Maxwell 52: Retired Vests, Retired Blog, and Retired Maxwells

[Coconut Flan]

Continued from here:

 

[ContrastingButtons]

Wonder how many months (or more likely YEARS) it will take to get to thread 52?  Ah, it really is the end of an era.  

Edited January 9, 2022 by ContrastingButtons

[CyborgKin]

Quote

So we replaced the Christmas tree with a beautiful, fireplace mantel arrangement with lights, a nativity, garland, and the names of God displayed.

My family often puts up stuff like that but this Christmas we put up two trees merely because we had two pine trees that were getting too tall to put in the house.

[ElizaB]

I feel like Joe has changed a lot since marriage. I wonder if he had met Elizabeth Munck a few years later what would have happened. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

Joe moved away from Maxhell, bought a big house with plenty of room for the whole family, didn’t name his kids super Christian names, hired non family members to work with, doesn’t want to be on the family blog much, and hasn’t had a new kid every 18-21 months. Like others have said, if I saw his website and his family without knowing anything about their Maxwell background, I wouldn’t automatically assume fundie. 

[usedbicycle]

I think Joe is doing very well for himself in the booming e-commerce industry. His website also says he trained developers in 79 countries. When you start making lots of money, meet friendly professional people from other cultures and religions, and start working with people based on their skills rather than their worldview, it's hard to remain staunchly fundamentalist. Fundamentalism requires that you see everything else in the world as bad, wrong or dangerous. I hope he keeps blazing his own successful trail and I'm glad that Jesse is along for the ride.

 

[SPHASH]

I remember an FJer meeting Joe at one of the dog and pony shows and said he was pretty arrogant and that he bragged he wasn't raised on filthy things like sports and TV.  Wonder if he still has that attitude.

Edited January 10, 2022 by SPHASH

[fundiewatch]

Joe and Elissa were attending a church in Kansas City too. That was a big shift, and then Jesse started attending, and then Joe sold his debt free Elizabeth-linked home and moved almost an hour away, “to be near the church” which is also a great cushion from the MaxBorg. I really am slow clapping the reversals. They had more tricks up their sleeves than we ever expected! Jesse or Joe could totally go with Christian school for their kids— the sky is the limit. Titus2 will not keep us informed however. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

I hope Sarah does something fun and exciting for her upcoming 40th birthday. Having her own place might be the best gift. But I hope she does something else fun with her friends. 

[Woods Nymph]

Even though the Maxwell blog is missed, I am so happy that we won't get a 40th birthday blog post from Sarah. Can you imagine how awful that post would be? Sarah would be trying so hard to sound cheerful about her life and her choices, while there would be a painfully obvious current of patheticness and sadness running underneath. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

1 hour ago, Woods Nymph said:

Even though the Maxwell blog is missed, I am so happy that we won't get a 40th birthday blog post from Sarah. Can you imagine how awful that post would be? Sarah would be trying so hard to sound cheerful about her life and her choices, while there would be a painfully obvious current of patheticness and sadness running underneath. 

It was usually Teri posting anyway. And it always sounded depressing and a bit back handed.

[Black Aliss]

On 1/9/2022 at 4:53 PM, ElizaB said:

I feel like Joe has changed a lot since marriage. I wonder if he had met Elizabeth Munck a few years later what would have happened. 

I'm not sure. I think Elissa is behind a lot of those changes. If nothing else, the demand for privacy for their own family.

The smartest thing Joe and Jesse ever did was to be early Magento promoters/consultants. Magento is less expensive than SAP, Oracle, or SalesForce, but challenging enough to implement that people would want to hire a professional rather than have their nephew-who-is-a-computer-whiz do it.

[ElizaB]

3 minutes ago, Black Aliss said:

 

The smartest thing Joe and Jesse ever did was to be early Magento promoters/consultants. Magento is less expensive than SAP, Oracle, or SalesForce, but challenging enough to implement that people would want to hire a professional rather than have their nephew-who-is-a-computer-whiz do it.

The Maxwells are one of the few families who we follow that seem to actually homeschool and prepare their kids to actually be wage earning adults. They didn't just do the bare minimum of education and expect their special snowflakes to earn enough money to support a family. I know they were anti-college (although Anna and Mary have since changed that!) however, they still made sure their kids had some marketable skills. 

[socalrules]

I think what the Maxwell’s did, which a lot of other fundy families did not, was cultivate a work ethic in their kids. They don’t run on Duggar time or do things in a half-assed way because they are cheap and easy. I would bet Anna and Mary are the type to study hard in classes where they might not have the same preparation as their classmates. I wouldn’t say the same for a lot of these families. 

[BigSandy]

18 minutes ago, socalrules said:

I think what the Maxwell’s did, which a lot of other fundy families did not, was cultivate a work ethic in their kids. They don’t run on Duggar time or do things in a half-assed way because they are cheap and easy. I would bet Anna and Mary are the type to study hard in classes where they might not have the same preparation as their classmates. I wouldn’t say the same for a lot of these families. 

Yes, agree! And also they seem to invest in quality gear for doing work (for the most part...too many long-skirts-and-power-tool pics I think).

Ahh, but dang, these other fundy families are just so awful; I can't believe I'm holding up the Maxwells as some sort of goal for anyone, even other fundies!!

