The Duggar sisters are no strangers to reality television, having appeared on 19 Kids and
Counting and its spinoff, Counting On. The older Duggar sisters have even dated on camera.
Well, sort of. Rather, they "courted." Given this, how the Duggar sisters met their husbands
is pretty interesting.
One of the biggest things that sets the Duggar family apart from the mainstream world is
their belief in the courtship process. Anyone who has seen an episode of 19 Kids and Counting
or Counting On knows that the Duggar family doesn't date. Rather, they court, and their
version of courtship comes with rules.
"I guess we'll be in on your conversation." "Yep!"
In an interview with Today, the heads of the Duggar family, Jim Bob and Michelle, explained
why they value courtship. Jim Bob said,
"Courtship is really waiting for the one God has for you and praying through the whole
process."
Michelle added,
"It's really examining the person and considering, 'Would this be the guy I want to be the father
of my kids?'"
But as nice as that sounds, in order for the Duggar sisters to enjoy a courtship, there
are rules. As the Duggars told Today, the two lovebirds must never be left alone, their
texts aren't private, and they can't hold hands or kiss. And to begin a courtship, you
have to ask Jim Bob first. The entire process might seem outdated, but it seems to work
for them.
With all the rules regarding how the Duggars deal with courtship, it's kind of a wonder
that any of them get the chance to meet someone at all. But there's one place that even the
Duggar family has deemed safe enough to let their children mix and mingle: church. Yes,
their church is the spot of a lot of meet-cutes in the Duggar sisters' world, and that's where
Jessa Duggar met her beau. Jessa's husband, Ben Seewald, wrote on the Seewald family blog,
"Jessa and I met at her church while on a mini vacation in Northwest Arkansas. Jessa's
family was really friendly and invited us to a conference just a few days later."
After first meeting Jessa, Ben wrote that he was determined to see her again, and he
practically begged his mom to let them go to the conference the Duggars had invited
them to. After that, Ben and Jessa slowly started to get to know each other, and Ben
was embraced by the Duggar family. In short, it was the perfect start to a Duggar romance.
Bonus fun fact: Jessa was 21 when she got married. And as young as that sounds, she
was actually older than her husband, who was only 19 at the time.
If it seems like the Duggar sisters live in a romantic comedy, well, it's because they
just might. While their old-fashioned values of courting might seem outdated, they clearly
yield results and some good stories. For Jinger Duggar, true love was just a church fellowship
event away. In fact, Jinger wouldn't have met her husband, Jeremy Vuolo, if it weren't
for her sister, Jessa, and her husband, Ben. Jessa and Ben met Jeremy at a church event
in San Antonio. Ben and Jeremy had stayed in touch, and so Jeremy was able to reach
out when he started developing feelings for Jinger.
In a post on the Vuolo family blog, Jeremy wrote about how he knew Jinger was the one
after watching a testimony video she had recorded. He wrote,
"I remember watching her testimony video that she had made with Ben and thinking, 'Wow.
This girl is amazing.'"
In true Duggar fashion, Jinger and Jeremy didn't just meet up for coffee after he saw
her testimony video. After visiting Arkansas and meeting Jinger in person, they took things
international. Jeremy joined the Duggar family on a mission trip in Central America where
the two really got to know each other and realized they wanted to be together.
"Do you want to celebrate my victory over dinner?" "You mean our anniversary?" 'Yeah,
that's what I meant."
The Duggar family's strict courtship rules typically mean that the Duggar sisters don't
just go on a dating app and find a guy she's interested in. When it comes to Jill Duggar,
her love story with Derick Dillard probably wouldn't have happened were it not for her
father, who practically set them up. Yes, the Duggar patriarch knows a thing or two
about making love connections.
When Derick was doing missionary work in Nepal, Jim Bob Duggar was one of his "prayer partners,"
as Derick explained on the Dillard family blog. So, Derick and Jim Bob would talk regularly,
and it was through those conversations that Derick learned about Jill. Derick wrote,
"Jill's dad would also mention periodically the work Jill was doing in her studies as
a student midwife and her desire to someday use her skills overseas on the mission field.
Being that we had similar life goals, she caught my attention."
Even though Derick was thousands of miles away on a mission trip, he started falling
for Jill, and it didn't take long before she started to fall for him, as well.
Even though Jill had only really heard about Derick from her father's phone calls with
him, this Duggar sister could tell he was something special. It took some time, but
before too long, Jill and Derick were a regular part of each other's lives. After her dad
introduced the two of them, they began to talk on the phone and video chat on the computer
more often, and they actually got to know each other really well, as noted by the Dillard
family blog. So well, in fact, that Jill found herself catching feelings virtually.
In a total Bachelor-esque moment, Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard met in person for the first
time in a totally romantic way. While Derick was in Nepal, Jill and Jim Bob got to go and
visit him, which is when Jill and Derick finally met in person, as they both detailed on their
blog. Derek wrote,
"By the end of the trip I felt the Lord directing me to ask Jill to officially begin a courtship
relationship. She agreed and we continued getting to know one another."
As for Jill, she wrote,
"Our goals aligned perfectly with how we saw God leading us and we both felt we could serve
Him better together than separate!"
Though the Duggars are known to travel all over the world doing mission work and attending
conferences, sometimes their future spouses are closer to home than they might realize.
At least, that was what happened with Joy-Anna Duggar, who actually first met her husband,
Austin Forsyth, when they were just kids. Of course, their romantic relationship didn't
start until they were older, but it's sweet that they went from childhood friends to husband
and wife.
"So beautiful!"
According to People, Joy-Anna and Austin met when his family relocated to Arkansas and
started going to the same church as the Duggars. Joy-Anna told the magazine,
"It's really special that I got to grow up with him and my family knows him really well."
As fans know, the Duggar sisters take courtship and romantic relationships super seriously,
so it probably worked out for everyone that the Duggars already knew Austin before their
courtship even began. For the happy couple, having known each other for so long presumably
only makes their relationship all that much more special.
Even though Joy-Anna and Austin had known each other for years, most of that time was
spent as friends. So, when Austin knew he wanted to take things to the next level and
begin courting Joy-Anna, he wanted to ask her somewhere special, in a place that meant
a lot to Joy-Anna.
In a video on the Duggar family website, Joy-Anna explained that the spot Austin asked to court
her was great because they had been there with friends before. The Duggar sister said,
"There was a whole group of us that came up. And we were just hanging out and it was really
late at night, [the] stars were just gorgeous."
Austin added,
"[I went there] many times to just get away and spend time with the Lord. I just knew
that this was the place that I wanted to ask her."
Honestly, their entire love story sounds like it was meant to be.
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