The Real Lydia (Plath) Wyse: Filming on TLC, Meeting Zac, & a Whirlwind Relationship

Summary

Summary of "The Real Lydia (Plath) Wyse: Filming on TLC, Meeting Zac, & a Whirlwind Relationship" – The Jinger & Jeremy Podcast

Release Date: July 23, 2025

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Introduction

In this heartfelt episode of The Jinger & Jeremy Podcast, hosts Jinger Vuolo and Jeremy Vuolo welcome special guests Lydia Plath Wyse and her new husband, Zach Wise. The episode delves into Lydia's upbringing on a farm, her experiences on TLC's reality shows, and the serendipitous events leading to her whirlwind romance with Zach. This detailed summary captures the essence of their conversation, highlighting key discussions, insights, and memorable moments.

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Guest Introductions and Backgrounds

Jeremy Vuolo opens the episode by expressing excitement about having Lydia and Zach as guests:

"We have Zach and Lydia all the way from Tallahassee area." [02:27]

Lydia Plath introduces herself as part of the Plathville family, clarifying that this is her first time meeting Zach on the podcast despite their reality TV appearances:

"This is our first time meeting." [02:42]

Zach Wise provides a brief overview of his own background, mentioning his recent appearances on Welcome to Plathville:

"Their new season of welcome to Plathville premiered on July 22. You can catch that on Tuesday nights at 10pm Eastern, 7pm Pacific on TLC." [01:54]

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Lydia's Upbringing on the Farm

Lydia Plath shares insights into her childhood, highlighting life on a 45-acre farm with eight siblings:

"I have to say middle child is a tough but really sweet place to be." [03:59]

She describes the unique method her family used for grocery shopping, relying on semi-truck deliveries to obtain bulk groceries and dry goods:

"Instead of going grocery shopping, we would meet a semi truck every two weeks at the top of our driveway and get a pallet of groceries." [06:15]

Lydia emphasizes the importance of healthy living, detailing how her family grew their vegetables and even produced their own bread from scratch:

"We made our bread from scratch. We would start with the whole grain wheat and grind it." [08:24]

She also reminisces about the familial challenges, including the loss of a sibling at a young age, which impacted family communication:

"We had a sibling pass at 17 months when I was 4 years old... we just didn't talk about it." [24:37]

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Zach's Journey and Meeting Lydia

Zach Wise recounts his upbringing in small-town Kansas, his move to Colorado, and his passion for hiking and challenges:

"I started skiing and did a 14er... there are 57 of them in Colorado." [31:10]

Lydia and Zach's Meeting The narrative transitions to how Lydia and Zach met during a church event in Colorado. Initially unaware of each other's reality TV backgrounds, their encounter was marked by a strong, immediate connection.

Notable Moment:

"I couldn't explain it. There was just this joy kind of emanating from her." – Ginger Duggar [01:08]

Their first meeting involved a shared love for adventure, leading them to embark on a challenging hike together.

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The Whirlwind Relationship

The Hiking Adventure

One of the most significant parts of their story is their attempt to hike four 14ers in one day—a testament to their shared love for challenges and faith.

Key Highlights:

• Preparation and Execution: Despite limited sleep, they tackled the mountains with determination.
• Building Trust: During the hike, they engaged in deep conversations about faith, family, and personal beliefs.
• Memorable Quotes:

  "I'm ready to take a risk and say yes to whatever the Lord has for us." – Lydia Plath [80:31]

Deep Conversations and Shared Faith

Their relationship is deeply rooted in their shared Christian faith, which guided their interactions and decisions during their formative days together.

Insightful Moments:

• Open Communication: Lydia discusses how her family's trauma affected their communication, contrasting it with Zach's family's openness.

  "I think a huge reason... is we couldn't talk about it." – Lydia Plath [24:37]

• Shared Spirituality: Both Lydia and Zach emphasize the role of faith in their relationship, often turning to prayer during challenging moments.

  "We just needed God's guidance." – Zach Wise [82:07]

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Growth and Mutual Support

Lydia Plath reflects on how Zach has helped her open up and express her feelings, a significant shift from her upbringing where she often prioritized others over herself:

"He kept telling me my words matter, and that's changed me so much." [26:24]

Zach Wise highlights Lydia's resilience and the mutual support they offer each other:

"We both love a challenge and being intentional about our relationship." [29:35]

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Conclusion and Future Prospects

As the episode wraps up, Lydia and Zach hint at a continuation of their story, teasing a part two that will explore their journey from boyfriend and girlfriend to engagement and marriage.

Final Thoughts:

"We have more to this story. We're looking forward to sharing it with you." – Zach Wise [93:03]

The hosts express their gratitude towards the guests, emphasizing the inspirational nature of their story and the role of faith and intentionality in building strong relationships.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Ginger Duggar on First Impressions:

  "There's this glow about her. I couldn't explain it." [00:58]

• Lydia Plath on Family Communication:

  "We didn't talk about the hardest thing in our life, so we just didn't talk about the deep things." [24:37]

• Zach Wise on Intentionality:

  "Being intentional and being a safe place for her to open up." [27:07]

• Lydia Plath on Overcoming Personal Barriers:

  "The only thing standing in my way is me." [76:51]

• Zach Wise on Relationship Development:

  "We were just being ourselves and having a good time." [71:40]

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Insights and Takeaways

1. Faith as a Foundation: Both Lydia and Zach's relationship is deeply intertwined with their Christian faith, guiding their interactions and growth together.

2. Importance of Intentional Communication: Open and honest communication played a pivotal role in building trust and understanding between Lydia and Zach, contrasting with Lydia's earlier family experiences.

3. Overcoming Personal Barriers: Lydia's journey highlights the significance of self-awareness and addressing personal fears and insecurities to foster meaningful relationships.

4. Shared Values Enhance Connection: Their mutual love for challenges, outdoor adventures, and healthy living reinforced their bond, showcasing how shared interests can deepen relationships.

5. Providence and Serendipity: The couple's story underscores the belief in divine guidance and providential timing in bringing two individuals together.

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Conclusion

This episode offers a deep dive into Lydia Plath Wyse's life beyond reality TV, showcasing her growth, challenges, and the beautiful emergence of her relationship with Zach Wise. Their story is a testament to the power of faith, intentionality, and open communication in building lasting and meaningful connections.

For listeners seeking inspiration in their own relationships or curious about life beyond the screen, Lydia and Zach's journey provides valuable insights and heartwarming moments.

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Transcript

[Lydia Plath]

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[Zach Wise]

How did that work? Was this like the original, original Walmart delivery?

[Ginger Duggar]

I see Lydia and I just like, there's this glow about her. I. I couldn't explain it.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Had you seen the show at this point?

[Ginger Duggar]

No, I not.

[Zach Wise]

So you had no idea who she was?

[Ginger Duggar]

No idea who she was?

[Lydia Plath]

No thing of who was.

[Ginger Duggar]

But I see Lydia.

[Zach Wise]

It's kind of nice, right? Lydia?

[Lydia Plath]

That's really important for me. So we danced and then he was like, you know, we should head back. And I just grab his hand and I pull him back in. And I was like, I'm ready to take a risk and say yes to whatever the Lord has for us. And then we went grocery shopping that afternoon because we need.

[Zach Wise]

Which you had never done. You're like, where's the seven?

[Lydia Plath]

What color is yours? Oh, it's a building.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Okay. We have an episode for you guys that we think you're going to love. We kind of teased it on our socials and you guys definitely blew up the comments talking about how excited you are for this episode. And it is with Lydia Plath and her new husband, Zach. And so Zack and Lydia Wise, they came on the podcast and it's going to be a lot of fun.

[Zach Wise]

Yeah. Their new season of welcome to Plathville premiered on July 22. You can catch that on Tuesday nights at 10pm Eastern, 7pm Pacific on TLC, which we're familiar with.

[Lydia Plath]

Yes.

[Zach Wise]

So, guys, we're going to have them in for a Couple of episodes, and you're going to enjoy it. So let's get into the episode. What's going on, guys? Ginger and Jeremy here back for another episode. And we have in the studio some very special guests.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Y' all are gonna love this. We have Zach and Lydia all the way from Tallahassee area.

[Lydia Plath]

It's great to be here.

[Zach Wise]

Welcome, guys.

[Ginger Duggar]

Oh, my gosh. It was such a. Such a long trek, but it was totally worth it. You guys are awesome. Thank you for hosting us and.

[Zach Wise]

Yeah, of course.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah, we're excited to be here and excited to get to know you guys. Honestly, a lot of fun.

[Lydia Plath]

I know. I just want to say, like, I know a lot of viewers. I think they assume that we know each other, but I just want to clarify, like, this is our first time meeting.

[Zach Wise]

Yep.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

So this is.

[Zach Wise]

And for our viewers and listeners, you'll know Lydia and now Zach from Plathville.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yes.

[Zach Wise]

Welcome to Plathville, which is also on TLC going into the seventh season.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yes.

[Zach Wise]

And so we have a lot of crossover in terms, like, we were just talking offline about different crew members and production cast and all that because of the TLC world.

[Lydia Plath]

There's a lot of crossovers.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Egg, of course, naturally. But it is really fun because there's so many similarities that we have. We both come from a large family. There are so many things that we've talked about where it's just so incredible how many things overlap. I cannot believe it. So we're very excited to get into this conversation with you guys, but we've.

[Zach Wise]

Got to start getting to know you guys because you just got married.

[Ginger Duggar]

We got married.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Congratulations, silly.

[Lydia Plath]

Weds.

[Zach Wise]

That's awesome.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah.

[Zach Wise]

So give us a little bit of your story of how you guys. Well, should we get into the how you met?

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Let's start first with how you like growing up.

[Zach Wise]

Oh, yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

Okay.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Let's start with Lydia. Lydia, growing up. How many siblings did you have? Where were you in the lineup?

[Lydia Plath]

I still have them all. I have. I love it. Eight siblings. I'm the very middle of the nine. And yeah, I would have to say middle child is a tough but really sweet place to be. Cause you get to see the best and the worst of the older siblings. How they were raised, what they were like being a part of their childhood, and the younger siblings being a part of their childhood. The pros and cons to how the parenting changed over the 20 years and all the fun stuff.

