Maxwell 38: Forgotten Jesse and the Spinsters Have to Replace the Vests for the Wedding

[SPHASH]

New post up.  Drive by Birthday party for Gigi her 88th.  Kids rode by on their bikes adults drove by in cars.  Andrew retrieved cards and gifts, Nathan passed out cupcakes.  

[usmcmom]

6 minutes ago, SPHASH said:

New post up.  Drive by Birthday party for Gigi her 88th.  Kids rode by on their bikes adults drove by in cars.  Andrew retrieved cards and gifts, Nathan passed out cupcakes.  

Gigi looks really happy in the photos. It looks like a really nice day and I’m glad for her. I am also glad that Christopher’s kids got to participate like they did. That was probably a nice pick-me-up for them.  The family did a nice job with the party. 

[Jana814]

I think that’s it very sweet they did that for Gigi. 

[Loveday]

4 hours ago, usedbicycle said:

Thanks for the tip. I gagged a little at this cross stitch of "a virtuous woman" and all the sh*t she must do from morning 'til night. It probably comes from a well-meaning older relative, but still....

OMG, I stitched this for my sister in law years ago. It was actually fun to do, and she loved it. I've always liked the Proverbs 31 woman; I refuse to let Lori Alexander or any other fundie ruin her for me. She IS a career woman, dammit!  

[JermajestyDuggar]

Let’s hope they didn’t catch covid from the wedding and bring it back to Gigi or anyone else. Those Bontragers have been around a lot of people in the last month and haven’t been social distancing. I’m just waiting for an outbreak in that fundie group.

[Bethy]

23 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Let’s hope they didn’t catch covid from the wedding and bring it back to Gigi or anyone else. Those Bontragers have been around a lot of people in the last month and haven’t been social distancing. I’m just waiting for an outbreak in that fundie group.

I thought the same thing. When I first saw the post I figured it was old news like most things they post. They all seemed to be cozying up to GiGi more than we'd seen in the early quarantine posts (remember the one with her standing alone in her driveway with her walker at flag raising?) so I figured it was okay because if everybody had been pretty strictly locked down for a couple weeks, everybody was probably clean. But just days after they traveled across multiple states to attend what would have been a big wedding even if only the immediate families of the bride and groom showed up (and we know it wasn't just immediate families because of pictures of Bonts and others)? Handing out food to the community, even with gloves and tongs (but no masks...droplets, Nate, DROPLETS!) Yikes. I hope everyone stays healthy.

On a positive note, it looked like an awful lot of cars drove by for GiGi. Glad somebody in that compound has a thriving social circle.

[WineGlass]

Anna III is a very pretty girl with gorgeous hair. Her wedding dress and hair style did not show her at her best, unfortunately. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

Since so many fundies marry their look alike, I’m itching to use one of those apps that show you what you look like as the opposite sex. Because then I would know what my fundie match would look like. 

[fundiefan]

That was a very nice, loving thing they did for Gigi. Can't snark, other than the obvious that they *just* came back from traveling & a wedding, and not one person wore a mask, not even near the food. I hope nothing was transmitted to Gigi. 

The wedding - interesting. Is Steve pouting that the Craig's shared pictures & talked about the wedding, I wonder? 

Sarah taking pictures means she wasn't a bridesmaid. First Maxwell wedding where all the girls were not "always bridesmaids, never brides". 

[ElizaB]

14 minutes ago, fundiefan said:

That was a very nice, loving thing they did for Gigi. Can't snark, other than the obvious that they *just* came back from traveling & a wedding, and not one person wore a mask, not even near the food. I hope nothing was transmitted to Gigi. 

The wedding - interesting. Is Steve pouting that the Craig's shared pictures & talked about the wedding, I wonder? 

Sarah taking pictures means she wasn't a bridesmaid. First Maxwell wedding where all the girls were not "always bridesmaids, never brides". 

Are we sure that they actually had a wedding party? I know one of the Bont boys was wearing a flower but that could just mean usher. It is possible they decided to simplify things and not have one. 

I actually am wondering if anyone outside the "immediate family" went. It could be possible that Nathan's family stayed at home and Chris stayed with his kids. This would still cause Chris to have to wait till Monday to leave when his babysitters returned. 

[fundiefan]

16 minutes ago, ElizaB said:

Are we sure that they actually had a wedding party? I know one of the Bont boys was wearing a flower but that could just mean usher. It is possible they decided to simplify things and not have one. 

I actually am wondering if anyone outside the "immediate family" went. It could be possible that Nathan's family stayed at home and Chris stayed with his kids. This would still cause Chris to have to wait till Monday to leave when his babysitters returned. 

