Maxwell 41: Taking a Short Vest Rest

[freejugar]

14 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

Is anyone else kind of surprised they have been open about Teri's depression?  

I'd think this would be the kind of thing they would keep to themselves and present as a shiny, happy, thrilled to be homeschooling mom.

Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating for depression be hidden and stigmatized....I'm just trying to figure out why they have been open to sharing this when it's pretty out of character for them.

They claim the schedule helped Teri's depression and they use that testimony to push their scheduling books

[Bethy]

24 minutes ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

Is anyone else kind of surprised they have been open about Teri's depression?  

I'd think this would be the kind of thing they would keep to themselves and present as a shiny, happy, thrilled to be homeschooling mom.

Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating for depression be hidden and stigmatized....I'm just trying to figure out why they have been open to sharing this when it's pretty out of character for them.

Salient points (sarcasm font activated):

1. She had depression after the first three kids. Crippling depression. Steve got a vasectomy so this wouldn't keep happening. Then Steve decided that was wrong and got the vasectomy reversed. This subjected Teri to five more pregnancies and she made it through*. She's SO GODLY!

2. In addition to treating her postpartum depression by subjecting her to more of it, they also used a rigid schedule and some hormone cream. THAT'S ALL. I'm not surprised they owned up to her having depression BUT I would be super surprised if they had said "We're so thankful for Zoloft and the difference it has made in Teri's outlook and emotions." She overcame depression WITHOUT MEDICATION! SO GODLY!

3. They claimed they were sure there was a hormonal/chemical factor in this, hence the use of hormone cream. If she just had teh sadz because she wasn't exuding enough joy in her life that would've been all her fault (in their world) and overcoming it wouldn't have been worth celebrating, so we probably never would've heard about it. (Unless it would help them sell books.)

4. She didn't take the "easy way out" and send her kids to school. (No one is talking about how the cost would've been totally prohibitive if they'd tried to send all eight of their children to private school and of course ebil public school is right out.) But she PUSHED THROUGH and she homeschooled for THIRTY YEARS! EVEN WITH DEPRESSION! If she can do that, anybody can! What do you mean, you're thinking about sending your child to a traditional classroom? Even a Christian school will steal your children's hearts away to love television and competitive team sports. You're so weak and undisciplined. Shame on you. Can we interest you in a MOTH book and the accompanying software platform so you can be strong and disciplined like Teri? And also a copy of Keeping Our Children's Hearts (new, of course. Secondhand books are sinful) so you can make sure you're doing it God's way!

 

*absolutely NO sarcasm here, but potential trigger warning: I am truly thankful for everyone's sakes that she didn't snap like Andrea Yates or Susan Smith. Postpartum depression isn't a joke or a mood swing. It's deadly serious and from everything that's been said and discussed it's obvious Steve didn't take it seriously and so Teri wasn't allowed to either.

Edited August 21, 2020 by Bethy
fixing and adding stuff

[ElizaB]

In Mary's Birthday post two things really stood out to me: 

1.) It was like and advertisement of "look how good she is with kids! Marry her!!" 

2.) The picture of Mary with the guitar makes me feel that given a chance in the outside world she could be a really cool and interesting 20 something year old who lives in a loft apartment in the city with her artsy roommates. 

[Joe Pukepail]

8 hours ago, freejugar said:

how old is Mary?

Old enough for her own big girl bed, one would think.

On 8/17/2020 at 2:54 PM, fundiefan said:

I agree. Love is not the same as showing affection / being affectionate. 

 

 

 

Love is an action, and Steve and Teri's actions toward the "girls" don't indicate love to me. They're more than just not affectionate; they're withholding.

[lilith]

7 hours ago, HerNameIsBuffy said:

Is anyone else kind of surprised they have been open about Teri's depression?  

I'd think this would be the kind of thing they would keep to themselves and present as a shiny, happy, thrilled to be homeschooling mom.

Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating for depression be hidden and stigmatized....I'm just trying to figure out why they have been open to sharing this when it's pretty out of character for them.

They share it because they think the systems and products they’re selling fixed  it. It’s the basis of their testimony - Teri was clinically depressed but vasectomy reversal/child bearing, submission and scheduling saved her and allowed her to homeschool for 30 years.

[FloraKitty35]

Mary is quite pretty and I hope that she was able to enjoy herself in whatever small way possible. 

