Maxwell 39: Like Sands Through an Hour Glass, so Are the Vests of Our Lives

[PennySycamore]

@JermajestyDuggar, maybe Anna will not only make new friends at church, but maybe, just maybe, neighbors in their apartment complex. 

@Caroline,  I've still got my sister's copy of Children and Books from her course in kiddie lit that she took as an elementary ed major at Clemson.  Most of the books that May Hill Arbuthnot lists should be very acceptable for a fundie child to read although some of the titles for older kids might challenge their world view.  They're pretty "clean" although their parents may object to the description of the birth of a lamb in And Now, Miguel. Miguel says that the newborn lamb is in a transparent potato chip bag, IIRC.  The old (1970s) book How to Parent also has a great book list in the back, but its emphasis is books  for younger kids.  

[moreorlessnu]

3 hours ago, Caroline said:

 Why not read "A Little Princess" to your brilliant five year old? 

I lost count how many times I picked up this book as a child, and could not get past the part where her father dies. I couldn't bear the thought, and would slam the book shut and be done with it.

I tried...and failed miserably....

[Caroline]

5 minutes ago, moreorlessnu said:

I lost count how many times I picked up this book as a child, and could not get past the part where her father dies. I couldn't bear the thought, and would slam the book shut and be done with it.

I tried...and failed miserably....

It is a sad story.  I should have picked a better example  

20 minutes ago, PennySycamore said:

@JermajestyDuggar, maybe Anna will not only make new friends at church, but maybe, just maybe, neighbors in their apartment complex. 

@Caroline,  I've still got my sister's copy of Children and Books from her course in kiddie lit that she took as an elementary ed major at Clemson.  Most of the books that May Hill Arbuthnot lists should be very acceptable for a fundie child to read although some of the titles for older kids might challenge their world view.  They're pretty "clean" although their parents may object to the description of the birth of a lamb in And Now, Miguel. Miguel says that the newborn lamb is in a transparent potato chip bag, IIRC.  The old (1970s) book How to Parent also has a great book list in the back, but its emphasis is books  for younger kids.  

My favorite author as a preteen was Madeleine L'Engle recommended by my Grade 6 teacher.  I remember reading And Now, Miguel in around the fifth grade.  I found so many wonderful things to read for my own daughter through a good friend who's a children's librarian and because I love to browse in book stores.  My husband and I read a lot, and so does our daughter.  She's halfway through a MFA in creative writing and hoping to become a published author herself.  (bragging -sorry !)   So sad that the Maxwell types don't encourage any kind of imagination or real life of the mind.  Sounds so, so dull to me.  

Edited June 27, 2020 by Caroline

[JermajestyDuggar]

I loved The Secret Garden and A Little Princess when I was a kid. But I was so used to a parent dying in stories and movies for kids. So many Disney movies were like that. And I had also read books like Where the Red Fern Grows that made my heart hurt. Why were so many children’s stories so damn sad?

[PennySycamore]

@JermajestyDuggar,  I was thinking last weekend that little Ronnie Howard was in two films and one TV show where he'd lost a parent.  He'd lost his dad in The Music Man and his  mom in The Courtship of Eddie's Father  and The Andy Griffith Show.  While the loss of his mother was not the focus in many of Opie's plot lines in TAGS and Opie also had a surrogate mom in Aunt Bee, the loss of Eddie's mother was definitely a driving force in the plot of The Courtship on Eddie's Father.  

[OhNoNike]

55 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I loved The Secret Garden and A Little Princess when I was a kid. But I was so used to a parent dying in stories and movies for kids. So many Disney movies were like that. And I had also read books like Where the Red Fern Grows that made my heart hurt. Why were so many children’s stories so damn sad?

I remembered reading where the red fern grows in school and read again as an adult and bawled again. 

[MaryatHome]

That apartment looks pretty standard issue suburban (Johnson County, for those interested) KC.  If they are attending the big Baptist church in the southern part of the area (because I really doubt they are going to the CoC Countryside Church), they may well be near the giant community college in the area (and by giant I mean 20K, large for a CC) so that Anna has access to classes.  That still puts them about a half-hour to the fathership.  On the other hand, while he probably did clear a bit of cash on the sale of his Leavenworth home, it will not go far in greater KC.  All the fixer-uppers in the metro area are super expensive or in what would likely be an unacceptable (to them) urban core neighborhood.  I'm fairly familiar with home prices in the area, since both of my adult children in their mid-20's are homeowners in the area (with mortgages!).

[CyborgKin]

The "our blog is important because a 5 year old likes me books!" feels rather like a desperate search for validation.

If you enjoy snarking on Summer with the Moodys, you may get a kick out of Afternoon with the Wilisons etc

[IReallyAmHopewell]

18 hours ago, fundiefan said:

agree, I think they will be fine. Probably much more fine than Steve would like to believe. Hard doesn't mean impossible. 

Sorry Steve in spite of what you and Bill Gothard think, you can't "teach" character. THIS is how you build character: stepping up and doing hard things. This is how marriages thrive--they have some time being left alone to figure it out [for many couples--obviously not all need or want it that way]. Proud of this couple. Even if they have a baby in 9 months, they are still doing it their way!