Sarah said it was amazing Nathan pulled off the Gigi parade "on the heels of an out of state wedding" - which indicates Nathan was at the wedding & not staying home.

Even if there wasn't a wedding party, the Craig's were there, at least some Bontragers were there, the Maxwells were there. Lots of people from lots of places. 

But, what does it matter? If anyone stayed home, those who traveled brought travel pathogens back with them. 

I also don't think for a second that Chris, or any Maxwell, stayed home. 

[SPHASH]

Since Sarah posts family events weeks after it took place its possible the birthday party happened before the wedding.

Edited May 29, 2020 by SPHASH
Correction

[HereticHick]

Wide stance pose activated.

 

[HereticHick]

12 hours ago, Loveday said:

OMG, I stitched this for my sister in law years ago. It was actually fun to do, and she loved it. I've always liked the Proverbs 31 woman; I refuse to let Lori Alexander or any other fundie ruin her for me. She IS a career woman, dammit!  

Hell yes!  Her trading is profitable! She's buying land! She's planting vineyards! She's selling clothes! She's got a wholesale sash business!

No MLM Plexus bullsit for her.

[JermajestyDuggar]

Getting married in Ohio with a red and gray color scheme. Is someone a secret buckeyes fan? Steve won’t be pleased

48 minutes ago, HereticHick said:

Wide stance pose activated.

 

It was a warm day and John was just practicing the age old “Airing of the Balls.”

[fundiefan]

No Joseph in the wedding party? I didn't expect to see Chris, because while I don't doubt (although I clearly don't know for sure) he was there, he is the only one taking care of kids, especially since his "helpers", the collectively referred to "girls", are in the wedding party.

I saw Nathan's kids - well, Abby -  in the church pews, so his family was there.

This was a very un-Maxwellian wedding. I mean, all the three others had every sibling & every niece/nephew in the wedding party. 

The flowers were a contrast to the bridesmaids dresses - hell, the bride's dress! All that bright red next to slate/blue dresses (white for the bride). Did Steve cry at the attention that brought to the women's, um, what does contrast do that is so bad anyway? 

Whatever the reason, I see a change in Maxwell positioning. Contrast. Jeans on a daughter in law. The entire family, immediate and "relatives", NOT doing the same thing as everyone else...I don't see a change in overall Maxwell-ness, just a little bit in the excessive control they always portray their presence to have. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

Joe must’ve been an usher like Denver Bontrager. 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

1 hour ago, fundiefan said:

what does contrast do that is so bad anyway? 

It draws the eye to the places his eye is drawn naturally so he can blame it on contrast and not the fact that he can't keep himself from mentally undressing every woman in his line of vision.

1 hour ago, fundiefan said:

No Joseph in the wedding party? I didn't expect to see Chris, because while I don't doubt (although I clearly don't know for sure) he was there, he is the only one taking care of kids, especially since his "helpers", the collectively referred to "girls", are in the wedding party.

I saw Nathan's kids - well, Abby -  in the church pews, so his family was there.

This was a very un-Maxwellian wedding. I mean, all the three others had every sibling & every niece/nephew in the wedding party. 

The flowers were a contrast to the bridesmaids dresses - hell, the bride's dress! All that bright red next to slate/blue dresses (white for the bride). Did Steve cry at the attention that brought to the women's, um, what does contrast do that is so bad anyway? 

Whatever the reason, I see a change in Maxwell positioning. Contrast. Jeans on a daughter in law. The entire family, immediate and "relatives", NOT doing the same thing as everyone else...I don't see a change in overall Maxwell-ness, just a little bit in the excessive control they always portray their presence to have. 

Despite what Steve wants, when you marry women who were raised with different standards (of dress in this case) there will be some movement of the needle.

I saw on insta Anna's mom in pants while working on some painting project.  Which means Anna was raised that sometimes it's practical to wear pants rather than skirts.  

IMO it's going to be hard enough to find "godly young women" who will be on board with no BC, patriarical nonsense ...finding any as rigid as the Maxwells on clothing rules also would narrow the candidate pool down from slim to none, I'd think.

Edited May 29, 2020 by HerNameIsBuffy
apostrophes are hard - my brain understands them but my fingers don't

[HerNameIsBuffy]

1 hour ago, fundiefan said:

No Joseph in the wedding party?

I just noticed there are 4 GM to 5 MOH.  I've never seen uneven numbers in a wedding before?

[Bethy]

2 hours ago, HereticHick said:

Wide stance pose activated.