 

[lilith]

28 minutes ago, FloraKitty35 said:

Mary is quite pretty and I hope that she was able to enjoy herself in whatever small way possible. 

 

Mary is pretty, but only a few years ago she was beautiful. It amazes me how quickly she lost her bloom in Maxhell.

[lilith]

That’s a lot of makeup for a Maxwell girl in the photo on Mary’s birthday post. Maybe they are going wild while Steve is away! Mary might be borrowing eyeliner and knee length skirts from Chelsy.

[Joe Pukepail]

2 hours ago, FloraKitty35 said:

Mary is quite pretty and I hope that she was able to enjoy herself in whatever small way possible. 

 

Can I be petty? I don't understand how Steve obviously saw fit to shell out thousands of dollars on orthodontia for his children, but all of them still have such gummy smiles. 

[CyborgKin]

Quote

We miss our girls because except for our 25th anniversary trip out here, they have always been with us. They had such sweet and encouraging words and hearts to us about coming when they couldn’t. They bless us in so many ways —even something like that!

What uniquely kind and thoughtful daughters!  Can you imagine being happy for your parents going on a 26th anniversary trip without you?  Truly, no one has managed to raise their daughters to be so understanding and parent-honouring as Steve and Teri Maxwell have!  What a sweet and special blessing, not not only be blessed in other unspecified ways but also this one!

 

bleh.

[Melissa1977]

14 hours ago, Bethy said:

Postpartum depression isn't a joke or a mood swing. It's deadly serious and from everything that's been said and discussed it's obvious Steve didn't take it seriously and so Teri wasn't allowed to either.

Not sure if Teri had postpartum depression or just depression. My aunt has had depression all her life, and having children (she stopped at 2) made it worse for a while, but wasn't the cause. 

 

 

[lilith]

1 hour ago, Melissa1977 said:

Not sure if Teri had postpartum depression or just depression. My aunt has had depression all her life, and having children (she stopped at 2) made it worse for a while, but wasn't the cause. 

 

 

I would guess it was the same for Teri - her pre existing clinical depression predisposed her to PND, so of course having as many babies as possible was Steve’s solution. 

[BullyJBG]

12 hours ago, Joe Pukepail said:

Old enough for her own big girl bed, one would think.

Love is an action, and Steve and Teri's actions toward the "girls" don't indicate love to me. They're more than just not affectionate; they're withholding.

Mary is 24

[Smash!]

I would guess it was the same for Teri - her pre existing clinical depression predisposed her to PND, so of course having as many babies as possible was Steve’s solution. 

As someone who battled depression this makes me so so sick. Depression is hell and understandably she could barely cope with the 3 she had and instead of stopping and getting Teri the care she needed he made her a martyr by forcing her to give birth to five more children. Does Stevehova even care about her or only about his god?

[Bethy]

Completely random and not on the depression topic but very much on the Some May Call A Vacation topic - I happened to see a suggested post on IG this morning about a trend in Colorado where women hike topless and take pictures of each other's naked backs at the top of the mountains. Can you even IMAGINE if Steve happened to see one of them? Or if he was at the top of the mountain, calmly eating his two Pringles (or whatever it is he and Teri eat while hiking, now) and got approached by a young woman asking if he can take a pic of their group...as they all take off their shirts?

https://theknow.denverpost.com/2020/08/18/women-topless-hiking-colorado/243639/

[kpmom]

1 hour ago, Bethy said:

Completely random and not on the depression topic but very much on the Some May Call A Vacation topic - I happened to see a suggested post on IG this morning about a trend in Colorado where women hike topless and take pictures of each other's naked backs at the top of the mountains. Can you even IMAGINE if Steve happened to see one of them? 

Poor Steve wouldn’t be able to make it down the mountain what with his eyes all blurry from crying over the immodesty. 

[jeansonly]

I'm wondering if they got permission from the parents of the children in Bible Club to post the kids pictures online?  Somehow I think not.

[PennySycamore]

I just came her to tell you guys what I did earlier this afternoon:

I dusted the ceiling fan in the family room.

You know it's past time to dust the damn thing when it's dropping caterpillars of dust.  

