Counting On: The Truth About How Jill Duggar And Derick Dillard Met
Dating a Duggar sister means a few things. It means not being able to spend time alone as a couple because chaperones have to be around. It means any form of affection (other than side hugs, that is) is strictly forbidden, although a few Duggars may have broken the rules and snuck in some proper hugs when parents weren't looking (via In Touch Weekly). But Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard might have not struggled with these taboos, because Derick wasn't even in the country when the two began their relationship.
Even though Jill and Derick grew up in areas less than an hour apart, they didn't know of each other until Derick reached out to Duggar family patriarch Jim Bob to ask about becoming his prayer partner, because Derick was leaving the US to carry out humanitarian work in Nepal (via US Weekly).
Jill first spoke to Derick in March 2013 — the call might have started between Jim Bob and Derick, but the Duggar patriarch had invited his daughter to take part in it so Jill and Derick could get to know each other. They didn't speak again until August 2013 – by which time Derick says he had used the months in between "praying about Jill and asking God for direction in getting to know Jill better" (via US Weekly). Jim Bob finally gave Derick his daughter's contacts and they began communicating via email, then Skype after that.
Jill and Derick were married six months after Dillard returned to the US
Jill met Derick for the first time when she and her father visited Nepal for a two-week trip in November that same year. The two began an official courtship, and Derick finally met the Duggars in January — two months after he met Jill face-to-face for the first time. Derick asked Jim Bob for Jill's hand in February, and he proposed in March. The couple married on June 21, 2014 — which is when they also both shared their first kiss (via US Weekly).
Even today, fans are baffled over how Jill and Derick could move at the speed which they did. One fan writes: "What I find weird is that they courted for something like three or four months, then they were engaged for three, then she got pregnant on the honeymoon. So she was married and pregnant by a man she had known less than a year." Others think Jill had wanted to beat her sister Jessa, who was also in courtship, to the altar (via In Touch Weekly). Still, it's been nearly six years since Jill and Derick tied the knot, and today they are mom and dad to two boys. The Dillards seems to be living their best lives, so who are fans to question love at first sight?