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Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar are known for having 19 kids and living with strict household rules. And these rules also extend to dating. When the oldest Duggars were growing up, TLC captured everything about their lives for the small screen. And this, of course, included their courtships.

Jessa Duggar is now married to Ben Seewald, and they have three kids together. Prior to their marriage, Ben had to ask Jim Bob if he could court Jessa — and it was seriously awkward.

Jessa Duggar didn’t think Ben Seewald would be romantically interested in her

Jessa and Ben initially met thanks to their church. While the two were clearly interested in each other from the start, Jessa was two and a half years older than Ben — and she suspected this would be a major barrier for him.

“Surely he wouldn’t be interested in an older gal, I reasoned,'” Jessa wrote in a letter to Ben on The Seewald Family blog. “He’s a teenager, and I’m already 20!”

Of course, Ben didn’t mind the age difference. And he pursued learning more about Jessa and the rest of the Duggars. “Leaving church that day, I had no clue if I’d ever see you again … but you’d be back!” she continued in her letter. “Three weeks later, you showed up at our church again, and afterward, my brothers invited you over to our house to hang out for the afternoon and have supper with us.” It wasn’t long after this when Ben asked Jessa to be in an official courtship.

Ben first asked Jim Bob Duggar if he could court Jessa

Ben knew he wanted to be with Jessa — and Jessa was ready to accept the courtship as soon as it was issued. But Ben had one bigger barrier: Jim Bob. Ben had to ask Jim Bob if he could court Jessa first.

“Me and Jessa have been texting for you know, awhile, and I just really appreciate her and her character, and everything about her,” Ben tells Jim Bob and Michelle in a TLC clip. “I was just wondering if I could — if we could — make it official, if I could ask her to make an official courtship.”

Jim Bob and Michelle then bring Jessa into the conversation. She told the cameras she had a hunch Ben would ask her to court him, but this was sooner than she expected.

“I figured this was probably coming before too long, but I didn’t know that soon,” Jessa said.

Jim Bob made the courtship procedure seriously awkward

Jessa was then brought into a room with Jim Bob, Michelle, and Ben. And Ben had to ask Jessa if she’d go steady with him while Jessa’s parents watched and listened.

“I was just wondering if you wanted to make it official and if you want to officially court me,” Ben told Jessa.

“Yes,” Jessa simply answered. After a few moments of silence, Michelle gave her daughter a side hug while Jim Bob filmed the interaction on his phone.

“Hey, I’ll tell you what — you can go ahead and give him a side hug if you want to,” Jim Bob told Jessa. Jessa then went in for the hug with Ben, but it didn’t last long. “Thirty seconds,” Jim Bob added. Then, when the hug lingered, he added, “Three seconds, I mean.”

“A side hug is when two people wrap their arms around each other and give each other a hug from the side versus a frontal hug of pushing themselves together on the front,” Jim Bob explained to the camera. “I think everybody can figure that out on their own.”

Despite the awkwardness of this encounter, it’s clear Jessa and Ben were meant for each other, as they’re still together now.

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