crowded events. I’m not complaining, I am simply stating facts. The fact is that Sarah could do SO much more than I can and due to her fathers brainwashing truly believes she can’t - that breaks my heart.  I want to access these experiences but can’t. She could but doesn’t even try. 

 

I feel very lucky that nobody ever said to me,  you can’t  do that because you are disabled. They let me try and fail so many things. And I found community, friends, and a meaningful life even if it doesn’t look like that to everyone. Sarah has never failed because she doesn’t know that she could try. She doesn’t know the satisfaction that comes from trying something totally new or from closing your eyes and leaping off the (metaphorical) cliff. 

“I think I’ll try defying gravity,” Elphaba sings in the musical Wicked. Sarah can’t try because she has never been told that gravity is what keeps her down in the first place. She thinks it’s Jesus keeping her down, but it’s not. It’s Steve, and no matter how much he deludes himself, he is not Jesus.

[purjolok84]

[/quote/] I feel very lucky that nobody ever said to me,  you can’t  do that because you are disabled. They let me try and fail so many things. And I found community, friends, and a meaningful life even if it doesn’t look like that to everyone. Sarah has never failed because she doesn’t know that she could try.
[/quote/]

Sarah has been conditioned to believe that she doesn't have a problem and that she's living the life she's meant to, which is why she may come across as complacent to us.

People like us have more spirit, life experience and desire to chase life and do things. It's hard to be excited about life when you've brought up two sets of kids, get fed very little, overworked and still under your parents' authority.

Maybe as she ages (further) she'll have something to say about it, but I doubt it. They have screwed her over.

[Lgirlrocks]

The sad thing is they have tricked their adult children into believe they want to live at home, they want to share a room, and they want to have people that they are accountable to. At some point you have to allow your adult children be adults. If your adult children can’t adult without someone that they are accountable to then you failed as a parent. 

[Grimalkin]

I wonder if her brothers ever feel guilty leaving her home with Steve as they go off and marry and start families.

[clese]

John and chelsy look totally loved up. I'm sure they had a volcano in time away!! Good for them.

[lilith]

9 hours ago, Grimalkin said:

I wonder if her brothers ever feel guilty leaving her home with Steve as they go off and marry and start families.

Regarding Joseph and John, it’s usual to leave your mother at home when you marry and move into adult life.

[Toothfairy]

Sarah is 36? Fucking hell. Still at home fasting and loving Jesus. Sarah will die at home. Sad. Fuck you Steve and Teri Maxwell. You took your children's lives away. 

[mango_fandango]

Nathan and Melanie have been married 16 years. What a slap in the face for Sarah to have to write that post. 

Fuck you, Steve. Just fuck you.

[Odd1Out]

Well Sarah revealed that Nathan likes to take spontaneous trips with his family. Maybe he is who Steve is angry with. Nathan also sometimes surprises his family with pizza that has not been on the schedule. Steve’s little mind can’t handle all this non-rigid family fun!!

[BlessingsVonFundiePants]

Does anyone here wonder if Steve EVER look at his daughters whom he has failed to find husbands for and hold himself accountable for their Singledom? He TOLD them god wanted them to be helpmeets and mothers. He TOLD them their was only one path to being a righteous woman. Surely There has to have been a moment of human weakness in the last 10 years where Sarah has asked her dad where her suitor is? Especially as the boys all seem to find godly women. (I know we will never know the answers to these questions but I’ve been down the rabbit hole of the “dads corner/moms corner” posts from 20 years ago and he must be scratching his head, praying “I did everything right - how come no-one is marrying my girls...?” )

[grammyj]

There is just NO way that with all the travelling and conferences that Teri and Steve have done over the years, that theydon't know a boatload of eligible men they could have introduced to their daughters.  No way.  Unless....there are a lot of fundie parents who would not want their sons to be vetted, and possibly humiliated by the Steve Standards.

   And, I would add,  what's the thing with Keeping (stealing) your children's hearts?   I have never read the book nor have I ever seen it sold second hand when I would buy it, read it and destroy it.  For any of you who have actually read it, is there any mention of giving  a son/daughters heart back to them when they reach adulthood?  How does the book end?

    It's all so twisted.  But hey, if the Maxwells daughters never marry or leave home,  they will be ready and available to nanny the growing named Maxwell grandchildren AND care for Teri and Steve forever.

  So what impetus is there for S & T to launch their daughters!!!   I believe they darn well could if they wanted to.   Selfish, selfish and cruel.

  OK my diatribe for today but it's so sad, and I don't even know these people personally.  (I need chocolate ice cream and peanuts now.......)

  

 

[lilith]

The odds of Steve not having been approached by any men about courting any of his daughters is tiny.

They are well known, conventionally attractive young women of known fundie virtue.

What I would like to know is if he approached his daughters with any of those courtship offers or turned them down out of hand.

[mango_fandango]

I think someone on here once said that they’d met Sarah at a conference, and that Sarah had said she’d had a few guys interested in her, but that they hadn’t got past Steve or something. Steve is a dick. The Maxwells are sooper-sekritive about things and likely won’t announce the next marriage till it’s happened, but I’m betting it’s going to be Jesse. Steve must know full fucking well that it’s starting to look really awkward that he has three daughters of marriageable age and yet none of them have had anything. Sarah is well past prime marrying age time for fundie women, and Anna’s getting close. I know that there are probably loads of women of 36 who haven’t married, but they’ve likely had several relationships, perhaps a couple of kids, and they sure as heck have proper jobs and social lives and their own place to live. Sarah doesn’t have a single fucking thing beyond babysitting her nieces and nephews with the occasional visit to a carefully-vetted family friend. I wonder if Anna and Mary are looking at Sarah and wondering if they’ll end up with the same fate. Abby will be ten this year. Soon she’ll be able to do the babysitting herself and the aunts won’t need to be around so much. What then?