It’s only been eight weeks since Jill Duggar and Derick Dillard returned to Arkansas after ten months abroad, but now it looks as though they may be planning to leave the country a second time.
Before the family arrived back in the States, they informed fans that their return home would not be permanent, and now it looks as though they’re planning to relocate already.
Naturally, some fans are wondering if the decision to flee Tontitown so soon after returning home was prompted in part by the ongoing drama resulting from the Josh Duggar sex scandals.
“We are so excited to share that we will be returning in August for a short stateside term that will extend into the fall,” wrote online back in July.
“We are really looking forward to seeing our families after nearly 10 months on foreign soil.”
Now it looks as though Jill and Derick are once again preparing to ship out for parts unknown.
As when they relocated to El Salvador, they probably won’t share any details about their destination with fans.
So it may be quite some time before we find out what part of the world will play host to a pair of high-profile missionaries.
At the moment, of course, it seems fans are more interested in the question of why the Dillards are leaving again than in where they’ll be headed.
Yes, Jill and Derick indicated that their return home would be temporary before they left El Salvador, but it’s hard to imagine that a young couple of first-time parents wouldn’t prefer to spend a bit more time in the presence of their support network.
Perhaps it’s for that reason that so many fans believe that the Dillard’s home state has become toxic to them in the wake of the Josh scandals.
Jill was one of the five girls that Josh molested, and though she’s defended her brother’s unthinkable actions in public, it’s hard to imagine that all is well between the siblings.
Add to that the firestorm of media attention that seems to surround Josh at all time, and it’s not hard to see why the Dillards may feel that Tontitown doesn’t offer an ideal environment in which to raise their son.
Of course, the fact remains that Jill and Derick would probably be content to stay in their hometown if Josh’s crimes had stayed buried.
Which has led to another theory about their apparent eagerness to relocate…
Do the Dillards know something that we don’t about the future of their reality series, Counting On?
For several months now, there have been rumors about Counting On being canceled as a result of mediocre ratings and advertisers’ uneasiness with being associated with the Duggar molestation scandal.
So perhaps Jill and Derick returned home with the intention of playing a larger role in the show, but have realized that there soon won’t be a show to star in.
Whatever the case, it seems unlikely that the continuing fallout from family’s scandalous past hasn’t played a role in Jill and Derick’s future plans.