[petrushka]

12 hours ago, Black Aliss said:

I'm not sure. I think Elissa is behind a lot of those changes. If nothing else, the demand for privacy for their own family.

Agreed. Elissa did not grow up isolated but had more 'normal' experiences (4-H clubs). I believe Elissa's father had an executive position in a large company and she probably grew up in very comfortable surroundings.  Bet he gave his SIL Joseph lots of advice on how to succeed in business. 

10 hours ago, socalrules said:

I think what the Maxwell’s did, which a lot of other fundy families did not, was cultivate a work ethic in their kids. They don’t run on Duggar time or do things in a half-assed way because they are cheap and easy. 

Agreed on this, too.  It's unfortunate though that Steve and Teri had such poor attitudes about fun.  I hope the Max grandkids have more balanced lives.

[johnhugh]

On 1/10/2022 at 2:33 AM, SPHASH said:

I remember an FJer meeting Joe at one of the dog and pony shows and said he was pretty arrogant and that he bragged he wasn't raised on filthy things like sports and TV.  Wonder if he still has that attitude.

A few years back I remember back on Twitter, Joe had gone to an IT conference in Las Vegas and Stevie allowed Jess to go too. I don’t think they were impressed with the after party as the music was too loud. (Let alone the booze!!) but it must have woken them up 

[kpmom]

6 hours ago, johnhugh said:

A few years back I remember back on Twitter, Joe had gone to an IT conference in Las Vegas and Stevie allowed Jess to go too. I don’t think they were impressed with the after party as the music was too loud. (Let alone the booze!!) but it must have woken them up 

I agree!

Even if they don't partake in those things, and I believe they still don't, just being around other people who do partake had to be a bit of a wake-up call.  People who listen to secular music, and maybe have a drink sometimes, are not bad people??  What do ya know!

[JermajestyDuggar]

I think it’s always good for fundies to meet new and different people that may not believe the same way as them. That way they can start to see that not all non Christians are bad. And not all Christians are good. I think it helps them to decide maybe they could do certain things (like watch tv and play organized sports) and they won’t immediately be doomed to hell. 

[FloraDoraDolly]

15 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I think it’s always good for fundies to meet new and different people that may not believe the same way as them. That way they can start to see that not all non Christians are bad. And not all Christians are good. I think it helps them to decide maybe they could do certain things (like watch tv and play organized sports) and they won’t immediately be doomed to hell. 

In the case of the Maxwells, even meeting other evangelical Christians would have opened them up to new possibilities. Imagine what it must have been like for Mary and Anna to find out that the students at their conservative Christian college were allowed to have friends, play sports, and go to summer camp with their church youth group.

[SPHASH]

Happy belated 40th birthday Sarah! (Jan 19)

[HereticHick]

I had missed this photo on Facebook earlier-- a Leavenworth couple who run a coffee place, Burr Roasters, and go to the Church of the Open Door. They went to the Virginia coast for vacation in October and stopped by to visit Anna and Mary at ABC on the way back.

[JermajestyDuggar]

30 minutes ago, HereticHick said:

I had missed this photo on Facebook earlier-- a Leavenworth couple who run a coffee place, Burr Roasters, and go to the Church of the Open Door. They went to the Virginia coast for vacation in October and stopped by to visit Anna and Mary at ABC on the way back.

I wonder if Steve sees them as their drug dealers. I’ve always been kind of surprised Steve didn’t ban caffeinated drinks like coffee and tea. We know he banned Pepsi but that has less caffeine than coffee. 

[SassyPants]

3 minutes ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

I wonder if Steve sees them as their drug dealers. I’ve always been kind of surprised Steve didn’t ban caffeinated drinks like coffee and tea. We know he banned Pepsi but that has less caffeine than coffee. 

Those girls must have been buying a lot of coffee for these business owners to stop for a visit on their vacation. Maybe they were also lay young adult ministry leaders in the church? Maybe they were the catalysts for the all the change.

On 1/10/2022 at 7:56 PM, socalrules said:

I think what the Maxwell’s did, which a lot of other fundy families did not, was cultivate a work ethic in their kids. They don’t run on Duggar time or do things in a half-assed way because they are cheap and easy. I would bet Anna and Mary are the type to study hard in classes where they might not have the same preparation as their classmates. I wouldn’t say the same for a lot of these families. 

They also have fewer kids and a larger age range for those 8 kids (yes, the circumstances of the reversal). Ive said it before, my parents can be Maxwellian in work ethic, diet…But they also believe in education for all, vacations, fun, alcoholic beverages, and a good 4 letter word here and there.

[MamaJunebug]

7 hours ago, HereticHick said:

I had missed this photo on Facebook earlier-- a Leavenworth couple who run a coffee place, Burr Roasters, and go to the Church of the Open Door. They went to the Virginia coast for vacation in October and stopped by to visit Anna and Mary at ABC on the way back.

Whose fb page has this? I looked at Burr Roasters page and they acknowledge Halloween and wish folks Merry Christmas!

If indeed COVID > no nursing home church > Maxwells attending Church of the Open Door > the Maxwell Kids’ declarations of independence  (not including Chris) , then … yay, Covid?