After "Counting On" stars Joy-Anna Duggar and her new husband Austin Forsyth announced they are expecting their first child together, various members of the large Duggar clan took to social media to express their excitement.
The 19-year-old daughter of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar announced the exciting news on Instagram two days ago.
"Austin and I are SO thankful to announce that we are parents!!" she wrote. "Even before we were married we prayed that God would give us children and we are so blessed that he has given us this baby! Jesus is the giver of Life! The baby has arms, legs, fingers, and toes. It has a beating heart and brain waves. The baby responds to touch and is already right- or left-handed. The baby has its own unique fingerprints, which are different from anyone else's. All organ systems are in place!"
She then quoted Psalm 139:13-16 "For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them."
"This passage indicates that God Himself formed our physical features and that He did so with a wonderful plan for our lives. God knew us in the womb," she concluded.
Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar shared the exciting news on their website, writing: "We are so blessed to share that Joy and Austin are expecting! 'We know they will be such wonderful parents! We can't wait to meet this little one!"
Joy-Anna's older sister, Jill Dillard, who recently gave birth to her second child, also expressed her delight over the news.
"We are so excited for Joy and Austin and their new little one on the way! #congrats @austinandjoyforsyth" she wrote on Instagram.
Sister-in-law Anna Duggar, who is pregnant with her fifth child, also posted on Twitter Wednesday afternoon to congratulate the couple: "Congrats to Austin & Joy Forsyth on the precious lil one on the way - we're so excited for you guys!"
The news of the pregnancy comes just three months after Joy-Anna and Austin married at Cross Church in Rogers, Arkansas.
"Every child is such a precious gift from God," she told People. I'm most looking forward to watching Austin as a dad and raising children together with him."
"I have a lot of good memories of my mom teaching us and the quality time we spent together, and I'm really looking forward to doing that with my own children," she added. "It's such an amazing thing to be a parent and raise children!"
Said Austin, 23, "I'm really looking forward to the journey of this pregnancy and all the different stages it will bring," he says. "It's really exciting and I feel so blessed to be a dad! We are beyond thankful!"
