Ben Seewald has been living with his fiancée Jessa Duggar at the Duggar family home in Tontitown, Ark., for the last month.
"He moved up here a few weeks ago," Jim Bob Duggar, 49, told People magazine about Seewald, 19. "It has been really good. He has been able to spend a lot more time with Jessa and our family. We have a guesthouse in front of our house, with a shower and everything, separate from the main house."
Jim Bob elaborated on the new arrangement in a preview clip of 19 Kids & Counting's new season. He explained that Seewald living so far away from Jessa, 21, wasn't ideal for their courting. Furthermore, the Duggars could use the extra set of hands to help out around the house.
“Ben was living four hours away in Hot Springs with his parents," Jim Bob says. "After Michelle [Duggar] and I were talking about it, we have so many projects to do that we need help for – everything from construction projects to keeping the grass mowed to putting roof on a building, paperwork and things like that – and we asked him if he would be interested in moving up here so that Jessa and his relationship could be really accelerated. He was all for it and his parents were happy about it."
For her part, Jessa is happy to have Ben nearby so that she can see him on a more regular basis. "I'm very excited that Ben is moving in today," Jessa says in the clip. "I think it will be awesome to get to spend more time with Ben and see him on a daily basis instead of once or twice a month."
Per the courting rules that Jessa and Ben have committed to observing, the only affection they were permitted to show until their engagement were side hugs. Once they became engaged, hand-holding became permissable as well. However, even with the engagement, chaperones are a must. "They always have a chaperone," Jim Bob confimed. "It has just worked out great. It is a little more labor intensive for Dad – we did set a curfew. By midnight, every night, we need to make sure everybody is back in their place."
Derick Dillard, who wed Jill Duggar earlier this summer, experienced the same courting rules that Ben is following now. Dillard, 25, admits that the lack of physicality is difficult because wanting to connect in that way is natural. "You're human, and the physical side is there for a reason," Dillard says in the clip. "Naturally, it is going to be difficult if you try to refrain from that."
Seewald and Duggar announced their engagement earlier this month after courting for almost a year.
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