[Ginger Duggar]

Raising the younger kids. She's good at that.

[Lydia Plath]

Raising the younger kids. She loved that as soon as my youngest sister, Mercy, started walking, I was like, where's the next baby? So I've had baby fever for, like, 10, 10, 12 years now.

[Ginger Duggar]

So people are like, I've not heard the end of it, but.

[Lydia Plath]

Well, no, I can tell.

[Ginger Duggar]

I have baby fever, too, but I.

[Lydia Plath]

Can tell him, like, we're waiting. I've waited 11 years. I can wait longer. You know, just because I have baby fever doesn't mean I have to have a baby right now. I've been patient for 10, 11 years, so.

[Zach Wise]

Well, you've been hanging out with our little Finnegan, too.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

Oh, it's been the best. I just finished cuddling with him. It was so sweet, just bobbing his little head. I don't think Zach heard the end of it. Every three seconds, I was like, look at him. He's looking at me.

[Zach Wise]

Well, he's at that perfect stage. He's two months, and so he's, like, very interactive. He's starting to make noise. He's smiling at you.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah.

[Zach Wise]

So it's like, a really fun, super fun baby stage.

[Ginger Duggar]

Well, Ginger was telling me and heard that you acknowledged it, too, how strong he is. He just, like, keeps raising the bar.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

He's a little man.

[Zach Wise]

So. Okay, so here's the deal. All parents are gonna say my kid's the strongest, smartest, you know, But Finn actually is. You know what I mean?

[Lydia Plath]

Like, I'm removing all bias until we have ours, and ours will just go.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

I love it.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah, that's good.

[Zach Wise]

So, Lydia, So, okay, you grew up in nine children. I do have a question about that. Were you guys in a atmosphere where a ton of other families had a lot of kids, or did you stand out as a large family?

[Lydia Plath]

Not really. But, yes, we had a few families that we knew that had a large amount of children. One I think you guys might actually know. I think people assume we were, like, in the Bill Gothard stuff at all, But I didn't know anything about Bill Gothard till two years ago, so we weren't a part of that. But we were pretty sheltered in a way, with, like you've said many times, just knowing that our parents had the best intentions. And I think a lot of things that stand out to people with how I was raised, how me and my family were raised, is how healthy we were. Like, we grew most of our vegetables. We grew as much as we could. It's so fun telling these stories. Cause I look back and I'm like, this is insane. But instead of going grocery shopping, we would meet a semi truck every Two weeks at the top of our driveway and get a pallet of groceries. And then once a month we would meet a. A semi and get a pallet of all the dry goods, like the oats, the raisins. We would buy everything by like the five gallon bag or the 50 pound bag or like bulk beyond Costco.

[Zach Wise]

How did that work? Was this like the original Walmart delivery?

[Lydia Plath]

Like, my mom discovered it. I don't know. I've actually wanted to ask her, like, how did you even discover this? Because this is kind of insane. So, yeah, we didn't really go grocery shopping. We would just meet a semi, get.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

A solid food, everything.

[Zach Wise]

That's wild. Because the Duggar experience was, you know, 10 kids going to a grocery store and everybody. Your experience is buying out of the back of a semi truck.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah. So that's. Wow.

[Ginger Duggar]

Into business.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

So would you. Would you just like, meal? I would eat a whole based on whatever showed up. Because was it like a co op style where you just show up and get whatever's on the truck? You can order whatever's on the truck like the week before and then it shows up.

[Lydia Plath]

My mom would place the order a week ahead of time and just get anything. Like, we could get things from all over the world. We got a jackfruit a few times just to experiment. These huge prickly things. What they're like. We got lychees and longans. Like just star fruit. You can order. You could order fruit from all over the world.

[Ginger Duggar]

Inside scoop. That sounds great.

[Zach Wise]

Where was it cozy?

[Jeremy Vuolo]

It was up at the top of your driveway.

[Lydia Plath]

That's incredible.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

I want to do that.

[Ginger Duggar]

Right?

[Zach Wise]

That's next level. Like, that's next level.

[Lydia Plath]

And then like we made like we made our bread from scratch. Like beyond scratch. Like, we would start with the whole grain wheat and grind it. Because if you grind your wheat within 24 hours of making your bread, it still has all the nutrients in it.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

So like we were healthy to the extreme and now we're like really athletic. Like, we all ran spartan races last year and Isaac had never ran a spartan race before. Didn't train, didn't really know what a Spartan race was. He came in, in the top, I think like he was 13. Top 2% in his age range. And just like, I think he got.

[Ginger Duggar]

13Th out of like 1300.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah. So didn't train for it. Just, you know, naturally fit and works out and stuff. But did you first of all, and just.

[Zach Wise]

You need to start. You need to start something where you're like beyond scratch. You need to copyright that. And then you need to show people how to make bread from beyond scratch.

[Ginger Duggar]

That's a good idea because I've never heard of.

[Zach Wise]

I've heard of making it from scratch.

[Lydia Plath]

But you just went deeper after a while.

[Zach Wise]

You were like beyond scratch.

[Lydia Plath]

We went from making it beyond scratch. We would plant the seeds.

[Zach Wise]

Oh, my goodness.

[Lydia Plath]

We didn't, we didn't grow our own wheat just to.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Yeah, but you would just get it in those huge bags.

[Lydia Plath]

We would order our wheat by the pallet. I think we would get like, I don't know, $3,000 worth of wheat. I don't know how many pounds it was.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

And then put it in five gallons.

[Lydia Plath]

Store it in five gallon buckets, seal them. They go in our guest house. And once a month, probably we'd have to walk to our guest house and haul that thing up. And I got strong. Milking the goats at five, you know, that strengthens your grip. And then carrying the five gallon buckets of wheat.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Farm life for sure legit.

[Zach Wise]

So is farm life considered? Because you know how there's a trend for homesteading now. So is farm life homesteading or is homesteading like you don't quite have a farm, but you're trying to live off the land?

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah, like when I say we grew up on a farm, we didn't like farm to sell. We farmed to eat. We just lived off the land. We had chickens and goats and ducks. Guineas. That didn't serve any purpose but to wake you up and to make a mess.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Yes. Everywhere.

[Lydia Plath]

I still miss them somehow.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

We want to take a break from this episode to tell you about Mint Mobile.

[Zach Wise]

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[Jeremy Vuolo]

Yeah. And for a limited time, Mint mobile is offering three months of unlimited premium wireless service for 15 bucks a month. So all your friends are sweating over data, overages and surprise charges. You'll be chilling, literally and financially.

[Zach Wise]

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[Jeremy Vuolo]

We want to take a break from this episode to tell you about Ava.

[Zach Wise]

Yeah. So real quick, got to talk to you about Ava Financial. I remember the first time I got a credit card. I was way too old. I should have gotten one earlier. Because good credit matters. It's important. It helps you function so much easier in life with making good decisions, making big purchases. Well, Ava Financial is here to help your credit. So if you've made some bad decisions or if you've just had a rough time, Ava Financial can help you get on your feet credit wise and get the things you and your family need.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

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[Zach Wise]

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[Jeremy Vuolo]

Now back to the episode.

[Lydia Plath]

And then we had a family garden that I remember some years did so good. Like we harvested five. We harvested 50 gallons. Like froze 50 gallons of blackberries, probably ate another 50 and another 50 went to waste.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

You picked all of them?

[Lydia Plath]

You can't pick them that fast.

[Ginger Duggar]

They just.

[Lydia Plath]

And I remember like corn did. We had so many years of just corn that just did so good. We'd eat like corn every. Every night with dinner. And then we still froze like 20, 30 gallons. Oh God.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

How many deep freezers did you have?

[Lydia Plath]

Three. Three deep freezers. One like just full fridge and then two fridge freezers. Wow. So two of them were in our house. The other three were in the guest house.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Amazing.

[Lydia Plath]

So the guest house was my dad's work office. Cause he worked from home three days out of the week. And then it was the storage space. It was where our winter clothes went. Cause we. It was 11 people in a. A house that was built for two and then added onto. Cause my grandparents built the house, and then we added on a few times, but still, we only had one shower. Two half baths, but one shower. We had a pool. So summertime, it worked out.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Yep. Yep. When you're outside.

[Zach Wise]

Wait, so are you implying, like, the pool became the shower?

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah. I mean, if you didn't have anywhere to go and all you had to do is just hop down, just chores, and then just hop in the pool. If you need to wash her hair, you go wash your hair. But all you're gonna do the next day is get dirty.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

So in the summer, that's the way to go.

[Lydia Plath]

It really is.

[Zach Wise]

Was it effective?

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah, it was. It was fun, too.

[Zach Wise]

Water's water, I guess.

[Ginger Duggar]

I guess.

[Lydia Plath]

I can't tell you how many times we'd ask dad. He'd be like, you guys need to shower. And we'd be like, well, can't we just take the soap into the pool? Like, it's not gonna work like that. We wanted it so bad. We asked so many times, like, can I just take the shampoo bottle to the pool and shower there?

[Zach Wise]

If our daughter's listening to this, I know Felicity's gonna. You're giving Felicity ideas?

[Lydia Plath]

I'm so sorry.

[Ginger Duggar]

Best idea.

[Zach Wise]

Yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

I love it. So, yeah, we were sheltered, but, like, in such a beautiful way, if I can say so. Like, just. We didn't have sugar.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

That's great.

[Lydia Plath]

Just very healthy.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah.

[Zach Wise]

Did you guys have tv?

[Lydia Plath]

We had a tv. We did not have television. We would watch select movies. It's so funny because, like, Zach and I talk about movies and growing up not watching, like, the newest and the latest and talking about the newest and the latest. I didn't get used to, like, memorizing, like, actors, and, like, I just don't do that. Like, it just is irrelevant to me. So Zach will, like, be like, you know, this actor or this movie, And I'm like, I can. Like, I just don't remember it. I can tell you how many times we've sat down to watch a movie that I've never seen before, and then halfway through, I'm like, oh, this one. Because I just don't remember it.

