Maxwell engagement

[marmalade]

Wow, I guess Ma really WAS a vet tech (more likely a cage cleaner) when she was 18. She is only 40. I found a post talking about Disney and she said she went for the first time in 2004 at age 32. So, she was knocked up with Elizabeth at about the same age Lizzy will be knocked up with her first.

No clue as to how old Arthur is; the bout with cancer obviously took a toll and he looks to be in his 50's, but is probably only in his early-mid 40's.

[Witsec7]

Elizabeth got two honorable mentions on the Junior Duck Stamp competition, she's allowed to talk to strangers, touch dogs assholes, she friggin fly fishes in capri's, she gets her hair cut and she likes shopping at Bass Pro shops.

Ok I'm revising my original call of Sarah in the kitchen with a muffin tin. I think this new SIL will set Sarah off into some really crazy zone.Sarah will go to Josephs' and report back to Steve that Elizabeth wears dangling earrings, Elizabeth practicing fly casting in the back yard, Elizabeth wearing colored clothing. See where I'm going with this? :lol:

Ok but she can't spell worth a damn, Niel River....

[FloraDoraDolly]

Elizabeth got two honorable mentions on the Junior Duck Stamp competition, she's allowed to talk to strangers, touch dogs assholes, she friggin fly fishes in capri's, she gets her hair cut and she likes shopping at Bass Pro shops.

Ok I'm revising my original call of Sarah in the kitchen with a muffin tin. I think this new SIL will set Sarah off into some really crazy zone.Sarah will go to Josephs' and report back to Steve that Elizabeth wears dangling earrings, Elizabeth practicing fly casting in the back yard, Elizabeth wearing colored clothing. See where I'm going with this? :lol:

Yep, Joseph has picked an uppity woman (by fundie standards).

[darkplumaged]

she's allowed to . . . touch dogs assholes

What a privilege! :lol: Only in fundieland would this be considered a mark of autonomy.

I wonder if the fact that Elizabeth's family allows fun and a little bit of freedom and independent interests will have any affect on Steve-o.

[luckystone]

heart broken :violin:

Oh that's actually really sad :(

[darkplumaged]

Oh that's actually really sad :(

The telling parts are "What can I say?" and "I didn't expect this, I mean this soon!". She and Sarah should commiserate.

[Witsec7]

What a privilege! :lol: Only in fundieland would this be considered a mark of autonomy.

I wonder if the fact that Elizabeth's family allows fun and a little bit of freedom and independent interests will have any affect on Steve-o.

I really cannot see how this match ever happened. And I can't see how this young woman will be able to integrate into the Maxwell family. I regret to say she may have a difficult time once reality sets in and there are no more shopping trips for fun, or human contact outside the Maxwell family.

[YPestis]

Well, Melanie seemed to have handled marriage into the Maxwell family ok. She rarely dressed in frumperwear, even for family photos, and her girls always dressed in cute dresses.

I think we may be exaggerating Steve's influence once Joseph is married. They will be living about a mile away. Plus, after Nathan and Christopher got married, both receded from the family song and dance show. I think living away from Steve will mitigate some of that crazy Maxwell influence. Plus, Joseph's new wife will set the tone for her family life without Teri and Steve breathing down her neck. From personal experience, just moving away from the parents creates a different home experience. Steve may think he's God, but not even he can control every minute of his sons' lives once they moved to another house. Plus, the only thing keeping Elizabeth from saying 'no' is her training, and we don't know how far she'll go to submit to her husband. She may draw the line at a certain point, and I'm not sure Joseph will automatically side with the parents (especially since he lives with his wife).

[dawn]

This is the sisters' blog, but they no longer use it: muncksisters.blogspot.com

It'll be interesting to have Maxwell in-laws who are active bloggers. And have a year-round Xmas tree in their dining room.

Edit: oh, and what YPestis said, ITA

[lilwriter85]

I'm looking through the Munck family blog right now. They seem like a happy family who likes having fun. I hate to say this, but I can see a possible scenario in which Steve brain washes them into becoming more hardcore. I can see Arthur and Laura doing anything to please or impress Steve. But I do hope somehow that Elizabeth influences Joseph in some way to be a bit different from the other Maxwells.

