Maxwell 23: Backyard Breeding

[IReallyAmHopewell]

1. Money: NO DEBT. No figure how much you'd need to live if you only had to pay utilities, upkeep and property taxes? Not much where they live.

2. 6-year-old "Witnessing." UGH I remember leading an AHG troop and some over-eager Mommies made their little girls memorize one of the short books of the Bible and recite it at a ceremony. Just NO. No. No. Ditto to little Joshy demanding to know if a person died today would his/her soul go to heaven? It's a slippery slope to sticking a Bible in the doorway to stop the door being slammed in his face. Just NO.

3. Balloons and Face painting. It's the only really creative outlet Mary has at least that we know of. Sarah "writes". Anna? Idk. Abby--she's getting close to the smirking/eye-rolling years if she was a normal kid. I guess their equivalent would be daring to daydream during Bible Time or secretly reading about what Noah's daughters did.

[nastyhobbitses]

I think "Joshua witnessed" translates to "the Maxwells are not above using small children to evangelize because it's easy emotional manipulation and people are less likely to tell a little kid to fuck off". 

[mango_fandango]

I always find it kind of weird how Sarah tries to inject fun into the posts:

 Anna’s balloon creations are complex. It’s not just a few pumps of air and twist. No. Each one requires a specific amount of air and then what she makes involves multiple balloons with all kinds of steps she memorized.

I agree that Anna seems to be really talented with the balloons, but it’s just weird phrasing. It’d be better to say something like “some of you may think balloon animals are easy, but actually the designs can be pretty complex and Anna has spent a long time practising!”

Plus Sarah has done it a lot in previous posts. 

[Melissa1977]

Isn't Calia 3 years old? I know Joe wants privacy, but Calia has been recently pictured in the blog. Why isn't she starting preschool? They could have posted a picture of the girl alone, in case Elissa prefers not no be in the blog. 

If she is still 2, forget my post.

If Joe and Elissa prefer to wait until she is more mature and just let her play for now, that's a good option.

If she's going to an actual school... I know it's impossible. But it would be the greatest great news in this subforum.

[anjulibai]

Calia will be 3 next month, so a little young for preschool. 

[FloraDoraDolly]

I wonder if any of the Maxwell grandkids are allowed to at least ride the merry-go-round at the fair?

[Jana814]

11 minutes ago, FloraDoraDolly said:

I wonder if any of the Maxwell grandkids are allowed to at least ride the merry-go-round at the fair?

I doubt it. They are probably told they are only their to witness. 

[crawfishgirl]

Regarding his stock options and money - I still wonder if he has that much money left.  He had 8 kids and a wife to support, so he might not have been able to save the max amount in his 401k.  He left Boeing in the 90's (?), so he has already had to support his family for 20 years off of that money, and he wouldn't have been able to get into his 401k immediately due to tax penalties related to his age if he was still in his 50's.  He has many more years ahead of him, and they won't be cheap, especially if he also has to continue to support his daughters.  The chidults use Scamaritan for health insurance, so if someone has a real emergency or disease, he'd probably be liable for much of the cost.  If I were him, I'd be nervous about my financial future.  

I think this is why he has had many small businesses over the years, though most of them haven't been successful.  He had a remodeling company for a while, then there was the ITonRamp company.  Due to the limited education he provided for his kids, they may not be in a position to support large families easily, so he probably helped them out, at least in the beginning.   He's fortunate that they seem to be able to do some technical development work.  I suspect that money is one of the reasons they moved to Kansas, which is a lower cost of living area.

[Dru]

13 hours ago, FloraDoraDolly said:

I wonder if any of the Maxwell grandkids are allowed to at least ride the merry-go-round at the fair?

I can totally see Melanie letting her kids go for a ride on the way out after their visit to the booth. She comes from a family that doesn't think fun is evil and a one way road to hell.

[Palimpsest]

I think this is why he has had many small businesses over the years, though most of them haven't been successful.  He had a remodeling company for a while, then there was the ITonRamp company.  Due to the limited education he provided for his kids, they may not be in a position to support large families easily, so he probably helped them out, at least in the beginning.   He's fortunate that they seem to be able to do some technical development work.  I suspect that money is one of the reasons they moved to Kansas, which is a lower cost of living area.

They officially moved to Kansas to be close to Teri's parents when she was struggling with depression.  It is definitely a lower COL than in many parts of the US.

In fairness, Steve did prepare his sons well to do IT work and made sure they got other marketable skills.  The daughters less so.   Other than IT, John and Joseph have some kind of certification in plumbing and electrical work (we have had endless discussion over whether they can call themselves "master electricians" because that seems to vary by state.)   John also has his Irrigation certification and a real estate licence.

