"Counting On" star Joy-Anna Duggar is clearly enjoying her engagement to long-time friend Austin Forsyth, especially now that they are allowed to be more intimate with one another and hold hands.
The Duggars are known for their strict courtship standards, and Joy-Anna followed her father's rules in every one of them. But now that Forsyth has already popped the big question, the two are now free to be a little more affectionate towards one another.
"Austin made this day really, really special," Joy-Anna said in this TLC clip, "and then he asked me to marry him, and I said yes."
"I knew we were ready for this next step because everything fell into place. Everything was just perfect," Austin said.
Joy-Anna was holding on to Austin's arm the entire time the video was being filmed, and she even added: "We get to hold hands now, so that's really special."
Austin said their engagement is special because it happened according to God's perfect timing. "I feel like engagement is more special because we're committed to each other now, and we're just moving forward to the day that we get married, and it's exciting," he said.
The next season of "Counting On" will chronicle Joy-Anna's wedding as well as her elder sister Jessa Seewald's birth to her second son, Henry Wilberforce.
Prior to their engagement, Austin asked Joy-Anna's dad Jim Bob for her hand in marriage, according to PEOPLE. When Jim Bob asked him what made him fall in love with his daughter, Austin said, "You know, over the years, I have just been watching and I really admire her heart for the Lord and her character. She's such a diligent worker. She gets all the younger siblings working. She's a good delegator. And then, of course, her beauty."