[Zach Wise]

So. That's so funny. We have the same dynamics, 100%. Whether it's music or Same with music, there is just never. And it's not like Ginger has a phenomenal memory. In fact, we were just talking. I think she's got a Photographic memory. Because we'll go somewhere. Like, there have been so many times where we'll be in a place that's like, Ohio or Austin, Texas, and we've been there once, driving through to somewhere else, and she'll go, oh, no, no, no. You take the next exit. I'm like, how do you know that?

[Jeremy Vuolo]

I picture it. Like, I can see it.

[Lydia Plath]

Take you back to directional with any.

[Ginger Duggar]

With her, she knows, like, she'll go one place once and, like, know it.

[Zach Wise]

Yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

But it's like, I think she grew up, like, having to look at maps and, like, doing all that stuff too. Like, yeah. I think she has great memory in that, specifically, because she would always do road trips.

[Lydia Plath]

On road trips, it'd be like, mom and dad would hand us the maps because we'd ask all the time, like, where are we now? Because we'd travel, like, from Florida all the way to Minnesota or all the way to Missouri, like, long road trips. And so instead of mom and dad answering which state we're in all the time, they'd be like, look at the signs, look at the map, and figure it out yourself.

[Zach Wise]

So that's good parenting. Even if it was just them being bothered by kids in the backseat nagging them. That's good parenting.

[Lydia Plath]

It is.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

And it took you three hours to figure out where you were on the map.

[Lydia Plath]

I would get so frustrated when the person in front of me was blocking the signs all the time. But anyways, I've actually been talking about that with Zach. You know, we're talking about parenting in a way now that we're, like, ready but still gotta talk about it before you get there. And I've just been emphasizing on that a lot of, like, instead of solving all the problems for your children, you let them solve it. That builds their confidence level like nothing else, letting them solve it themselves, and.

[Zach Wise]

It equips them for life. Because life is about problem solving.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah.

[Zach Wise]

And so even if it's a different. If they're used to the mentality of problem solving, it'll help them. Even if it's a map, that'll translate into other aspects of life. So I've got a question. As you were being raised and you said, like, sheltered, was that just because that was just kind of the lifestyle of your parents? Like, hey, we're gonna live on a farm. Was there, like, religious motivation for that? Was there, like, what was the thinking behind that?

[Lydia Plath]

I think a lot of the motivation behind it was my mom had a really rough childhood. Growing up, she was a single child with a Single alcoholic mother and she just wanted to give her children so much more. So she didn't want to have an only child. Cause she knew how lonely it was. Playing war by yourself and playing chess by yourself and all this stuff. And then she just grew up in the world a ton and that really affected her. And so she wanted to give us the opposite. And maybe she went a little too far in that, but it was still like, it balanced out to be beautiful.

[Ginger Duggar]

Well, I also think your dad, he grew up on a farm, so I think there is definitely.

[Lydia Plath]

My dad grew up. Well, my dad grew up on a dairy farm and he was against getting cows or goats.

[Zach Wise]

Oh, really?

[Lydia Plath]

Because he was like, he had so much trauma from growing up on a dairy farm and being woken up at 3am in the morning, the cows are in the neighbor's field, all this stuff. So he was like, if we get goats, you guys are taking care of them. So I like how the rooster, you.

[Ginger Duggar]

Guys are living through the trauma.

[Zach Wise]

The rooster is trauma. And here's the thing, a rooster is trauma.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

That's the worst.

[Zach Wise]

If you've been woken up at 4:00'. Clock.

[Lydia Plath]

We had the best rooster. His name was Mahershala Hashbez. You can find. It's. It's in Sweden.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

What a name.

[Ginger Duggar]

Say it again.

[Zach Wise]

Your pronunciation is impressive.

[Ginger Duggar]

One more time.

[Lydia Plath]

Mahershal Hashbez.

[Zach Wise]

That's brilliant.

[Lydia Plath]

And he was the sweetest rooster. But we did have other mini roosters. Yes, I agree.

[Zach Wise]

So what happened to Maherash?

[Lydia Plath]

So with the. With the farm?

[Zach Wise]

No, what happened at Mahesh Lahash?

[Lydia Plath]

My. He just got old. He lived a beautiful life.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

So sad.

[Lydia Plath]

We had him for probably 10 years and he was beautiful. He was an amazing rooster.

[Zach Wise]

What time would he wake you up?

[Lydia Plath]

Oh, he wasn't close enough to the house to wake us up, so that's why he's okay. But yeah, so like the reason we grew up on the farm was my grandparents built the house like I said, and then when they passed, they.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

And it had land.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah, it had 45 acres. Oh, wow. So it just worked perfect. We ended up on the farm. My parents ended up there when the third was born or just before their third child was born and then just adapted to the farm life.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

We want to take a break from this episode to tell you about Field of Greens.

[Zach Wise]

Are annual doctor checkups important to you? Do you care about your internal health? Are you thinking about staying healthier for longer? Then you need to consider Field of Greens. So Field of Greens is a fruit and vegetable drink. That's selected to support your body health, your heart, your liver, your kidneys, even to help you have healthy blood cells.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

This Field of Greens customer wrote the best blood work I've had in a decade. My doctor said, whatever you're doing, keep doing it.

[Zach Wise]

Yeah. Another said that for the first time in years, my cholesterol numbers are normal, which is huge.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

And this mom said, after Field of Greens, my hair, nails, energy, and blood work are all better.

[Zach Wise]

Yeah. So we're gonna get you started with 20% off and free shipping. Visit fieldofgreens.com and use our code ginger. That's fieldofgreens.com use code ginger to get 20% off and free shipping.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Now back to the episode.

[Lydia Plath]

My mom didn't, like, know how to cook. She didn't know all the things, but she just learned it. And, like, that is something to be appreciated, how much she just grew and learned for the sake of her children and giving them as much as they. As much as she could. And I just look back at, like, her childhood and then what she was able to give us. And even though, of course there's gonna be flaws, like, I know we're gonna have one day we're gonna have flaws in our parenting that our children are gonna be able to spot out. There's just so much to be appreciated for it.

[Zach Wise]

That's such a mature and healthy perspective because it is easy to look back and to criticize. And, you know, I joke with couples who aren't yet parents. Like, hey, enjoy judging parents now while you can, because once you have kids, the realization of what goes into it and parents doing their best. So, like, go out to Applebee's, watch the parents coming in with scream child and judge them hard, knowing, like, the time is ticking. You're not going to be allowed to do that anymore. Like, once you have a kid, you're going to go, oh. And so it's easy to look back and be like, oh, this or that. But to have a perspective of like, hey, they were doing their best. And my parents came to us when my. My brother and sister and I were grown in college, and they sat down with us. And it was one of the sweetest core memories I have with my parents where they just said, hey, we've kind of been convicted about some things we did raising you. And we just want to say we're sorry for this or that. And my brother and sister and I were all like, of course we forgive you. We love you. We had a wonderful childhood. But they had the objectivity in Looking back, saying, you know, we wish we had done this different or done that different, but to have, you know, as young adults, like the perspective looking back and I don't know, all the challenges you guys have walked through.

[Ginger Duggar]

Right.

[Zach Wise]

But I think everyone's walked through challenges because no parents are perfect.

[Ginger Duggar]

Right.

[Zach Wise]

But to say to see their intention and to see the good is really sweet.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah.

[Zach Wise]

And mature, I would say.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

I love it.

[Ginger Duggar]

Absolutely. Especially when you see, you know, previous parents who have dealt with traumatic experiences, like, you know, not always had the greatest parents or gone. Like my parents, for example, they didn't always have the greatest childhood. You know, they had some just rejection or just emotional abuse in different levels. And so it's like for them to come together and really support their kids emotionally, like, I think that was one of the richest things about my family is we're so close together and like, you know, we always. We just talk stuff out and we're very emotionally inclined towards one another.

[Lydia Plath]

That was one of the first, like, eye opening, shocking things about his family is how much they communicate, talk openly about everything, the deep stuff, the hard stuff, and they'll just talk until they resolve things. And my family's not like that. And I think a huge reason, I think, like, what's at the root of that is we had a sibling pass at 17 months when I was 4 years old, and it was in the hands of my mom. It was a very tragic accident. And because it affected her so much, we couldn't talk about it. And so, like, the deepest, hardest thing that happened in our childhood, we couldn't talk about around her, so we just didn't talk about it. And because we didn't talk about the hardest thing in our life, we just didn't talk about the deep things. So I think that's just what's affected us in that way of like, not not talking about the hard things is we weren't able. We didn't talk about the hardest thing in our childhood. So then seeing his family and how much they just talk about everything, I'm just like, I don't know if I can handle this. This is a lot. Which he's really helped me with. Zach has helped me grow in so many ways. And one of those is just being able to talk through things, being able to confront. I do not like confrontation, but when you're in a safe place, it's a good thing. And he is a safe place. So it's been a beautiful journey.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah, I think a big part of that too is just like I invite that confrontation a lot because I'm like, hey, I know I'm not gonna get it right all the time. And I know that your opinion or your words matter to me. So it's like, what you have to say about what you're feeling, I want to hear whether it's gonna hurt me or not.

[Lydia Plath]

Him saying that over and over again. Your words matter has changed me so much, because being the middle child of nine, going from being the middle child to the oldest at. Oldest at home at 15. And then when my mom left when I was about 17, then becoming like a mother role is just like, I just did what I had to do to keep things going. I was also working and in school, so I was just doing what I could to survive to. Of course I was thriving. Like, I was enjoying it and having a good time. For the most part. I was way overwhelmed.

[Ginger Duggar]

She was just doing what she could to support her family.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

And I think, like, that's not.

[Lydia Plath]

I was doing what I could for others, and I never, like, took the time to, like, speak my voice or understand what my opinion was, really. So for Zach to be like, no, your opinion matters, like, what your thoughts matters, your feelings matter. That, like, just really changed me. It's like. And it's taken me a long time to be able to access those feelings, because for so long, if you don't access them, they just. You forget about them. So he's helped me open that back up and being able to express my thoughts, my feelings about things, which has enriched our relationship, too.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

That's huge.