The small businesses officially belonged to the sons, not to Steve.  The (folded) construction business was John and Joseph, ITONRamp was originally Steve and Nathan, and Christopher has his photo business (such as it is).

Nathan has always worked partly outside the family businesses and still does.  Steve claimed that in the late 1990s Nathan earned more with his original IT work than Steve did at Boeing.  Nathan and Joseph seem to be go-getters and able to survive quite well.  Christopher, John, and Jesse - time will tell.  

Steve and Teri also had other irons in the fire, and I think people underestimate how much money "Communication Concepts, Inc." (the publishing umbrella) and the Titus 2 Ministry have raked in over the years.  Teri's books, especially HWAMAQS, MOTH, the chore charts and the chore packs were selling like hotcakes in the early 2000s.  I think the sales are down now because they have never updated the latter into apps.  Probably because Steve has now decided that tablets and Itoys are evil.

Sarah's Moody books still have a following and she does some bookkeeping for (Steve approved) outside businesses.  Mary and Anna seem to mail out the Titus 2 products regularly so there is still some demand.  

Also don't forget the Maxwells raked in a helluva lot of cash love offerings when they did the conference circuit.  

I do think Steve may be getting a bit worried about finances, and he has slowed down if not actually retired.   Nathan is now head of the (renamed) CCI and that business is now solely IT support.  He employs "Annie."  Joseph controls Swift Otter and employs Chris and Jesse. 

They all live very frugally overall, but have been known to splash out on what some may think are vacations and expensive hiking equipment.  The sons had better keep up with their IT educations to stay current, however.

On 9/4/2018 at 4:37 PM, Dru said:

I'd have to dig back into it but I could have sworn Steve legally changed his name. I'll look again if I get time.

This is from several pages back but I found the thread for you. 

Despite some extraordinary sleuthing by FJers, no-one can find the exact date when Steve legally changed his name.  It is also unknown whether he was ever formally adopted by James Maxwell. 

Steve's name change was sometime after 1959 when Mary Gadbury was last seen living with Paul Bargar.  We don't know when they met but Mary remarried James Maxwell in 1968.  They could have been living together before that.  Adopted or not, Steve had definitely changed his name legally before 1969 when he joined the military at 18.  We surmise that Steve really hated Paul Bargar.   He blames Paul for the divorce, owning a liquor store, and not being sufficiently Christian.

[Lisafer]

@Palimpsest Bless Rufus, you could write a book! 

I definitely think that between Boeing, Titus 2, and the conferences (and presumably investing) Steve and Teri are probably comfortable. Does he invest? Has he talked about that? And would he only be able to invest in "Christian" companies?

What I wonder about is what will happen after Steve and Teri pass away, if some of their daughters are still unmarried. Even with a paid-off house and maybe some life insurance payouts, I doubt there'd be enough money to keep them at home and not working for, say, thirty years or so.

[Dru]

2 minutes ago, Lisafer said:

@Palimpsest Bless Rufus, you could write a book! 

I definitely think that between Boeing, Titus 2, and the conferences (and presumably investing) Steve and Teri are probably comfortable. Does he invest? Has he talked about that? And would he only be able to invest in "Christian" companies?

What I wonder about is what will happen after Steve and Teri pass away, if some of their daughters are still unmarried. Even with a paid-off house and maybe some life insurance payouts, I doubt there'd be enough money to keep them at home and not working for, say, thirty years or so.

Yeah, I think they made way more money selling their books, especially when they were touring regularly, than people realize. I don't recall Steve or Teri ever mentioning whether they invest or not, but I'm sure a lot goes on behind the scenes that never gets mentioned.

I also think that Nathan, Joe, and John are doing ok financially. Nathan has been running his consulting business long enough that I'm sure he has a very solid core group of clients. Joe has employees (non-family even!) and the company's development rates start at $20k. John may or may be having success with his irrigation design business, but he does appear to be contracting with the Irrigation Association as an instructor. Throw in the occasional real estate sale and I'm sure he's doing ok too. Also keep in mind that all three own their homes outright, so their housing expenses come down to property taxes (in the neighborhood of $2k/year), insurance, and utilities.

Jessie would probably be fine without his parents given that he works for Joe's company, will be socking away rent money soon, and owns his house outright as well. It's the girls that are concerning. Sarah has part-time bookkeeping and her poorly written books. I guess Anna and Mary could start a business making balloon animals and face painting at birthday parties. The house is paid for so I guess if the three girls lived together they could make it. Property taxes on the immediate family's house is south of $5k/yr. Not to mention I'm sure S&T have some money and/or life insurance arranged for the girls.

