Jill Duggar Dillard's due date is fast approaching. Fans of the TLC series 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On are anxiously awaiting news about Jill's second pregnancy, and making guesses at when exactly Jill will deliver baby no. 2 with husband Derick Dillard. But, more casual viewers, or those who may be aware of the Duggars but not every aspect of their lives, are asking more basic questions about Jill and her husband as the delivery date approaches. Like, how did Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard meet?
As it turns out, they didn't "meet" until 2011, but they started courting within a few years, and the rest is history. According to People, Jill has said that she started to fall in love with with her husband Derick before they ever met face to face. According to a timeline put together by The Hollywood Gossip, Jill remembered Derick stopping by while caroling with a church group, but it was contact between her father and her future husband that really set their courtship in motion. Jill said:
Derick contacted my dad and asked if he would be a prayer partner during his two-year term in Nepal.
Then, Jill's father, Jim Bob Duggar, started talking about his daughter to Derick and about Derick to Jill for the next year or so. Finally, in March 2013, the couple briefly spoke over the phone. But when did they actually meet in person?
According to Us Weekly, Jill and Jim Bob went to Nepal at the end of November 2013 for two weeks. Jill and Derick met on that trip, and Derick told the publication he "felt the Lord directing me to ask Jill to officially begin a courtship relationship." Jill agreed, and said of Derick:
The more I spent time with him and observed his integrity, sweet spirit and love for God and service to others, the more I fell in love with him!
The Hollywood Gossip reported that after about two more months away from each other, Derick returned home from Nepal at the start of 2014. There, he met the rest of the Duggars, and over the next several months, he got to know Jill and her entire family better.
Finally, in February 2014, Derick asked Jim Bob for Jill's hand in marriage, according to Us Weekly. In March, they went on a lunch date, followed by a walk around a small park, where a singer was sitting on a bench. He played a song for them, and as that occurred, Derick got down on one knee and asked Jill to marry him. She said yes, obviously, and the two got married on June 21, 2014, according to The Hollywood Gossip.
In true Duggar fashion, the couple shared their first kiss at their wedding, People reported. Since then, they have had one son, Israel David Dillard, according to E! News, and, according to Entertainment Tonight, Jill announced in December that she was expecting her second child. People has reported that Jill and Derick's second child is also expected to be a boy.
And it all started with them "seeing" each other for the first time in 2011 — but truly "meeting" in Nepal. If that's not a story to tell the grandkids someday, what is?