[Zach Wise]

Wow. Okay, let's hear from you then, Zach, about your upbringing and where you're coming from.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah. So I was born in Colorado. We lived there for four years before we moved to Kansas. Kind of grew up there. Yeah. And just had two older sisters, mom and dad, raised in a Christian home. And we all just. Yeah. Just kind of went through life, small town Kansas, and went through school and then. Yeah, it was just, like, really sweet, I think, having that small town upbringing. Like, we weren't necessarily, like, we weren't in the farm life or anything, but just really made us close in terms of, like, you have your friends and you have your people that you know, but there's only, like, so many people you can meet and so many people you can interact with. So it's like, oh, you're just in my life. And so. And, yeah, like, there's just a lot of dynamics that I didn't always get along with with a small town. So it was just kind of, like, which is totally fine. So I just got close with my family, and, like, I love his family so much. Yeah, we'd always hang out with my closest sister, who's only 16 months older than me, so that was really cool. Just have that closeness. And then went to college for a year. Covid happened. So moved on from that, I decided to drop out and move to Colorado for four years before I met Lydia. But, yeah, kind of went out on my own and really gave myself opportunity by just, like, kind of doing labor jobs at the start, but then eventually getting into tennis. I coach tennis now. And just this big, like, kind of just taking opportunities as they came, but also building that around community. Like, almost every opportunity I got was from people within the church or from people around me, just because I had that intention with these people. And so those opportunities kept coming, and I just took them, and I was actionable and very attentive to them because. And when you do that, I feel like you can make any opportunity a good opportunity.

[Lydia Plath]

Zach is the most present, intentional person I've ever met, and it's. It's what's led him here. Like, he would. We wouldn't be here literally in any way, shape, or form if it wasn't for just how intentional and loving, caring.

[Ginger Duggar]

And genuine, which we'll get into in a minute. I'm excited to talk.

[Zach Wise]

Yeah, we got to get to that. We got to get to your story. But first, you became quite the mountain man in Colorado.

[Ginger Duggar]

Oh, yeah.

[Zach Wise]

So talking about that. Did that. Is that a Colorado thing, or had you always had a yearning to climb the 14ers?

[Lydia Plath]

That was kind of my desire. That got us there.

[Zach Wise]

Oh, really?

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Yeah, a little bit about that, too.

[Ginger Duggar]

But there is this. I've talked to many people who have lived in Colorado their whole lives. They've never been in the mountains. They've never skied, never done anything like that. I'm like, what in the world? But, you know, to each their own, whatever. But I loved the mountains. That's what, like, the main reason I went out there. I took a trip kind of the year before I moved out and was just, like, in awe of just the majesty and the big mountains. Kind of like, met God there, honestly, like, he was just. It showed me how big God was, especially being in, like, small town Kansas. I was like, wow, this is.

[Zach Wise]

There's. There's something good that happens to the soul. Like in David in Psalm 8, when he says, when I look at the heavens, the work of your fingers, what is man that you're Mindful of him. Yeah. And you realize your smallness and there is an encounter with the divine because you realize, you get off your phone, you get off the busyness of corporate America and you step out and go, whoa.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah.

[Zach Wise]

It does something to you.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

Which we'll get to our peak experience of that.

[Zach Wise]

Oh, I want to hear that you.

[Ginger Duggar]

Guys are bringing up all these. Oh, good to talk about.

[Zach Wise]

I'll just say this. My mom was just in Aspen, Colorado, because she pursued music there.

[Ginger Duggar]

Perfect. Okay.

[Zach Wise]

And so she just went back. My sister took her back after 45 years.

[Ginger Duggar]

Okay. Yeah.

[Zach Wise]

And so they start hiking and they see a bear. So they went, okay, we'll hike a different job. Maybe we'll hike tomorrow.

[Ginger Duggar]

I didn't encounter any bears, thank goodness, but was warned against them several times. But yeah. So moved out to Colorado and I think in the second year I started skiing and did a 14er. A 14er is a 14,000 foot mountain. So. And there's 57 of them in Colorado. I think it's 57 my P. 57.

[Lydia Plath]

Lots of hiking opportunities.

[Ginger Duggar]

You can hike so many mountains out there. So it just got me, you know, active and it was just so fun. I mean, just being in the big mountains. It's just.

[Lydia Plath]

And we both love a challenge.

[Ginger Duggar]

Amazing. So, yeah, that was a big thing. Like when we first met, she's like, I just love a challenge. Which we'll talk about is hilarious.

[Zach Wise]

Okay. So we keep. We keep going. We're going to talk about it. So let's talk.

[Ginger Duggar]

Let's talk about it.

[Zach Wise]

We got to get to.

[Lydia Plath]

I love our stories so much.

[Zach Wise]

You start your story wherever you want to start it from whoever's perspective. But we got to get to where Lydia and Zach are.

[Ginger Duggar]

So we started with kind of our pre stories of knowing each other. So we'll kind of get there a little bit more. I like it. So I. In the last, like. So last year, 2024, I was traveling a lot. I was kind of going from a couple different jobs, had some money saved up, went to 13 states and out of the country for the first time. And so just adventure after adventure. Just really taking stuff in stride and really enjoying it for what it was. And in that, I went to Alaska. I had a job opportunity to do to build cabins in Alaska. Great. Lots of Fun. Sunset at 11:30 and it rose at 4am so and we were tent camping. You know, we were building the cabin.

[Lydia Plath]

So it was the Denali, which is like.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah, at the foot of Denali. So we were in talkeetna Alaska. And it's just this beautiful landscape. I went salmon fishing and, like, so.

[Zach Wise]

I thought Denali was a GMC suv. So you're telling me that's a place?

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah, it's the tallest mountain in America.

[Lydia Plath]

Oh, really?

[Jeremy Vuolo]

So I feel like I should know that, but I don't.

[Zach Wise]

We just. We're learning a lot. That's okay.

[Ginger Duggar]

That's okay.

[Lydia Plath]

So two years ago, I covered 38 states in that year, see 13 states.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Out of the country for the first time. 38 states in one year.

[Lydia Plath]

So then when he was telling me about Alaska, that was like one of the.

[Ginger Duggar]

Sparked some.

[Lydia Plath]

One of the first. Many things. There were many first things that just like sparked the conversation, but that was one of the first ones.

[Ginger Duggar]

How long ago?

[Jeremy Vuolo]

She's like, that's the only place I've never been. Yeah, since you've been everywhere else.

[Zach Wise]

Was it one that you hadn't been to? Oh, wow.

[Lydia Plath]

Alaska is a place that I really want to go. And he had been.

[Ginger Duggar]

And I was like, so back to kind of that story. She went to 38 states and went around Colorado.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah, I just heard everywhere.

[Ginger Duggar]

So she missed Colorado. So there's this burning desire in her. Just like, Colorado is so amazing. So I go to Alaska. I'm supposed to be there for a certain amount of time. Okay. But we finish the cabins early and I come back early. Okay.

[Lydia Plath]

So he comes back early. How did I end up in Colorado? I have a photographer friend who does elopements and she wanted to grow her portfolio in Colorado and she asked if I wanted to come along, just be a travel buddy. So we planned a trip to Colorado for six weeks to explore Colorado to.

[Ginger Duggar]

Five weeks, but it became six weeks.

[Lydia Plath]

That's true. So we went to Colorado and several months beforehand, we were just planning our trip and we were like, be there for several weeks. We might as well see if there's a church in the area that we want to visit. So we were just looking online and the only one that stood out to us was Mountain View Mountain got to Colorado. A friend of my friends invited us to Mountain View. So we showed up that morning and someone there invited us to young adults. I have not seen her since. She may have been an angel because she's just gone. I haven't seen her.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

That's crazy.

[Zach Wise]

That's so funny. We have an angel kind of character in our meeting. Like a very mysterious person who connected me with her sister, brother in law and then like disappears.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah, it's just like God just sent her for purpose.

[Ginger Duggar]

This is like, the chance, stuff like that, you know, Months before she even takes this trip, she sees my church and then it comes up again. So then she goes to the church and it's like, I don't know you, but you should go to this event tonight.

[Lydia Plath]

Wow. Yeah. So my friend was planning on going to the event, but I had a phone call scheduled that night because I had been talking to this guy for a while, and he had just taken him six months, asked me on a date for the first time. So I had a call scheduled with him that night. I obviously was not looking for anyone. And for the first time ever, he canceled the call because he was too tired. And by that point, it was already like 30 minutes till my friend was going to leave. And I was like, you know what? I've had a full day. I think I just want to spend some time here by myself. Just me and the Lord, you know, just have some good worship and just have some alone time tonight. And my friend is so cool, so, like, easygoing. She'd never done this before, but this one time she was like, no, you should come with me.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah, like, putting her foot down. Like, let's go.

[Lydia Plath]

Like, lydia, you're not staying here. You're coming with me tonight. So we went and.

[Ginger Duggar]

And so they come up to this event. I'm a life group leader for the young adults there at my church. And we were having the young adult.

[Lydia Plath]

Which only happened once a month, by the way.

[Ginger Duggar]

It happens once a month.

[Lydia Plath]

So it happened to be that Sunday.

[Ginger Duggar]

I had just got back from Alaska like two, three weeks ago. And so I'm there and I'm just like. We usually go around and, like, meet new people. And I'm looking around and I see Lydia Plath. At the time, it's Lydia Wise.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Now, had you seen the show at this point?

[Ginger Duggar]

No.

[Zach Wise]

You had no idea who she was?

[Ginger Duggar]

No idea who she was?

[Lydia Plath]

No thing of who I was.

[Ginger Duggar]

But I see Lydia.

[Zach Wise]

It's kind of nice, right?

[Lydia Plath]

Lydia, that's really important for me.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah, Yeah, I see Lydia and I just like. There's this glow about her. I couldn't explain it. There was just this joy kind of emulating from her. And I've described it many times that I'm like, this is the fruit that I've always seen in her, that she is living for Christ and living, you know, for that relationship. And so didn't meet her. Didn't, like, didn't. Yeah, like, just saw her and was like, okay, cool.

[Lydia Plath]

He didn't have the nerve to say hi I'm joking.

[Ginger Duggar]

Well, we'll get there.

[Zach Wise]

We'll get there. Hey, that's. So that's part of it, though. For a young man, when you meet the one, there should be this, like.