[smittykins]

21 hours ago, Black Aliss said:

Ohhh, I don't know. I was a pious little thing when I was five. Memorizing bible verses, planning my future as a missionary nurse, getting saved several times a year because for some reason it just never seemed to "take". I would not have been allowed to use highlighters in my bible, though.

I’ve read of children reportedly “getting saved” at four, five, six years old.  And I read a claim in the Watchtower that a five-year-old was having Bible studies with several of her classmates.

[SPHASH]

1 hour ago, smittykins said:

I’ve read of children reportedly “getting saved” at four, five, six years old.  And I read a claim in the Watchtower that a five-year-old was having Bible studies with several of her classmates.

Remember this?

https://blog.titus2.com/2015/02/25/all-things-new/

And this?

https://blog.titus2.com/2017/06/30/christinas-baptism/

 

[Jana814]

4 minutes ago, SPHASH said:

Remember this?

https://blog.titus2.com/2015/02/25/all-things-new/

And this?

https://blog.titus2.com/2017/06/30/christinas-baptism/

 

I remember reading these posts and thinking how young they were to make such a decision. I also remember thinking they did it because Steve pressured them into it. 

[smittykins]

This obviously was a real church and not Our Lady of the Nursing Home.  I assume it’s the one they attend on Sunday nights?.  

[bluelady]

43 minutes ago, Jana814 said:

I remember reading these posts and thinking how young they were to make such a decision. I also remember thinking they did it because Steve pressured them into it. 

Of course they did it because they were pressured (by Steve, their parents, whomever).  Having children join the church that young, imo, is all about families showing off their "piety". You would think that a church would want those who officially join their ranks to have had time to learn, discuss, self-reflect, etc., to be sure this was the right path for them.  This? This is showing off and for a group of people who claim modesty as part of their lifestyle it's terribly immodest.

[Jana814]

32 minutes ago, smittykins said:

This obviously was a real church and not Our Lady of the Nursing Home.  I assume it’s the one they attend on Sunday nights?.  

Love this name!!  

[JermajestyDuggar]

Two Bowers boys and two Bontrager boys were ushers at Jesse’s wedding but only Denver got a flower. He must be the most special of all ushers. The hashtag makes me see Weddin’ gushers.

[Caroline]

So much showing off about everything:  I'm more modest than you, my kids are the smartest because I homeschool, my kids are the best behaved, and my favorite: believe the way we do - because we're the real Christians.  Why don't they see how immodest and unaccepting they really are?  

[anachronistic]

@CyborgKin read that whole story and bookmarked it to read further chapters. I’ve never been to that site before. Are there more stories like it? It was so entertaining and obvious that the writer knows fundie culture very, very well. Thanks for the recommendation! I love things that take my mind away from life right now.

[allyisyourpally5]

Why is living in an apartment such a big deal anyway? I don’t mean the whole moving more than a mile away, because that’s obviously shocking to the Maxwells.

 

Just such a big deal that they live in an apartment. Why does apartment living differ from if they bought a house? 
 

Maybe it’s just me. Me and most of my friends started off our adult lives in flats (I’m English ?) Either alone, with a roommate or as a couple. No one thought twice about “oh flat living”.

[PennySycamore]

@allyisyourpally5,  I think there are two reasons and one is way more important to Stevehovah than the other.  First, and least important, is that they are renting.  Secondly -and this is the most important point- is that by living in an apartment complex/building, they will almost certainly be exposed to a wide variety of people, many of whom will not be acceptable to the Maxxes:  non-fundies, non-evangelicals, Catholics, Jews, Muslims, agnostics, atheists, LGBTQ people, clinic escorts and so on.  In the words of an oldie from WWI "How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree?"

[Pecansforeveryone]

20 hours ago, smittykins said:

I’ve read of children reportedly “getting saved” at four, five, six years old.  And I read a claim in the Watchtower that a five-year-old was having Bible studies with several of her classmates.

My Chi Alpha (Assemblies of God ministry on college campus) testimony is that he accepted Christ and was saved at 3. Sean Mcdowell, son of Josh Mcdowell, has a similar testimony. 

[mango_fandango]

We’ve only heard about Abby, Bethany and Tina getting baptised. Joshua is 8 now, same age as Tina. And Ruthanne is six. Have either of them been baptised? Technically we could include five-year-old Lydia in that group too. The Chris/Anna kids are featured on the blog as much as the others, surely we’d have heard about their baptisms. Unless Chris and Anna have decided that their kids can/will only be baptised at an older age. 

[Jana814]

1 hour ago, mango_fandango said:

We’ve only heard about Abby, Bethany and Tina getting baptised. Joshua is 8 now, same age as Tina. And Ruthanne is six. Have either of them been baptised? Technically we could include five-year-old Lydia in that group too. The Chris/Anna kids are featured on the blog as much as the others, surely we’d have heard about their baptisms. Unless Chris and Anna have decided that their kids can/will only be baptised at an older age. 

I think Joshua got saved but I’m not sure if he was baptized. 

[ElizaB]

can someone explain the difference between being saved and baptized? 

[petrushka]

Well it's Sunday.  Wonder if newlywed Anna will be digging into her first bean burrito Sabbath meal at her inlaws today?