Maxwell 28: You Can Leave Your Vest On!

[Alisamer]

1 hour ago, Lisafer said:

I have little doubt that the Maxwell women's lives would change dramatically if Steve passed away before Teri. I think their chance of marriage would improve as well. (I am not wishing death on him, to be clear, but it is inevitable that he will die at some point!

Yeah, I would never wish death on anyone, but I feel like the whole family would be better off if that happened. I'm sure they all love him and would be sad, but at some point each of them would sigh in relief. "Wait, dad isn't here, we can put meat in the burritos!" "Wait, dad isn't here - I can take Ellie for a walk before dusting the ceiling fan if I want!" It would be especially interesting to see how Teri copes - will she collapse without his presence? Will she strictly keep to his requirements because that's what she's used to? Or will she remember life before he went control-freak, buy herself some jeans and a motorcycle, and go off exploring places she's never been before? 

I suspect it would start out with following dad's rules, but slowly, those would get relaxed. Switch the schedule to every 30 minutes instead of 15. Sleep in an extra 15 minutes one day, and discover that the world didn't end. Maybe Chelsy will take one of the girls shopping and get her to try on a pair of pants, or a shirt with contrasting buttons. Maybe Sarah will take Ellie to a dog park and have a casual conversation with a guy there. Maybe Teri won't have the energy to screen everyone's emails, so they have to deal with those themselves.

Maybe they'd slowly begin to realize exactly how strange and limited their lives have been, and go looking in the Bible for the reasons - only to discover they weren't following the bible, they were following STEVE.   

[Lisafer]

@Alisamer I agree that what would probably happen is a gradual relaxing of the rules, even with Teri.

[Dru]

10 hours ago, Hane said:

Some women will settle for anything with a pulse and a dick.

(In the old days, we used to say “any mammal with a day job,” but the pickings are increasingly slim.)

I'm totally stealing the bolded. Never heard that one before!

[IReallyAmHopewell]

Happy Birthday poor "God-denied" Sarah. No husband for you--just drudgery for the folks and brothers and your pretend writing career.  God is good, right? I wish I could take Sarah out for a Margarita and real nachos and go to chick-flick and let her have some fun. I feel for her so much. How worthless she must feel with all the emphasis on marriage and children.

[PennySycamore]

One thing that's incredibly stupid about this Scamaritan bullshit is that it may encourage people to go off meds they need to be healthy.  I take Lisinopril for my blood pressure and Atorovastin (generic Lipitor) 20 mg for cholesterol every day.  A little over two dollars a month (insurance and CVS card) are much cheaper than a hospital stay if I should have another stroke.  Yep, a prior stoke is a pre-existing condition.  

There's a notice in the reception area of my doctor's office that they do NOT accept Scamaritan and other such nonsense.  

[mango_fandango]

I had to google Desitin as it’s not sold in the U.K... *barf* *barf* *barf* at the idea of Stevie having to use it.

 

[usedbicycle]

2 hours ago, PennySycamore said:

There's a notice in the reception area of my doctor's office that they do NOT accept Scamaritan and other such nonsense.  

Well I think the whole point of Scamaritan is that it's not accepted at Dr. offices. Samaritans pretend they are uninsured and paying cash to get a huge rebate, because hospitals would rather settle for a smaller amount than put people on a payment plan that they will not pay back. Then those people are reimbursed by other Samaritans. The whole system is based on getting heavily discounted healthcare in the first place. 

This is an example from Zsu Anderson in a older blog post:

"On that note, another huge shout-out to Samaritan Ministries, a Christian medi-share program that allows members to help each other bear such unexpected medical bills by sharing funds. [...] Last but not least, because we do not carry medical insurance, the hospital automatically deducted about 2/3 off our price as a cash discount, making this stay cost only about what most people pay for their health insurance premiums in a couple of months."

[meee]

Sharing costs?!?! But aren't these the same people who DON'T want a socialized type health care system?

So, do I understand correctly that Samaritan is exactly what they have in Europe etc., and that they're trying to prevent in America, the difference being that it's ONLY FOR THE CHRISTIAN ELITE? And they'd prefer that everyone else just be outta luck?

I don't live in America, so I could be completely wrong, but this seems like massive, disgusting hypocrisy to me. Am I right?

[JermajestyDuggar]

I don’t believe you Heidi. I don’t believe you would have had to pay 80% with your husband’s insurance through a university. Nope. 

[grammyj]

Just going back to the thoughts that Teri would relax the family's rules/routines if Steve were to pass. I believe Teri would still be the martinet (a strong word, I know) she has presented herself to be. She would not let up. Nothing would change.

If Teri had not been agreeable to Steve's crazy ideas in the first place, the family would not be where it is, the daughters in a virtual jail in my mind. Just spend some time reading though her blogs. A wife should willingly suffer indignities and misery so she can show her headship proper respect. Not physical abuse, I'll give her that.  But I think she's more hard-assed than Steve. Nope. S and T are both in realllly deep. And the birthday post. Cold as ice....

 This family continues to fascinate me. I know that their blog is "curated" but is there any hope that their real lives are very different from their virtual lives? Anything?

 

 

[nausicaa]

18 hours ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

ill toss this out there … if Teri goes first Steve is remarried within a year.

Yep. 100%. 