[Ginger Duggar]

Oh, boy. Yeah.

[Zach Wise]

Yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

So there was. I, like. I was like, oh, goodness, this is. This is something. And I was like, I, like, took a step back, like, out of myself. I was like, okay, God, if this is you. And like, if I'm meant to meet her, you'll have me meet her before the end of the night. And like, I literally kind of prayed that to myself.

[Zach Wise]

And then God's saying, go walk over and say hi. Yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

But it was crazy. I didn't meet her at the event.

[Lydia Plath]

Young adults ended. About 40 of us went to ice cream. And who knew? We ended up in line next to each other.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah, we, like, drove to ice cream separately. Like, I didn't think I'd see her again, end up in line next to her. And I had heard in like a conversation that they were from Florida. So I was like. I started out like, oh, you guys are from Florida. That's kind of sick. Like, what are you doing here? And then just had this two hour conversation about our adventures. About 38 states, him going to Alaska.

[Lydia Plath]

Which is one place I really want to go that I haven't been.

[Ginger Duggar]

Just my Alaska journey. And then I had gone skydiving earlier that year, and I told her about skydiving and then how I climbed.

[Lydia Plath]

I really wanted to do that too.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

You're like, let's jump tandem.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah.

[Zach Wise]

Right. Wait, but what happened to. What happened to ice cream in the line? Like, did you guys.

[Ginger Duggar]

In process for two hours.

[Lydia Plath]

Two hours. It took probably 30 minutes for us to get ice cream because there's a lot of people. And then we stood outside in the rain and just talked for another two hours.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

In the rain?

[Ginger Duggar]

No, it's like.

[Zach Wise]

So eating ice cream in the rain or what?

[Lydia Plath]

Well, it was. It was just light rain and I like it.

[Ginger Duggar]

It wasn't terribly cold. It's August.

[Zach Wise]

You got to remember, by the way, wow, Dancing.

[Ginger Duggar]

Do you guys dance in the rain? No, we have a story about that.

[Lydia Plath]

Just by.

[Ginger Duggar]

Anyway, anyway, so.

[Lydia Plath]

So you gotta remember. I, like, in the back of my mind, I was kind of mad at myself for having a good time with talking, even though we were just getting ice cream. Talking. It was like my friend was there too. It was the three of us talking, not just Zach and I, but I was still just like, I felt guilty for having such a good time. And at one point you know, we were talking about all our adventures and hiking, and I was like, I really want to go hiking. My friend wanted to go hiking, but she didn't want, like, a real challenge. I wanted a challenge, and I found Zach was the gateway to that. So we.

[Ginger Duggar]

So I was like, yeah, I've done many 14ers before, so, like, we can totally do something.

[Lydia Plath]

So we're gonna go hiking. We're go hiking. And Zach was like, yeah, I can just get one of your contact informations. And literally, when he said that, I just went like. I was like, I am not gonna do this. I'm not gonna give my contact. I'm not starting anything here. And so I just, like, looked off into the different distance with a blank stare until my friend jumped in, was like, yeah, here's my Instagram.

[Zach Wise]

And did you notice that at the time. Yeah, you picked up on.

[Ginger Duggar]

Was like. There was, like, a very min. Like it. Because Anna, her friend, like, jumped in quick enough, but there was, like, a split second of, like, Lydia definitely just had, like, an ejection from the conversation in that way.

[Lydia Plath]

I was like, I'm not going to do this. Yeah. Like I said, by the end of the night, I felt guilty for having such a good time. And then he invited us to Young adults. No, Life group. Life group on Wednesday. Well, he didn't tell us that. He was just like, you guys can come to the life group if you want. So we show up and start conversation, and then life group starts, and turns out he's leading it. And I'm like, well, you didn't tell this kind of like this. And then that was the night that he and my friend planned the hiking trip. And so we planned the hiking. We planned the hiking trip. And I think it was, like, two days later, they show up. Zach got two of his friends to come along. So it was five of us going.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

To say, did the guys. Did everybody else bail?

[Ginger Duggar]

No, I had, like.

[Lydia Plath]

I was like.

[Ginger Duggar]

The first time they got to feel good about it.

[Zach Wise]

Sure, sure.

[Lydia Plath]

The first hike, everyone came along, it was five of us. They showed up at our place. So, like, 5am I was still in my pajamas, and I was just, like, not having it. I was wearing these pajamas that said, like, love all over them. Zach Fox is like, love your pajamas. And I was just like. I was not taking. Not having anything.

[Ginger Duggar]

Okay, I'll make you breakfast. Just go.

[Lydia Plath]

So he cooked breakfast for everyone.

[Zach Wise]

Oh, that's nice.

[Lydia Plath]

Well, I. Yeah. Just to avoid him, I. I tried to win as much as I could. It obviously didn't work, but so we started the hike. Well, on the way to the hike, Sack accidentally slipped out that this was one of the more easier 14ers. A 14er was a challenge.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Oh, so you were.

[Lydia Plath]

Because there's no oxygen out there. So I was like, I want a challenge.

[Ginger Duggar]

He was like, she was upset. She literally was. I'm like, dude, what are you doing here? Like, I didn't come here to take it easy. And I'm like, all right, whatever. Like. And so.

[Lydia Plath]

And he happened to mention that there is this one challenge that he's been wanting to do for a While that includes four 14ers and that you can hike in one day. It's a big loop. And I was just like, when?

[Ginger Duggar]

Like, wow. Straight up. Before the hike. Before the first one?

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

Hasn't experienced it. She's like. When? I'm like.

[Lydia Plath]

He was like, I don't know.

[Ginger Duggar]

I was thinking, maybe I'm working, maybe next year.

[Zach Wise]

You're not doing a great job avoiding him at that point.

[Ginger Duggar]

I know, right?

[Zach Wise]

When you say, let's hike four mountains.

[Lydia Plath]

Together, that's what I wanted. So then I was like, what are you doing Monday?

[Ginger Duggar]

Oh, my God.

[Lydia Plath]

I'm actually available Labor Day. So he wasn't working, and I was.

[Ginger Duggar]

Just like, oh, that worked out.

[Lydia Plath]

So we kind of tentatively planned on, like, we'll see how we feel after the first mountain if we want to do four in one day. So we start the mountain. You can tell us.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah, so we start the mountain. We, like, kind of approach the start of the trailhead. And I'm like, look, that's where we're going. And she's like, where? And she looks at it and basically just takes off. She's like, I'm going. I want to get this.

[Lydia Plath]

It was like a spartan race for me. I just started, like, chucking that thing.

[Ginger Duggar]

I was nervous for her. She was like, I'm like, you're from Florida. You're going to pass out because of the low oxygen here. Little did I know that she, you know, before scratch, or.

[Zach Wise]

Yeah, before she scratched her own bread, brother, you know that it's before scratch. It's pre scratch.

[Lydia Plath]

My fels had been.

[Zach Wise]

So that's copyright, by the way. The Lydia Platt.

[Lydia Plath]

I like that Lydia Wise had been so just dense and nutrients that they were like, we can take on anything.

[Ginger Duggar]

The bread she ate when she was a child has ingrained her for this moment. So, no. But she takes off. I'm like, all right, I gotta, like, keep up with her, make sure she's still alive and, like, basically double the pace of the rest of the people we're.

[Lydia Plath]

So the two of us hiked while the three other friends stuck together. And then Zach, being just the intentional person he is, just started asking me all these questions. Cause I think the night before, I. I don't. Like, I don't just tell people I'm on a show. So, like. But the night before, he was asking me about, like, I don't know. He's trying to get out of me. Like, how. How do you travel so much? And, like, you say you're a server and you travel.

[Ginger Duggar]

There's some stuff adding up for me. You're here in Colorado, go around the world like this.

[Lydia Plath]

So I was like, hell, I tried to avoid it for a while, and I was like, okay, so there is another income I have. So I did tell him about the show the first night. Which I gotta say, like, him not knowing about it is a huge thing for me. Cause if you. I don't know, like, for me, if I had a guy who knew about the show and that was interested in me, I would have so many questions. I would have to sift through everything of, like, what are your real intentions? What is. Like, I need to know everything here. And it would have been a lot slower for us. Cause I would have just. Yeah, it would have taken me a long time to gain my trust. I'll just say that. So having that cleared, knowing he didn't know anything about the show, he didn't know anything about all that. He just.

[Ginger Duggar]

But then I continued to ask more intimidations.

[Lydia Plath]

So, yeah, he started asking questions about everything and just. We just ended up sharing so much, sharing our testimonies. I shared my testimony on the hike up. He shared his testimony on the hike down. And we just had the best time. Like, the talking, just our chemistry, the joy we both share. Being low on oxygen, we just laughed. Well, I was the entire way down.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Like you said. You shared your testimony on the way up. That stuck in my mind is like, you're going up there and you're talking.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah. I don't know how.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

She's running up and you're chasing her.

[Lydia Plath]

You're like, I don't know how we did it. We kept a steady pace and a conversation. Wow.

[Ginger Duggar]

The majority point in the hike, we were like, we can stop talking for a minute.

[Lydia Plath]

So it was like one.

[Ginger Duggar]

Get our breath back.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Was that you, though? That wasn't.

[Lydia Plath]

That wasn't lit.

[Ginger Duggar]

I did say that. And then. And then we, like, got right back to talking.

[Lydia Plath]

Because by that point we were like 13,500ft. The oxygen was really low. It was a steep climb. The rocks were, you know, unstable. He was like, we should probably just focus on the hike and get up safely, and then we can talk on the way down. Well, we ended up just laughing the whole way down again, like, all right, five minutes late. We were talking.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

And, yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

So the first hike, laughed the whole way down. And then in the car, so all our friends were like, what is happening?

[Lydia Plath]

We were, like, oxygen deprived and having just a great time. We. At first we thought it was just the oxygen that we were laughing, but then we later found out, no, it was us.

[Ginger Duggar]

I knew it was us from the beginning. And I was like. I was kind of, like frustrated at you for making excuse. Like, oh, it was just the oxygen. I'm like, I feel something.

[Zach Wise]

Does a lack of oxygen make you laugh?