 

Thoughts:

I scoped out the landscape. That outdoor shot was definitely taken at the United Presbyterian church in Cedarville. I never went inside that building so I can't say whether the wedding chapel is part of it, but it's definitely NOT the main sanctuary - I did find pictures of that and it's a huge sanctuary with pews and a pipe organ. I can't imagine a Maxwell marrying into a family that has ties to that church because I looked up their website and they have (gasp) a woman minister. Plus their website makes it clear that all services and events have been canceled due to Covid. But we also know from past practice that the Maxwells are not above staging a photo shoot at some random church that they have no actual ties to, just because they like how the doors look.

I'm a bit confused about the placement (or lack thereof) of Jesse's siblings. We see Sarah with a camera in her hand but that doesn't mean she was the primary photographer. Having two photographers shoot a single wedding isn't uncommon. She and Christopher could have been tag-teaming. Frankly, I'm not super surprised to see Sarah NOT in a bridesmaid dress. She's almost old enough to be the bride's mother. We assume she raised Jesse. She's not a sister/friend figure, she's a mother figure. Plus she is actually a really good photographer so her skills were used well there. The sisters who ARE Jesse's age are both bridesmaids.

They can't have written off all the "first string" Maxes, though, because I see Nathan in the bridal party.

Joseph's absence is conspicuous. Why would you have all your other siblings (besides the photographers) in your wedding party and NOT have a brother you're much closer in age with? Why Nathan and not Joseph? But then I noticed there's a mismatched number of bridesmaids and groomsmen and I wonder if for whatever reason, Joseph and company didn't travel?

I guess we'll know more when the Maxwells post...

[JermajestyDuggar]

12 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

It draws the eye to the places his eye is drawn naturally so he can blame it on contrast and not the fact that he can't keep himself from mentally undressing every woman in his line of vision.

Despite what Steve wants, when you marry women who were raised with different standards (of dress in this case) there will be some movement of the needle.

I saw on insta Anna's mom in pants while working on some painting project.  Which means Anna was raised that sometimes it's practical to wear pants rather than skirts.  

IMO it's going to be hard enough to find "godly young women" who will be on board with no BC, patriarical nonsense ...finding any as rigid as the Maxwell's on clothing rules also would narrow the candidate pool down from slim to none, I'd think.

I totally agree. So many fundie guys raised in homes where skirts only was the rule, have married women from families who allow pants. A few of the Maxwell son’s married women like this, along with JD Duggar and Zach Bates. It must be almost impossible finding a girl you like, are at least a bit attracted to, and follows all your very specific rules that your own family has made.

[Alisamer]

16 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

IMO it's going to be hard enough to find "godly young women" who will be on board with no BC, patriarical nonsense ...finding any as rigid as the Maxwell's on clothing rules also would narrow the candidate pool down from slim to none, I'd think.

On contrast - I think Steve's a lech, and since he can't control his own gaze he blames women for it. I also think he's slowly let go a little control on his sons, at least on stuff he knows deep down is ridiculous like clothing. Mostly because he probably realizes he's not going to be able to somehow keep a bunch of man-boys like the Arntds all at home and he's willing to trade daughters-in-law wearing pants for grandkids (but he's going to cry about it, no doubt).

But I think he wants "godly young men" for his daughters who will follow his own rules to the letter. And finding one who is willing to follow all those rules and defer to Steve as much as possible, while also buying a home debt-free (preferably within the Maxwell radius) is practically impossible!

6 minutes ago, Bethy said:

I'm a bit confused about the placement (or lack thereof) of Jesse's siblings. We see Sarah with a camera in her hand but that doesn't mean she was the primary photographer. Having two photographers shoot a single wedding isn't uncommon. She and Christopher could have been tag-teaming.

I'm kind of surprised she isn't his full-time second shooter, TBH. It'd be a great job for her,  and still "within the family".

Oh. Job. There you go. Plus she might enjoy it. Sorry Sarah! Back to the Moody books for you!

[HerNameIsBuffy]

3 minutes ago, Alisamer said:

I think Steve's a lech, and since he can't control his own gaze he blames women for it.

Absolutely.  It's so completely obvious I don't know how even other fundies don't pick up on this.

Although fundies do have a weird fixation on "impurity" of thought so I'm guessing this obsession with coupled with fear of their own sexuality is considered normal in their circles.

[usmcmom]

Maybe Joseph refused to travel with his young family in the midst of a pandemic. He has three very young children.  Maybe he chose to protect them and his wife from possible exposure.  If this is the case, good for him. 
 

 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

7 minutes ago, Alisamer said:

while also buying a home debt-free (preferably within the Maxwell radius) is practically impossible!

I still want to know how all of their boys managed that considering they all bought so young in an area where houses aren't all that cheap.  I know they bought fixer uppers, but still being able to save $100k + in their early twenties is a mystery to me.