I'll go a little further--while I do think Steve likes and enjoys his children and grandchildren in his own weird Steve-way, I've never gotten the impression he really enjoys being with Teri all that much. I think there is a lot of resentment there and strange power plays between the two of them. 

[Myfanwy]

How come Heidi's husband only suffers occassionally? Why isn't he completely cured? Did god get busy with some glasses cases or something? 

If god wanted someone to use Samaritan why would  he give them pre-existing conditions?

 

[kpmom]

2 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I don’t believe you Heidi. I don’t believe you would have had to pay 80% with your husband’s insurance through a university. Nope. 

ITA.  My guess is it was the opposite, 20% out of pocket, 80% covered, and she misunderstood.

[DooDahDame]

Heidi M had piss poor group insurance or she grossly misunderstood. With my experience health insurance normally pays about 80% of the charges after the deductible has been met. Again, that’s my experience. 

[MamaJunebug]

12 minutes ago, kpmom said:

ITA.  My guess is it was the opposite, 20% out of pocket, 80% covered, and she misunderstood.

Misunderstand? But how could she, when she is SOOOOO blessed, otherwise?

A younger-generation Junebug dear to my heart lost a limb when a careless driver hit him. He’s a Christian but to his credit has not resorted to blabbering about his our notes and prayers were the very bestest things about his recovery. And we were praying, believe me. But he is still 3-limbed now and always will be. And yet his faith hasn’t wavered. He’s not a Maxwell Christian, obvs. 

[nastyhobbitses]

2 hours ago, meee said:

Sharing costs?!?! But aren't these the same people who DON'T want a socialized type health care system?

So, do I understand correctly that Samaritan is exactly what they have in Europe etc., and that they're trying to prevent in America, the difference being that it's ONLY FOR THE CHRISTIAN ELITE? And they'd prefer that everyone else just be outta luck?

I don't live in America, so I could be completely wrong, but this seems like massive, disgusting hypocrisy to me. Am I right?

It's soshulizum but only for Good Christians who only get diseases from pure misfortune, not from badwrong dirty sin. Do they see this irony? Of course not. 

[petrushka]

2 hours ago, nausicaa said:

Yep. 100%. 

I'll go a little further--while I do think Steve likes and enjoys his children and grandchildren in his own weird Steve-way, I've never gotten the impression he really enjoys being with Teri all that much. I think there is a lot of resentment there and strange power plays between the two of them. 

Agreed-and not just between Teri and Steve--the whole submission to your headship thing lends itself to people developing manipulative and passive aggressive behaviors, IMO.

[Queen Of Hearts]

Poor Sarah.  In her post she seemed quite proud that she was the first person in her family to use Scamaritan,  I am sure it involved a lot of research on her part to find the plan that she felt best met her needs. Then her brothers got on board and eventually her parents did, too.  She was the trendsetter in the family.  Then in this article that she linked to, the following is said regarding Steve and Teri deciding to go the Scamaritan route;

"When Steve Maxwell left the corporate world where he worked as an engineer from 1983 to 1997, and started Titus2 Ministries with his wife, Teri, he left his insurance behind. They needed something, so they joined a health care sharing ministry.

When their son, an entrepreneur, found himself in the same boat, he compared the ministry his parents had joined to Samaritan Ministries and chose Samaritan."

No mention of all Sarah's initial hard work in finding the right health share plan, or even that she exists.  It's all about the entrepreneur son and the comparisons he made to find the right plan.  Ugh.  Poor Sarah.  She has so much potential as she is clearly intelligent and a hard worker and yet she gets no real credit for it from her parents.  

[keepercjr]

8 hours ago, nastyhobbitses said:

It's soshulizum but only for Good Christians who only get diseases from pure misfortune, not from badwrong dirty sin. Do they see this irony? Of course not. 

This was a comment on a blog post (not tits2) about Scamaritin responding to another comment questioning what about religion makes a healthier lifestyle.  I wonder what Diedre thinks goes on in a normal non religious house?  

[meee]

Ummm contraception is cheaper than having 10 kids.

[anjulibai]

What health costs are there for a condom? 

[JermajestyDuggar]

5 hours ago, keepercjr said:

This was a comment on a blog post (not tits2) about Scamaritin responding to another comment questioning what about religion makes a healthier lifestyle.  I wonder what Diedre thinks goes on in a normal non religious house?  

Our agnostic home would shock the hell out of this woman. I don’t drink, I’ve never had an STD/STI, abortion, sterilization, and my husband’s vasectomy was quite cheap. Yet I had plenty of premarital sex! It’s called using condoms. They aren’t that expensive. So I have no idea what she’s talking about. This dirty heathen home of ours is rather boring. 

[SPHASH]

New post up.  Judgy Chelsy's shower.  Apparently the hostess is a neighbor friend and not someone she met on her own outside of Maxhell.

[HereticHick]

5 hours ago, meee said:

Ummm contraception is cheaper than having 10 kids.

Sodomy is also cheaper! : )

[MamaJunebug]

35 minutes ago, SPHASH said:

New post up.  Judgy Chelsy's shower.  Apparently the hostess is a neighbor friend and not someone she met on her own outside of Maxhell.

However, if my old eyes ain’t deceiving me, I’m seeing 1 or 2 non-Max attendees at most. 

The rest are all Maxgals. 

It’s a start, I guess.