[FloraDoraDolly]

Well, Melanie seemed to have handled marriage into the Maxwell family ok. She rarely dressed in frumperwear, even for family photos, and her girls always dressed in cute dresses.

I think we may be exaggerating Steve's influence once Joseph is married. They will be living about a mile away. Plus, after Nathan and Christopher got married, both receded from the family song and dance show. I think living away from Steve will mitigate some of that crazy Maxwell influence. Plus, Joseph's new wife will set the tone for her family life without Teri and Steve breathing down her neck. From personal experience, just moving away from the parents creates a different home experience. Steve may think he's God, but not even he can control every minute of his sons' lives once they moved to another house. Plus, the only thing keeping Elizabeth from saying 'no' is her training, and we don't know how far she'll go to submit to her husband. She may draw the line at a certain point, and I'm not sure Joseph will automatically side with the parents (especially since he lives with his wife).

And Elizabeth will be telling Joseph about all the fun things she and her siblings got to do when they were little, many of which the younger siblings are still doing. At the very least, I bet they'll have a Christmas tree. Not that Steve and Teri will take pictures of it for their blog...

[Witsec7]

I think the Muncks needed to free up a bed. The house is only three bedrooms, and the Mrs. seems to get knocked up with regularity. I think they need the space.

edited to add: Joseph is still financially dependent on his father, there is no way he can cross Steve.

[terranova]

Is it possible Joseph and Elizabeth met at a homeschooling conference, started to exchange letters (maybe even emails since he must be allowed access to the computer) and fell in love?

[Miggy]

So annoying be on the other side of the world. An engagement is announced, there is a discussion of who she is and a discovery of her blog before I even wake up. Oh well.

Sympathy to Sarah. I have a really nice brother who might interest her; 31, very handsome, own house, good job and best of all, half a world away from Steve.

[alysee]

I think Joseph is preparing for a fun life when Steve dies. He's got the worldly wife, next thing will be to slowly implement worldly things.

That's my hope anyways.

[lilith]

I think Joseph is preparing for a fun life when Steve dies. He's got the worldly wife, next thing will be to slowly implement worldly things.

That's my hope anyways.

Only in Maxwell land would this home schooled, skirts only, conservative Christian girl who just got engaged to a man she has never kissed, has quite probably never touched and certainly hasn't been allowed to be alone with, be considered "worldly".

Yet sadly, compared to Poor Sarah, worldly she is.

[Anise]

He's got the worldly wife, next thing will be to slowly implement worldly things.

Funny how things can be so relative.

[lilith]

Elizabeth's mum writes:

The birthday tree...was decorated in flowers with a butterfly as the topper. From the time Elizabeth was very young she enjoyed the beauty of butterflies. She would often tell people her favorite animal was a butterfly. We would correct her that a butterfly wasn't an animal, it was so cute! Butterflies remain her favorite animal ;)

I shudder for the SOTDRT education Miss Elizabeth's children will receive.

ETA a few thoughts.

Elizabeth turned 20 last month. Maybe there has been a quiet courtship and her father didn't want her to be engaged or married until she was 20? Fundies often seem to have arbitrary ages for this, Anna Duggar is an example which springs to mind.

None of the Maxwells commented on the blog post about her birthday. I find that odd, if she was close enough to Joseph and the family for him to propose a month later one would think that someone from the family would have posted happy birthday wishes. If it would be considered improper for Joseph to then surely his sisters could have.

Last May Elizabeth's family attended a GHEA homeschool conference that the Maxwells spoke at, maybe that is where this relationship sprang from?

[Sola]

Rebecca K!!!!111!!!! is VERY disappointed.

She'll be boiling the bunnies as I type. Rebecca, you've had a lucky escape. Be thankful.

[lilith]

Oh dear. It looks like Elizabeth's family is moving towards the Maxwell brand of crazy, rather than Joseph having a chance to become more liberal under her influence.

From their blog - I think it deserves to be quoted in full.