[Lisafer]

12 minutes ago, Dru said:

 

Jessie would probably be fine without his parents given that he works for Joe's company, will be socking away rent money soon, and owns his house outright as well. It's the girls that are concerning. Sarah has part-time bookkeeping and her poorly written books. I guess Anna and Mary could start a business making balloon animals and face painting at birthday parties. The house is paid for so I guess if the three girls lived together they could make it. Property taxes on the immediate family's house is south of $5k/yr. Not to mention I'm sure S&T have some money and/or life insurance arranged for the girls.

It's the women, if they stay unmarried, that I'm really wondering about. Because even if Steve and Teri leave some money and a house, are they really going to leave enough to support up to 3 people for the rest of their natural lives? Most people have health problems as they get older, and Scamaritan won't cover everything. Taxes, utilities, food--it adds up over the course of years, and if there's little to no income, whatever was left from the parents won't last. The men have their own families to worry about--I doubt they'll be really happy to support their unmarried, non-working sisters.

Yep. After Steve and Teri pass, any unmarried Maxwells will probably have to get J.O.B.S.

[Dru]

1 hour ago, Lisafer said:

Yep. After Steve and Teri pass, any unmarried Maxwells will probably have to get J.O.B.S.

It'll probably be good for them if they do. Maybe then one of them can finally meet a guy (or gal ?) and have an actual adult relationship.

[Lisafer]

16 minutes ago, Dru said:

It'll probably be good for them if they do. Maybe then one of them can finally meet a guy (or gal ?) and have an actual adult relationship.

I totally agree! In fact, it would be great if they would get jobs now and lay off dusting the ceiling fans.

[Dru]

In other news, John finally corrected the "it's"/"its" typo on his website, so that's something. Now if someone could get a hold of Nate about his website. Lol

[DooDahDame]

The Maxwell blog finally announced Chelsy’s pregnancy...but when I read the title it reads like Chelsy is pregnant with #11. Once again Sarah’s writing skills indicate what a good education she received. That post needs to be proofread. It probably was, by the same person who proofreads her books. I bet Stevie is proud of her skills. How long until changes are made?

Later in the blog she references twelve nieces and nephews, somebody count do simple math. (12 + 1 = 13, 12 - 1 = 11). Sarah, does that help if you were meaning the number of all  Grandwells?

[JermajestyDuggar]

8 hours ago, Dru said:

It'll probably be good for them if they do. Maybe then one of them can finally meet a guy (or gal ?) and have an actual adult relationship.

Chelsy and John are at the Bontrager family conference. It would have been good to bring along the Max gals so they can meet some nice young fundie men. Although I doubt Steve would approve of Stephen Wissmann or Charlie Bowers. 

[SPHASH]

A day late and a dollar short on the pregnancy announcement.  Judgy Chelsy had 37 comments on her announcement, Maxwell blog 8 not including Griselda's replies.

[petrushka]

9 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Chelsy and John are at the Bontrager family conference. It would have been good to bring along the Max gals so they can meet some nice young fundie men. Although I doubt Steve would approve of Stephen Wissmann or Charlie Bowers. 

This--but it wouldn't surprise me if Forgotten Jesse showed up to search for a bride. 

[Howl]

Also, what happens to Terri if Stevehovah ascends to his heavenly rewards first? 

How old are Steve and Terri?  Would they ever collect Social Security?  Terri would be eligible for spousal benefits, even if she never worked outside the home. 

I worry about these older fundy women who have never had outside income, never held a job, and their husband dies or is incapacitated and they are financially destroyed by medical bills.  

 

[anjulibai]

Steve is 67 and Teri is 63. Odds are he will go before her. Lucky for Teri, she has 5 sons who live nearby who will likely help her out. That said, I imagine Steve has made sure there's money for Teri if he goes first. 

[DutchMommy]

I cannot have been the only one who got a IT-vibe from this photo of Calia...

Spoiler

 

[Dru]

1 hour ago, DutchMommy said:

I cannot have been the only one who got a IT-vibe from this photo of Calia...

  Reveal hidden contents

 

When I saw that pic I thought "tell her not to reach for the boat."

[Coconutwater]

Why do they do this?

“We celebrated Dad’s birthday with just our immediate family. Then, we did a triple birthday party (Dad, Mom, and Mary’s) with all the relatives a bit later.”

Siblings are not “relatives” they are your immediate family. This just drives me crazy.