'19 Kids and Counting' Update: Joy-Anna Duggar Reveals She is "So Happy" to Be Courting Longtime Friend

By Trisha Cerdena
Joy-Anna Duggar
Joy-Anna Duggar sits with longtime friend and current beau, Austin.  Photo: TLC

Another Duggar daughter has found herself in an intimate relationship. Joy-Anna Duggar is presently in a courtship with Austin, a longtime friend for the past 15 years. The 19-year-old reality TV star revealed such detail on the special episode of ‘Counting On: Jinger’s Wedding’ on Tuesday.

Merely weeks after her sister Jinger exchanged wedding vows with former pro soccer athlete Jeremy Vuolo, Joy-Anna confirmed that she is currently spending much premeditated time with Austin.

“Hey y’all! I’m Joy Duggar and this is Austin,” Joy-Anna told the cameras and posted the video on the Duggar family website.

“I just asked her to enter a courtship with me,” Austin said, sitting beside Joy-Anna.

“And I said yes!” the Duggar daughter said in return. “We’ve known each other for a long time.”

“Almost 15 years. I picked this spot because last time we were here together was August 1, 2015,” Austin added.

“There was a whole group of us that came up,” Joy-Anna recalled. “And we were just hanging out and it was really late at night, stars were just gorgeous. For me that’s really special, but then just being with him. And then now it’s even more special because it’s where we start our courtship.”

Austin explained why he chose the particular location, a peaceful natural spot, in opening up to the reality TV star.

“It’s a place that I’ve come many times to just get away and spend time with the Lord,” he shared. “I just knew that this was the place that I wanted to ask her.”

Upon being asked, Joy-Anna said she felt “surprised,” further sharing: “I hadn’t been here in so long. I was not expecting this. So happy.”

For viewers who wonder why the Duggar family makes use of the term “courting” instead of “dating,” the family’s patriarch explained that courting refers to “dating with a purpose.” In an interview with Today.com, the family’s patriarch clarified that the rules are different between courting and dating.

"Courtship is really waiting for the one God has for you, and praying through the whole process,” he shared.

In courting, a chaperone is always required while kissing and holding hands should be avoided at all times.

For the Duggar matriarch, Michelle believes a “failed courtship” is not possible. In each courtship, an individual becomes closer to the person they are destined to be with in the future.

Meanwhile, ‘Counting On’ season 3 returns this 2017 on TLC. Fans can look forward to more footage of Joy and Austin’s courtship, even of Jinger and Jeremy’s wedding ceremony, and much more.

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