[Lydia Plath]

And I think I called my dad.

[Ginger Duggar]

Something inside, but I don't know.

[Lydia Plath]

I called my dad on the drive home and I was just. I couldn't get a word out. I was just laughing so hard, and he was just like, literally, what's happening? He was like, do you need to call me back when you conform sentences? And I thought, like, that was hilarious. I just laughed for another five minutes. And so.

[Ginger Duggar]

And I'm picking up on all these little things.

[Lydia Plath]

My dad, I think, at that point was like, yeah, low on oxygen, but I think there's more here.

[Zach Wise]

Right.

[Lydia Plath]

I think on the drive home was when we were both. I was like, so what do you think about Monday? You down for the four? And he was like, really?

[Ginger Duggar]

I was like, I'll let you know tomorrow.

[Lydia Plath]

I was like, I'll let you.

[Ginger Duggar]

That was Saturday. We go to church Sunday.

[Lydia Plath]

Sunday we went to church. He came and sat next to me, which his friend group, like the college age people, sit on the other side of the church. I was sitting on the other side of the church, and he came and sat next to me. And I was like.

[Zach Wise]

At this point, were you feeling less guilty about enjoying this? How were you processing that in your mind?

[Lydia Plath]

Did you break. It was the other part you were talking to. It was a tug of war for me. It was whirlwind for me because I was like, yeah, I'd only. Like, the guy I'd been talking to. I'd only seen him once, and, like, he lived far away, so we couldn't, like, just meet up.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

And, you know, like, he's. We had great conversations, but I was just like, I don't know if there's really anything here. Like, are we just talking because we have good conversations or, you know, like, all this stuff? So it was just a battle for me. Yeah. I was just like, yeah, well, the Lord was clear. And then we went to lunch.

[Ginger Duggar]

Well, so I had introduced her to my best friend, and I was like, hey, like, this is Noah. He's my best friend. And, like, he had asked because I mentioned it to him. I was like, are you guys doing the four 14ers in one day? And I was like, I don't know yet. And she was like.

[Lydia Plath]

I was like, yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

She was like, yeah, are we? And I was like, I guess we are. Yeah, sure. And so that was decided.

[Lydia Plath]

That was decided that afternoon.

[Ginger Duggar]

And after.

[Lydia Plath]

But then we went to lunch. And what kind of brought my walls down a little bit? We were at lunch. It was just my friend and I and Zach, he said he was gonna see if he could bring other friends along. I don't think he tried really hard. So it was just the three of us, and the table next to us had a few children and a little baby. And Zach. I had never seen a man adore a child so much. And I was like, you have baby fever, too. I don't know. It was just, like, one of those things that's just played.

[Zach Wise]

Zach.

[Lydia Plath]

It was just one of those things. It's like, I've never seen a man so, like, just tender and sensitive in, like, caring for someone else's child. Like, it was just so. I don't know. It brought my walls down.

[Ginger Duggar]

So I didn't, like, pick up the baby or anything.

[Zach Wise]

Yeah. That family's, like, looking at you like, what is this?

[Lydia Plath]

They called the police.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

What are you doing with my child?

[Ginger Duggar]

It sounds like I, like, went out of my way to, like, revive this baby.

[Lydia Plath]

How often do you come across a guy who just, like, adores children? It's not very common. I was like, that's really precious. Like, that's. I like that. So it brought my wall down a little bit. And then we went grocery shopping that afternoon because we needed.

[Zach Wise]

Which you had never done, apparently. You're like, where's the semi? Why are there doors?

[Lydia Plath]

What's my.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

What color is your cell?

[Lydia Plath]

Oh, it's a building.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah. I was, like, walking her through it all. Like, oh, this is a chapel.

[Lydia Plath]

I would grocery shop for the family. By the time when I was, like, 6, 16, I started.

[Ginger Duggar]

I was like, did you bring your wallet? She's like, what's that?

[Lydia Plath]

Oh, my goodness. So this is the best. So, yeah, we were Going to cook a, a big hearty meal. Cuz doing 4 mountains in one day, you know, you can only bring so much food along. If you don't have a good start, it's going to be tough. So Chicken Alfredo made chicken Alfredo. She.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

She ground the, the kernels.

[Lydia Plath]

No, I'm joking. So Zach is cooking the chicken. I was doing the dishes and we were just talking and this was the first time he gave me butterflies. I was just doing the dishes and he just like popped up right beside me with chicken on the fork and was like, how's this taste? And it was like just so sided and I was like, smooth. Like we're cooking together and he made the chicken. I'm trying. It's like smooth. So good. Yeah. Anyways, they gave me a butterfly.

[Zach Wise]

Hey, look, I think Gingin, you can speak to this. I think a single girl who's being, you know, noticing a guy, I think that would. You're picking up these little things going, like you're getting the vibe. Like, he's ready.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah. Like he likes children, he can cook, he's caring.

[Zach Wise]

He made breakfast.

[Lydia Plath]

Thoughtful. He made breakfast for everyone.

[Zach Wise]

He can hike.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah. So we're making this meal together and like I've been preparing this inner monologue.

[Lydia Plath]

He's been preparing this speech ever since he met me.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah. Because she's just like, when I met her, she's glowing. So it's just this, like, I'm taking my time, being patient.

[Lydia Plath]

And this has been one week since we met.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah, one week.

[Zach Wise]

Probably felt like six months.

[Ginger Duggar]

I know it's a lot, but I basically am just like, hey. Like, I don't know if there's. Like my friends had told me, like, hey, she might be talking to a guy. Like, her friend mentioned it to us that she might be involved with the guy. So just clarify. So my friends were looking out for me and I was like, okay, cool. And so I was like, hey, I don't know if there's like another guy at home or if there is anything, you know, going on. I want to be respectful and I just, I know that like something's happening.

[Lydia Plath]

Like the way, I can't deny this.

[Ginger Duggar]

The way we like hiked this mountain and just had the greatest time. Like, it's been a very long time since I've enjoyed this much time with someone. And so.

[Lydia Plath]

And also I think like every 20 minutes when we were hiking and talking, we would just be like, same, like so many similarities. Passion wise, life wise, goals, you know, just beliefs, family, like everything just like, same, same so it was like, it was really striking for both of us of like, how is this happening?

[Ginger Duggar]

But it was like natural connection. We weren't. I was, I was. I didn't feel like I was pursuing her. Like, I feel like.

[Lydia Plath]

And I was trying to avoid him.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah. So like, I feel like in today's.

[Zach Wise]

World, I'm buying that. Less and less. Lydia, the more you say, the less I'm buying that.

[Lydia Plath]

Well, the less I was trying to avoid him.

[Ginger Duggar]

By this point.

[Zach Wise]

I was like, I think you're still believing what you were telling yourself then, that you're trying to avoid it.

[Ginger Duggar]

Like, let me go grocery shop.

[Zach Wise]

You were not avoiding him.

[Ginger Duggar]

I'm in the kitchen in our Airbnb.

[Zach Wise]

The three of us are here as an intervention to tell you you were not avoiding it.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Like, let's hang out every day. Actually every hour and minute.

[Lydia Plath]

Let's just do that for these people. That's pretty much what was happening in a flushing nail. But it was so like my friend, she was like, perfect third wheel. She was like, saw us cooking. She was like, I'm just gonna go outside and do some reading. So she was outside. Zach just. He expressed his interest in me.

[Zach Wise]

Yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

So I was like, hey, you know, honoring way open. Just like, I just wanna let you know how I feel. I don't know where you're at, but I just wanted to put out there, which you can definitely very appreciate anime for just being open, honest.

[Zach Wise]

Just another check the box.

[Ginger Duggar]

That's the clarity, though. I think that's something that's like so important that I've learned over time is like, even, like, even for myself, I feel like there's a lot of times where I would be like pursuing a girl and I would just like, not like go out of my way to be like, hey, like, do you want to go on a date? Like using the word date and like using these things, but like just trying to like work my way in. It was like, no, that, like, that takes so long and it's confusing and there's like mixed signals and that sort of stuff. It's like the clarity that I used to come close with Lydia. It's like I didn't feel pursuing. I just felt like I was doing the right thing of like, hey, this is what I'm feeling. I'd love to, you know, know how you feel.

[Lydia Plath]

But the way he was just like.

[Ginger Duggar]

See where we should go with this?

[Lydia Plath]

So he left it open ended, which girls don't need pressure. So leaving open ended was the way to do it. He Expressed his feelings and was just like, where are you at? Is there another guy? He was like, I don't know if there's another guy in your life or anything. He did, but he said he did because he wanted my honest opinion.

[Zach Wise]

I think we might name this episode, like, Dating tutorial with Lydia and Zach. And, like, we'll record a little intro. Like, hey, gentlemen, you should get your notepad out. Like, take notes.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Definitely take notes.

[Lydia Plath]

You should take notes from Zach.

[Zach Wise]

But in all seriousness, like, for young. How old are you guys?

[Ginger Duggar]

23.

[Lydia Plath]

I was 20 at the time. 21 now.

[Zach Wise]

But the maturity, that's not common, like, even that maturity, or even you to think through, like, the communication, like, hey, if I have clarity, let me express that clarity, you know? That's so helpful.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah. So we.

[Ginger Duggar]

What was your response?

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah, so Zach expressed interest in me, and I was just like, yeah. I mean, I can't deny what's happening. Definitely. I've not had this good of a time in a long time. Not connected with anyone like this, like, in forever. And I was like. But I do have to be honest. Like, yeah, there is a guy I've been talking to, and he did ask me on a date, and I don't want to disrespect that. Like, I want to keep my word. I was about to say something else.

[Ginger Duggar]

A little bit on that. I'll be honest. But then I was like, her honesty and seeing that, like, she had a good time, I was like, okay. Like, I'm. I'll respect that. And I'm still gonna honor her time here.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah. So I think I was about to try to say something else. I don't know what I would have said, but I was, like, starting to say something else, and then my friend walked in. So it was, like, perfect timing for me.

[Ginger Duggar]

Oh. So this chicken.

