Josiah Duggar's new lady friend has got spirit!
The 18-year-old member of the famous and devout Christian 19 Kids and Counting family revealed this week that just over a week ago, on April 6, the day his sister Jill Duggar welcomed her first child, he began courting 17-year-old Marjorie Jackson. The two met several years ago while taking Spanish lessons from her mother, Analucia.
Josiah and Margorie talk about their courtship excitedly in a video posted on the TLC reality show's website, which is similar to other educational clips about the family's strict rules that have been posted in the past.
And boy, is Margorie peppy and confident. Speaking like a TV host or a presenter at an award show, she appears by herself first, smiling brightly at the camera.
"Hey guys, my name's Marjorie Jackson and I have some Duggar insider news for you," she says.
"Now, I bet you're all wondering, 'What is it?" she continues, clapping her hands together. "You guessed it—it's a courtship. Who is courting? It's one of the boys and it's not John David. It's not Joseph. Not Jedidiah. Not J- did I skip someone? Josiah! Josiah."
He then joins her, but barely touches her, and says, enthusiastically, "That's right, that's right. Marjorie and I just recently started a courtship relationship."
The video, the two stand amid a backdrop of framed Duggar family photos, a cross decoration, a chess set, a couple of houseplants, a sewing machine and what appears to be a mounted decorative black plate with wedding bells and hearts drawn on it in white blackboard marker.
"Courtship is like dating with a purpose," Marjorie says. "It's getting to know each other better in group settings along with our families and just really asking those tough questions and getting to spend more time together along with family and friends."
Marjorie and Josiah's mom, Michelle Duggar, were both speakers at the 2015 NWA Beautiful Girls Retreat that took place last in Arkansas, an annual event for devout Christian women and girls in Arkansas. Marjorie is half Guatemalan and the eldest of five children, who were all homeschooled, the retreat's website states. She is also a published author. In 2013, she released the book The Greatest Book You've Never Read: Why the Bible Is Not Only Exciting, But It Will Change Your Life!
Josiah is the only Duggar who is in a courtship. Jill and Derick Dillard and sister Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald all wed in 2014 and big brother Josh Duggar and his wife Anna Duggar have been married for six years and are expecting their fourth child.
The Duggar family considers courting a way for couples to determine if they are ready to get married. In the video, Josiah tells Josh he sees it as "purposeful dating."
The Duggar kids adhere to strict courtship rules. Jill and Jessa are allowed to stick solely to side hugs while they were being courted. They couldn't even hold hands and they had to have a chaperone, usually a younger sibling, accompany them at all times. And their parents, Michelle and husband Jim Bob Duggar, have to approve every courtship-related idea.
"As far as our kids dating, we believe a lot of times if you're alone with a person that it can create desires that can kinda get stirred up and you don't have accountability and can kinda lead to some hanky panky," the patriarch says in another video.
Meanwhile, there's no hanky panky shown on Josiah's new Instagram page...just G-rated couple cuteness and a new hashtag for19 Kids fans to spread around.