[MamaJunebug]

20 hours ago, lilith said:

They share it because they think the systems and products they’re selling fixed  it. It’s the basis of their testimony - Teri was clinically depressed but vasectomy reversal/child bearing, submission and scheduling saved her and allowed her to homeschool for 30 years.

Except that it wasn’t really 30 years. 

It was almost 30 years

Mary graduated - praise be! - but then some time later Mary was still in school.

Because when Mary graduated again, Teri could claim 30 years. 

So: They lied. 

The uncreative, incapable of abstract thought Maxwells didn’t say, “Teri homeschooled 8 children over almost 30 years!”

They flat-out lied.

What sin is worse: A woman wearing pants or someone lying?

Well, who in the Bible is called “the father of lies?”

i will tell you: Satan is called “the father of lies.”

Now:  Any further Q’s about Steve & Teri Maxwell?  I think you can find all the A’s pretty easily. 

[fundiefan]

3 hours ago, PennySycamore said:

I just came her to tell you guys what I did earlier this afternoon:

I dusted the ceiling fan in the family room.

You know it's past time to dust the damn thing when it's dropping caterpillars of dust.  

 I did that last week! Only, I didn't just dust it. I wiped it clean several times over. 

[SPHASH]

At least Mary didn't have to hike the Bataan Death March aka 14er on her birthday this year.

[browngrl]

22 hours ago, Joe Pukepail said:

Steve obviously saw fit to shell out thousands of dollars on orthodontia for his children,

Mary is almost always photographed face on but in the one side view photo I've seen,Mary had quite the under bite. Wouldn't an orthodontist address the malocclusion that would come with an underbite? Could this be the source of the infamous anecdote about a dentist asking what Mary wanted rather than addressing Terri ?

Also: thanks for the fan cleaning updates - I've been feeling all sorts of flustered worrying about the state of all your ceiling fans

Edited August 23, 2020 by browngrl
tried to make what I said clearer

[Eternalbluepearl]

But did Teri and the girls clean out the freezer before or after the anniversary trip? Have they waxed their kitchen cabinets yet this summer? Have they washed the fridge thoroughly in 2020? The blog readers need to know! 

[Bethy]

7 hours ago, MamaJunebug said:

Mary graduated - praise be! - but then some time later Mary was still in school.

Because when Mary graduated again, Teri could claim 30 years. 

So: They lied. 

Did they say she graduated twice? Feel free to point me toward the blog post if they did, but all I've been able to find is one in the summer of 2012 where she was working on school through the summer because she was on track to graduate early, then some mumbling about having to outline the entire Bible (I don't recall any mention of anyone else being required to do this) and then finally, her graduation "festivities" in late March 2015 - a few months shy of her 19th birthday, so not exactly "early" by anyone's standards. By the time I was that age I had a year of college under my belt.

So I think they were starting to push for early graduation, then realized if they pushed it the other direction Teri could claim the 30-year career, and that's what was done.

I'd be interested to know what Mary really wanted. But I'm not sure even Mary knows the answer to that, considering Mary is the child who didn't know what she wanted done in her own mouth at the orthodontist's office.

[lilith]

6 hours ago, Bethy said:

Did they say she graduated twice? Feel free to point me toward the blog post if they did, but all I've been able to find is one in the summer of 2012 where she was working on school through the summer because she was on track to graduate early, then some mumbling about having to outline the entire Bible (I don't recall any mention of anyone else being required to do this) and then finally, her graduation "festivities" in late March 2015 - a few months shy of her 19th birthday, so not exactly "early" by anyone's standards. By the time I was that age I had a year of college under my belt.

So I think they were starting to push for early graduation, then realized if they pushed it the other direction Teri could claim the 30-year career, and that's what was done.

I'd be interested to know what Mary really wanted. But I'm not sure even Mary knows the answer to that, considering Mary is the child who didn't know what she wanted done in her own mouth at the orthodontist's office.

All the Maxhell graduates have to outline the entire bible in their senior year. I think it’s pretty much the only work they do that yeas.

17 hours ago, jeansonly said:

I'm wondering if they got permission from the parents of the children in Bible Club to post the kids pictures online?  Somehow I think not.

Definitely not. Zsuzsanna Anderson got snippy years ago because they posted a pic of Miriam at one of their events without asking or telling her and I’m sure the bible club kids get even less consideration that conference  attendees.

Edited August 23, 2020 by lilith