Recap: Going the distance for Love

Right as Jill and Jim Bob are heading for the airport, Jessa hands her sister a letter from Derick. Derick only lived about a half an hour from the Duggars and went to college in Oklahoma State. He was spending two years doing volunteer work in Nepal. Jim Bob reveals that he set them up as friends since he knew that they would hit it off.  Jim Bob gave Derick his daughter's number and encouraged him to talk to her. Jill had texted and video chat with Derick before heading on a plane to meet them. Jana thinks that it's pretty weird that her younger sister would do that.
It took Jill and Jim Bob about 36 hours to get to Nepal, Jill is hoping that she would not get her hopes up and would be hurt if things did not work out between them.

Derick is waiting for Jill and Jim Bob at the airport and when he sees her, he gives her a side hug and flowers. Derick takes them sightseeing. Jim Bob takes a stop back to give the new couple time to get to know each other but wants to be there for his daughter.

Meanwhile back Home, Michelle is home with 17 kids while Jim Bob and Jill are visiting Derick. She has to remind Josie that she needs to learn to be patience and take turns since she has older brothers and sisters. Later on, Michelle and Jessa headed out to a coffee shop to talk about her relationship with Ben. Jessa admits that she misses him when she doesn't see him more then twice a month. Jessa is happy that she gets to spend time with her mom since they are both mother and daughter along with best-friends.

Back in Napel, Jim Bob and Derick talk about courtship with Jill since he wants to be with her. Jim Bob wishes that his wife was there so they could talk about it. He ends up giving him permission to court his daughter. Jill is not sure about if he asked her about courting, she wants it to be God's leadership.

Michelle Duggar on Getting Help with Homeschooling

Question from a "19 Kids and Counting" fan: How do you teach all the kids at once, especially with so many of the older ones becoming involved in other things and not being around to help out as much?

Because we do have so many kids, I still have some older ones with strengths in specific areas that pitch in and help. There are a lot of middle kids that are really good at disciplining and mentoring the younger ones.

But we also have some gaps now, specifically in music. I'm not very good at it and I'm not helpful at all. Luckily, I've got dear friends who teach music lessons to the kids and have also helped with phonics lessons. My friend Debbie Query’s daughters Mandy and Heidi help out in both of those areas.

Mandy is our music teacher; she’s the one that taught us all to play the violin. She comes over on Fridays and does individual lessons for most of the day. Starting at 4:00, we do group lessons. That’s when we practice playing music together with all of the different parts -- cellos, violins, piano, and harps. Mandy is really talented and helps us get our family orchestra together.

Heidi teaches music, too, and has recently started to help me with phonics. She makes sure that the little ones are crossing their T's and dotting their I's and grades their papers for me. That’s a huge help and so important to me.

Phonics is one of my favorite subjects. I just love teaching the kids to read. When it clicks and the light turns on and they start putting the letters together it’s such fun. Suddenly, they’re putting words together and making sentences. We’ll be driving down the road and they're reading signs and the billboards. It’s wonderful!

So yes, I have brought in extra help, and we've traded out with the Querys. They help us, and we help them, and it's been a beautiful thing. There are also groups in the area that will trade out skills. Someone will help you with math if you'll help them with science, etc. It’s really a great system.

Jill and Derick's first meeting photos

Going the Distance for Love Preview

While Jill and Jim Bob are in Nepal, visiting with Derick Dillard, who has something important to ask Jim Bob, Michelle decides to spend time with Jessa and talk to her daughter about her courtship with Ben.

Jim Bob and Jill hit the road

Jill and Jim Bob are heading to Nepal to meet Derick Dillard. A young man that Jim Bob has been talking to and praying for.


Will this trip lead to a courtship?

Marcus:11 month update!

Marcus is about to turn one year old and here's comes a new blog. Next month will be the last monthly update.

Michelle Duggar’s Tips on Sticking to a Family Budget

Question from a "19 Kids and Counting" fan: How do you stay on a budget with such a large family?

Our goal for our monthly food budget is $3,000. It used to be more like $2,000, but we've noticed the costs of groceries have gone up. Also, our boys have grown a lot and they have hollow legs. Josiah, Jedidiah, Jeremiah, and Jason are all tall and lanky, and I jokingly say every two hours we have to fill up those hollow legs to make them grow a few more inches.

For groceries, we mainly shop at discount grocery stores, warehouse clubs and co-ops. You can save thousands of dollars by doing just that. We buy mostly in bulk and stock up once a month on staples like butter, cereal and oats--it's just cheaper. And then I go back every three or four days to get our fresh produce.

Another way we cut corners is to always buy used and save the difference. That means when it comes time to shop for clothes, we go to the thrift stores. And we've never bought a new car. If you buy a car that's at least three years old, you're going to save yourself thousands of dollars by not buying new.

There are so many other ways to save. As a matter of fact, Jill and Derick are going to be looking on Craigslist for furniture for their home. There’s beautiful stuff available. People are constantly moving and they get rid of things they don’t need.

You’ve got be willing to wait to get what you are looking for with just the right price. I'm willing to wait for a little bit to buy things we need. We've already decided we won't go into debt to buy things.

If our couch wears out, I know I've got $65.00 to spend on a couch and we’ll look around. In the meantime, if our couch falls apart, we'll take it out and just sit on the carpet for a while. It's no big deal. I don’t feel like I need to meet the status quo.

We've taught our kids when you buy something on credit, you ending up paying three times as much for it. Whereas, if you pay cash, the asking price is exactly the price you’ll pay. If you don’t have the cash, set aside $5 a week, and you know you’ll have money when emergency situation comes up.

We went through a financial freedom seminar years ago that changed the course of our lives. If we hadn't heard those principles, we would never have known to buy used and save the difference and be willing to set aside a little bit of money here and there for those incidentals.