PART 2

Yesterday, I told about how our family lived the hurry scurry lifestyle and never seemed to find a balance on the fulcrum called life. If, you missed that post you can click

HERE

to read it.

Our life as a whole was busy, and trying to keep our balance never seemed to happen. We sought to have a balance, hoping that harmony would also come with that balance. Yet, it seemed the formula that we would apply never changed us completely....

We remained busy!

Our children were getting older and the Lord continued to bless us and add more children to our quiver. Arthur and I became burdened that we weren't doing something right, but we couldn't figure out what exactly it was that we were lacking.

We homeschooled, we were very active in church, went on mission trips, our children had loads of outside activities...choir, music, sports, etc. We ate dinner together most nights, prayed before meals, and at bedtime prayed with our children...so what was missing?

Arthur and I felt the Lord telling us to attend a Family/Homeschool

encouragement weekend in Anaheim CA. put on by the Maxwell Family of Titus 2.We booked a flight, hired a sitter for our children, and packed up baby Wesley and off we went to California for the weekend.......

This type of thing was totally out of character for us, and we truly had no idea what a work the Lord was going to in us that weekend.

The Maxwell family spoke straight forward all weekend, backing their words up with scripture. Often times what they said hit a nerve....you know that nerve of 'Oh I already knew that but I'm not doing it'...yes, that nerve!

Several of the sessions Teri Maxwell gave to the ladies I thought , wow, she knows just how I feel. Then she would give practical ways to help you with the situation, all pointing to our need to be in God's word!

Arthur went to several other sessions put on by Steve Maxwell for the men.

The session that hit home for Arthur was the session on Family Bible Time, Arthur walked away convicted but also on fire and encouraged!

Arthur stated on that day that when we returned home he would be starting a family Bible time. And that is just what he did upon our return home.

We began the next day after arriving home, and haven't missed a day since then. As a family we began to dig into God's Word, and to pray together as a whole family seeking one accord.

Little by little the Lord began to open our eyes to our many short comings,

and He began to refine us in a way that we didn't even know existed or even thought possible.

This is when we began to see harmony, and the balancing on the fulcrum started to seem like less of a daunting task.

Why?

Because we started to give God our first each morning,

we began to know Him in a deeper richer way from being in His word,

and our family started to see one another in a completely different light...

Harmony was upon us!

The giveaway we are offering is called

Gather

the Family

This is a wonderful DVD produced by Franklin Springs Media.

If your family doesn't have a family Bible/Worship time

or doesn't know how to start having one this DVD is a great source of help.

We highly recommend all families join in a time of Bible study/Worship each day.

It doesn't take a theologian or scholar to lead the time of Bible/Worship

all it takes is a family to come together as one!

[Patsy]

The last Maxwell couple courted for two months and were engaged for three. I think they'll by married by the end of August.

[Esther]

Ugh - the Muncks certainly are undereducated fundie idiots, but at least they're the usual kind of undereducated fundie idiots. The Maxwells make everyone else seem like fun. I don't feel bad for Rebecca!!1! AT ALL - she's the lucky one here - but I do feel moderately sorry for Elizabeth. I wonder if she really has any idea exactly how ridiculous the Maxwells are, even to her standards. She has lots and lots of really dreary birthday "parties" to look forward to, filled with presents such as personalized Bible covers...

On the other hand, Joseph is getting married a lot younger than either of his elder brothers and they will, at least, be a little further away from the compound. Maybe this girl will prove to be a good influence - she won't turn him into a normal person, or even fundie-lite, but for Maxwells, even regular Duggar-style fundie seems an improvement.

[alysee]

The last Maxwell couple courted for two months and were engaged for three. I think they'll by married by the end of August.

That means they have 5 months to get the house done. If they don't find anything too difficult while fixing the house will definitely have time to finish by then.

Edited because I know the difference between a question mark and a period.

[BlondeAsTheyCome]

??? What are you correcting?

Sorry, the first time I read through you post I thought the dates were wrong, but on another reading it made sense. Sorry, my fault.

[BlondeAsTheyCome]

They even celebrate Valentine's Day. I'm sure that doesn't go over well in the Maxwell household.

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