[Lydia Plath]

We were like, is the chicken ready yet? Just went back to cooking. And then we had dinner. We were supposed to. We were gonna get up, like, 1am to go for the hike, so we were supposed to get to bed at, like, 6, if we could. Well, me trying to avoid Zach. I saw a beautiful sunset, and I was like, you want to go for a walk?

[Zach Wise]

Unbelievable.

[Ginger Duggar]

I know.

[Zach Wise]

It's unbelievable.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah. I guess I was doing something right.

[Lydia Plath]

I couldn't resist the beautiful sunset, the handsome man, the fun, the joy, everything. So.

[Ginger Duggar]

And that was a very big connecting point for us. We.

[Lydia Plath]

It was very big. We went for a walk.

[Ginger Duggar]

We went to. We talked more in depth about our families, which was great.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah. Went for a walk too. We went to, like, a lake where it's like the water, the mountains, and the sun just reflecting. It was, like, perfect scenery. And we just stood there and talked for a long time, just sharing. I think we both shared things about our parents that was just an even deeper connection for both of us. And then on the walk back, I think we danced in the road or something. So we're walking back, skipping and dancing on the road.

[Ginger Duggar]

Did I hold your hand? No, no.

[Lydia Plath]

We just, like. I think we held hands to, like, skip and dance. But it wasn't romantic.

[Ginger Duggar]

It was. I did the. The rule of, like, walking on the outside.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah. He was like. And I was. I was confused.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

She would put me on the inside sidewalk and walk. And I was like, what's happening? And then, like, we would switch rows or, you know, cross the road. And he would do it again. It was like I was clueless.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

And then I finally got it, and I was like, oh, that's.

[Ginger Duggar]

But it's still little, like.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

And then also, like, dancing. We dance together in the middle of the road on the way back and.

[Lydia Plath]

Just still trying to avoid him.

[Ginger Duggar]

Guys want to be unbelievable. And then, like, skipped and, like, did a weird walkie thing.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah. Just having fun, just being ourselves. And I was just, like. Just thinking, like, I remember in that moment when we were dancing on the road, I was just like, this is it. Like, he's the man. I'm crazy. I'm myself. He's his. He's himself. And we're having just the best time in the world. That wasn't the moment, like, I knew he was my husband, just to clarify. But I was just like, I'm not gonna walk away from this right now. I'm gonna. You know. So Zach was also kind of expecting. After the conversation we had in the kitchen, he was kind of expecting me to be like, you know, maybe we shouldn't go on this hike after all. You know, it's just the two of us. Cause our friends are all like, we're sore. What are you talking about? Doing another four. So our friends all ditched on us. Cause, you know, they were sore somehow. We weren't the sorest thing.

[Zach Wise]

I first had another agenda either, driving them at that point. They were just looking at. Purely as a hike. Yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

Seriously.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah. So I don't think we got to bed till like, 11 that night. And then Zach didn't get to bed till, like, midnight.

[Ginger Duggar]

Cause he was. I slept for an hour. Cause I was processing everything, so.

[Lydia Plath]

And then he shows up, like, at 3 at like 1:30 in the morning.

[Zach Wise]

Shows up where?

[Lydia Plath]

At my Airbnb. So my friend, my friend and I were renting Airbnb for the six.

[Zach Wise]

But you were gonna start your hike at 1:30 in the morning?

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah. So he went back to his place for one hour to sleep to come pick me up.

[Zach Wise]

Why would you start a hike at 1:30 in the morning?

[Lydia Plath]

Because we wanted to get there. We only have to watch the sunrise, which we didn't do because on the way.

[Ginger Duggar]

I know, that's the point.

[Lydia Plath]

Well, it was. No, it was like a three hour drive, two and a half hour drive to the mountains and then we wanted to see how far in the hike we could get for the sun because we both love a challenge. We both love to like see, you know, test the limits and everything. See if we can hike four 14ers on one hour of sleep while we're still soar from the last mountain.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Sounds super safe and fun.

[Ginger Duggar]

There's a lot going on.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah.

[Zach Wise]

So when was this by the way? What month in the year?

[Lydia Plath]

August. August was September 3rd. That we hiked.

[Ginger Duggar]

Right. September.

[Zach Wise]

Wow.

[Ginger Duggar]

Okay.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah. So also another reason why we wanted to start early is the afternoon storms can roll in. Those can be very dangerous up there. So we did want to like finish the hike early. So the drive down was really sweet. We just.

[Ginger Duggar]

Another small thing. I love small things. It's great. So I told her, I'm like, all right, we're going to play a Spotify game. And basically I got my Spotify out. I'm like, we're just gonna go back and forth, pick a genre, pick your song. And I was like, romance.

[Lydia Plath]

Was that really the first one you did?

[Ginger Duggar]

I don't, eh, I don't know.

[Lydia Plath]

It was probably one of those, I.

[Ginger Duggar]

Think it was like morning songs. So like what's something that like the.

[Lydia Plath]

Things I personally needed was a musical, like what's your favorite musical? And I was like, I don't know. And this is when he started to realize that whenever he asked me what's my favorite? I obviously, honestly, I usually don't have an answer. I'm just like, it depends.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah, she says it depends all the time. She doesn't have a favorite.

[Lydia Plath]

It does depend, like what's my favorite song? It totally depends on the time, how you're feeling on the time, the mood, the stage of life.

[Zach Wise]

And are you like Ginger? I know you alluded to this earlier where you don't really remember artists names or are you different with music?

[Lydia Plath]

No, still the same with music.

[Zach Wise]

Okay.

[Lydia Plath]

I'M like, what's the song that talks about?

[Zach Wise]

Right? She leans heavy on my playlist on Apple music.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Oh, yeah. Like, whatever he listens to, I'll just play.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah, that's the thing.

[Ginger Duggar]

She'll, like. She'll, like, be like, what's that song? What's that movie that does? And I'm like, you're not saying anything. I can't help you understand if you're not saying anything.

[Lydia Plath]

Like, it starts with an R. I know it starts with an R. Actually starts with.

[Ginger Duggar]

And, like, I am sifting through every category in my life of, like, whatever it could be. And sometimes I get it right, but sometimes she's just like, no, you're wrong. That's.

[Lydia Plath]

So anyways, so the drive, it switched moods really quick because I somehow went really deep. And I shared a song that my mom wrote about my brother passing away. So I share that song. I was crying. He put his hand on my knee to comfort me while we were driving.

[Ginger Duggar]

Briefly. Just like.

[Lydia Plath]

It was just, like, really gentle touch. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, like, we went really deep, really quick.

[Zach Wise]

Is that song on Spotify?

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah, it's called can you share it with us? What is it called?

[Zach Wise]

How's that?

[Lydia Plath]

I can't hold you now. I think that's what it's called. I can't hold you now. It's a really sweet song. I shall cry almost every time I hear it. So, yeah, the Plath family band would be. Would it be under Whoa? Yeah. So it's a really sweet song.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah. Wow.

[Lydia Plath]

So I cried.

[Ginger Duggar]

I was surprised by it, but I was like, wow, this is meaningful.

[Lydia Plath]

I'm proud of myself for remembering the name right now, even though my own mother wrote it.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

So then we get way out of, you know, the city, out of the lights, and the stars are just so bright. And I just like, look at those stars. So we pull over, get out, watch the stars. I see, like, five shooting stars, and it happens to be really cold, and I'm shivering. So he, of course, has jug me to warm me up.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Okay.

[Lydia Plath]

So, yeah, that happened. I guess we get back on the road, get to finally get there, start the hike. The sun is already rising because we just didn't time it right. But, you know, it was all great.

[Ginger Duggar]

Didn't time it right? No, we just stopped on the side of the road, and I hugged you while you were cold. That's what happened. But you're still avoiding me naturally.

[Lydia Plath]

I don't think I can say that anymore. So we started the first mountain we debunked that clip that ended a while ago.

[Ginger Duggar]

Myth busted.

[Zach Wise]

Yes, exactly.

[Lydia Plath]

So the first mountain, it was, like, 37 degrees when we started and windy. So we were just trekking it, trying to get up. Trying to get up the first mountain. The jokes, the inside jokes. Like, we had already had all our inside jokes going and all the fun stuff.

[Ginger Duggar]

Ten minutes into the hike, real quick.

[Lydia Plath]

Ten minutes to the hike. I'm like, I'm hungry.

[Ginger Duggar]

She's like, I'm hungry. I'm like, she's starting. What are you talking about? And so she's like, I'm really hungry. Like, I tried to keep going. She's like, I'm really hungry. I'm like, okay, snack break.

[Lydia Plath]

Ten minutes.

[Ginger Duggar]

Snack break. And then the funniest thing. This was on the hike with us. And when you ding it, I don't know why, but at the time, it sounded like Taco Bell, like, on the rocks.

[Lydia Plath]

The hall rocks is hall rocks, not something bear.

[Ginger Duggar]

And so that was just the running joke, like, the whole hike of just like, anytime that would hit a rock, we'd be like, taco Bell.

[Lydia Plath]

And just like, I don't think we've ever eaten a Taco Bell.

[Zach Wise]

But yeah, hey, Taco Bell's good. Late night, like, when you're in the mountains, like, when we go to Big bear and it's 11:30 at night, taco.

[Ginger Duggar]

Bell, that's, like, the last thing.

[Zach Wise]

It's also the only thing open, but it hits true.

[Lydia Plath]

So, anyways, the first mountain was the hardest because we were getting up in elevation. We were cold. The sun hadn't hit us yet, so it was just windy, cold, really steep. Adjusting to the no oxygen.

[Ginger Duggar]

Finally get up.

[Lydia Plath]

We get to the top of the first peak.

[Ginger Duggar]

Thank you.

[Lydia Plath]

I love you so much.

[Ginger Duggar]

We get to the top, and it's just, like. It's beautiful. Love it.

[Zach Wise]

Do you guys have a picture?

[Lydia Plath]

Yes, we do.

[Zach Wise]

Can we. Can we show the people on the.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah, please. We will send it to you. Okay.

[Zach Wise]

Or just you could put it actually to the camera. You could even show them to the camera. So did you get to see the sun sunrise?

[Lydia Plath]

No.

[Ginger Duggar]

No, we didn't, but it was fine.

