Jill and Jessa Duggar have made their first public appearance since the molestation scandal involving their brother Josh Duggar came to light last month.
The "19 Kids and Counting" stars attended the ALIVE Christian Music Festival in Ohio with their husbands, Derick Dillard and Ben Seewald. Derick and Jill also brought along their 2-month-old son Israel David to the festival.
In the days leading up to the festival, E! News reported that they reached out to event organizers to see which family members would be attending. The organizers reportedly confirmed that Josh and his wife Anna opted not to be at the event this year. The four-day event features activities such as camping, music, seminars, workshops, children's programs, and daily morning worship.
According to People magazine, the sisters spoke during a question and answer session on a festival stage and admitted that their family had their fair share of struggles while not directly addressing the scandal.
"Hey we're not a perfect family, we mess up," Jill said to the crowd. "Imagine what life is like with a family with two or three kids and multiply that about 10 times over and that's what you get."
Instead of talking about the scandal, the four spoke about the love between each couple, and the role of faith in their lives.
Derick shared that in some ways, God prepared him to be part of a big family. He said that he was a mascot in college and at children's parties, and kids would be climbing all over him.
"I kind of felt the same way whenever I'd go over to the Duggars' house before we got married, when we were courting. It was kind of the same, but now … you don't have a giant head on," said Derick.
Meanwhile, Jessa reflected on being about five months pregnant with her first child. She declined to reveal the gender of the baby and said that she and her husband also want to adopt.
The fate of "19 Kids and Counting" remains undetermined but there have been talks of a spin-off involving Jill and Jessa and their husbands.
