As you’re no doubt aware, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have 19 children.
Most of those 19 children live in rural Arkansas, and are limited in their dating options by their family’s ultra-strict religious beliefs.
In other words, in terms of potential mates, the dudes of the Duggar clan might as well be looking for love on an oil rig in Alaska.
So perhaps it was only a matter of time before we wound up with a semi-incestuous, “double cousins” situation.
For months now, we’ve been hearing rumors that Jedidiah Duggar is courting Lauren Caldwell.
Lauren is the sister of Joseph Duggar’s wife, Kendra Caldwell.
Now, we kid when we call the situation semi-incestuous.
As weird as it sounds at first blush, there’s actually nothing wrong with two brothers marrying two sisters, and that sort of arrangement has been surprisingly common throughout history.
(Of course, the same could be said of people marrying their first cousins, so maybe history is just made up of a bunch of grossies.)
The Caldwells are longtime friends of the Duggars, and Kendra has proven quite popular with her in-laws.
Her father, Paul Caldwell, is the pastor of the Duggars’ church, and we probably don’t need to tell that’s a very big deal in Jim Bob’s eyes.
And since Jim Bob basically has the final word with regard to his kids’ romantic partners, a second Duggar-Caldwell pairing doesn’t exactly come as a shock.
So it’s not surprising that Jedediah wound up with Lauren.
It is surprising, however, that the Duggars appear to be keeping the relationship under wraps.
What we have here is a photo that may offer evidence that Jed is in a relationship,
More accurately, the photo itself doesn’t serve as proof (It’s just Jed standing around a coffee shop parking lot with some friends.), but the fact that it appeared on Jed’s Instagram page does.
Yes, Jed has an Instagram page — and if you’re familiar with the Duggar rules of courtship, you know that’s a big deal.
With the exception of Jana, no Duggar has been permitted to join social media until they entered a committed relationship.
So the fact that Jed is on the ‘Gram is being taken by many as a sign that he’s a-courtin’.
Even Jed’s twin brother, Jeremiah, is not on Instagram, so it seems unlikely that he was exempted from the rule, a la Jana.
It could be that the Duggars are just biding their time before making an announcement.
Or perhaps they’ve decided to be more private about their courtship news going forward.
Of course, given the extent to which the Duggars have cashed in on the public’s interest in their weird mating rituals, that seems unlikely.