[Lydia Plath]

But when we hit the sunshine, it was the best thing in the world.

[Ginger Duggar]

Temperature rose like, 10, 15 degrees. It started.

[Lydia Plath]

This was us on the.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Yeah.

[Zach Wise]

Wow.

[Ginger Duggar]

Look at that. Yeah, that's cool.

[Zach Wise]

And you got the purple thing.

[Lydia Plath]

Yep. I'm holding Sippy up.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Her name is Sippy.

[Lydia Plath]

I love it.

[Zach Wise]

Yeah, that's cool.

[Lydia Plath]

So we get to the peak.

[Ginger Duggar]

We get to the peak, and it Was. It was beautiful. Had a great time.

[Lydia Plath]

My toes were frozen at this point because I only had one pair of socks on.

[Ginger Duggar]

She just goes into, like, social media mode for a second, and, like, she warned me about this. She's like, yeah, I just, like, really put on this excitement. I'm like, okay.

[Lydia Plath]

No, I was. I was playing with it. So I. So I told him. Like, initially, I was like, I really want to kind of vlog this hike. I haven't done anything with it. But I was like, I kind of want to vlog this hike because, you know, my first time hiking four mountains in one day. And he's like, so cool with it. Like, we're just doing great on camera together. So then we get to the peak, and I was like, oh, I forgot to, like, record me getting to the first peak. So I went back, and I was.

[Ginger Duggar]

Just trying to recreate the energy, but, like, went on another level. I was like, what is happening? Who is this woman? And it was. It was great, but it was just, like, hilarious because there was another woman up there, and I was just kind of like, yeah, she's usually like.

[Lydia Plath]

She's usually a little more chill.

[Ginger Duggar]

A little more chill than this, but.

[Zach Wise]

She'S kind of going, can you reenact it for us?

[Lydia Plath]

Oh, goodness, please.

[Ginger Duggar]

That'd be great.

[Lydia Plath]

I forgot. I'll just.

[Ginger Duggar]

I think we have a video of it. No, we'll include that as well.

[Lydia Plath]

I like it.

[Ginger Duggar]

No, but she's like, actually, that would.

[Zach Wise]

Be really cute to put up.

[Ginger Duggar]

I think I said the mountains, like, a hundred times. She was like, yeah, things. Oh, my gosh. And just, like.

[Lydia Plath]

So I think that was, like, kind of a running joke between us because, like, every few seconds I was like, look at the mountains. You ask to me, the rocks, the mountains, everything.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

You asked me when we were driving in, you said, you see the mountains. In the morning, when the first thing.

[Lydia Plath]

I asked her in the car, like, are they mountains?

[Ginger Duggar]

She woke up this morning, she went in the kitchen, and she looked out the kitchen window, and she's like, it was just a hill, but it was like, it is a mountain, like, that back range, and it's, like, awesome.

[Lydia Plath]

So, yeah, I kind of was like, we had, like, joked about that over and over again because, like, every few seconds I was like, oh, my gosh, look at the mountains. So I got up to the peak, and I was just like, the mountains. Look at the mountains. We're in the mountains. Just like.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

That. That was pretty good.

[Lydia Plath]

So Zach was like, she's not usually quite like, this, it was good.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

It like she embarrassed you a little bit.

[Ginger Duggar]

Okay, that's so funny.

[Lydia Plath]

I love it. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Guys, look at this. Look. Mountains, mountains. More mountains, more mountains.

[Ginger Duggar]

We made it.

[Lydia Plath]

We made it.

[Ginger Duggar]

Look at that. We made it. Fourth peak, four in one day. And then we like, it was cold, windy, and so like there's this little like rock structure at the top where you can kind of be protected from the wind a little bit. And so we're like, all right, let's just take like kind of a snack break, water break and be sit down.

[Lydia Plath]

And he was so smooth with this. He sat down first.

[Ginger Duggar]

I sat down first and I was like, this is a little smaller than I expected. But I'm like, that could be good. And so she comes to sit down, I put my jacket down for her and I leave my arm out.

[Zach Wise]

Atta boy.

[Lydia Plath]

So there we are on the first mountain. He puts his arms around me and I'm tired.

[Ginger Duggar]

I just lean on his head on the shoulder.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Yeah, you were extra tired though.

[Ginger Duggar]

And she was really, really trying hard to avoid me.

[Lydia Plath]

Oh, I just leaned my head on his shoulder and it turns out it was like the comfiest thing in the world. So.

[Zach Wise]

So in that moment, to this day.

[Lydia Plath]

This is still my favorite pillow. Pillow, stress reliever, comfort area, everything.

[Ginger Duggar]

Safe place.

[Lydia Plath]

I guess so. My safe place. Yes. So yeah, first mountain, he put his arm around me, I rested my head on his shoulder and we just relaxed in the sun for 10 minutes or something and then we started the hike to the second peak. And halfway through, his alarm goes off at 10:02 for Luke 10, verse two. Talking about, you know, the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few. So church kind of has a thing where they pray for the unreached. So he's like, want to pray. So we stop and just like we were talking about earlier, just being in the majestic mountains, just surrounded by God's glory, praying there. And then we just started worshiping and.

[Ginger Duggar]

We just song we like. I had a song that I sang in the church.

[Lydia Plath]

I had a song I sang. We just worshiped there in the mountains together.

[Zach Wise]

Do you guys remember what songs?

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeshua.

[Ginger Duggar]

That's the one I sang from her. And then mine was, I don't know what it's called, but it's like, I will praise you on the mountains and I will praise you in the valleys all the same.

[Lydia Plath]

So it was a really sweet time of worship, just the two of us in the mountains and.

[Ginger Duggar]

But it's A great song.

[Lydia Plath]

And it was just another thing that was just so natural, just us being ourselves and. Continue.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

I don't mean to interrupt.

[Zach Wise]

Highlands.

[Ginger Duggar]

Song of Highlands. Yes. It's a great song. And so just had a really great moment there. And then I was carrying the backpack with all the goodies and everything, which he had.

[Lydia Plath]

So me talking about the rocks, the mountains, everything on the journey, pointing out rocks. I'm like, oh, that's pretty. That's a pretty rock. That's pretty rock. He picked up two rocks and put it in his backpack, carried the whole thing and carried them for me. But he was like, you like this rock? Carry it for me.

[Zach Wise]

I mean, how big were the rocks?

[Ginger Duggar]

He put it weren't relatively. It was like that, bro.

[Zach Wise]

That's a big rock.

[Ginger Duggar]

Well, one of them was that.

[Zach Wise]

And then I thought you were gonna say, like, a pebble.

[Lydia Plath]

Hiking.

[Zach Wise]

Just a small, little.

[Lydia Plath]

It was the first mountain.

[Zach Wise]

Just to show.

[Ginger Duggar]

Show off, I guess.

[Lydia Plath]

He could have picked up those rocks. He could, yes. Do you really have them? They're on the bookshelf, holding up, like, the books.

[Zach Wise]

That's cool.

[Lydia Plath]

I love them.

[Zach Wise]

I should have picked up rocks for you on a hike.

[Lydia Plath]

But he could have done it.

[Zach Wise]

You're killing me over here. You're showing me up here.

[Lydia Plath]

He could have done it on the fourth mountain, you know, but he turns.

[Zach Wise]

You want to go hiking later?

[Lydia Plath]

Let's do it.

[Zach Wise]

And then I'm going to go. How about this one, babe?

[Ginger Duggar]

It's one of those Hollywood Styrofoam worlds.

[Lydia Plath]

Yes.

[Zach Wise]

Yeah, we have one of those outside covering our, like, sprinkler system. Yeah, I'll just grab the.

[Lydia Plath]

So, yeah.

[Zach Wise]

Gosh, Zach, what a romantic, bro. Hey, it's unbelievable.

[Ginger Duggar]

Honestly. I am a hopeless romantic in a way. But, hey, it's the small things. I feel like the small things lead to the big things. And I think, like, we were able to have so many more intentional conversations, too, because I was being so respectful and I was being so intentional with her. And then in return, she would do a lot of things. The similar things. So I was talking about the backpack. She took the backpack from me to go up to the third or to the second peak.

[Lydia Plath]

I was just like, can I carry the backpack for you? Just so I know what you're going through.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah, like, she just said that out of the blue. I'm like, sure. Like, yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

Apparently that meant a lot to him.

[Ginger Duggar]

If you want. I mean, of course it would. I think it would to anyone, especially.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

With the rocks in there.

[Zach Wise]

Yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah. But it was just like, such a sweet moment. And then. Yeah, so. And then off of that with, like, the intentional conversation. We went from peak two to peak three, and she had FaceTimed a couple of people from her family.

[Lydia Plath]

I was already FaceTiming my family being like this. No, I was showing them the mountains. I was showing the mountains for real. But he happened to show up, you know, while I was showing the mountains. And I think. I think Isaac and Amber were the only ones that actually picked up. So my dad missed a chance to meet him on the mountains, but he met him later.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah. But anyway, we were on the way to the third peak, and so continuing into, like, the intentionality. It's like, this was like, I have been thinking over the last, like, five hours of these peaks. I'm like, okay, how do I bring this up? This is, like, surreal moments, like, really close knit, like, arm around her worship, you know, her taking my bag. Like, really intentional time with each other. So it's like, we're getting closer. We're not anything, like, right now. Like, this is. So I need to clarify this.

[Lydia Plath]

And I'm still avoiding him.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah, it's true.

[Zach Wise]

Technically. Yeah. Yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

And so I'm like, third peak. I'm like, hey, I really have enjoyed our time. Like, this is probably the best experience I've had, I could say, in my whole life of just, like, closeness and connection with someone. And I want to be respectful. You are talking to this guy. And so by all means, if your decision is to go on this date with him and kind of see how it goes, by all means do that. Like, addressing the kind of elephant in the room in that. And also just being as respectful as possible to her of just like, hey, like, this is. This is real. Like, there's a genuine connection here, and I want to keep pursuing this. And I would love to know your opinion on that.

[Lydia Plath]

He shared his heart. He poured his heart out, saying all that for like, an hour. And then I was just silent because I was just in the biggest war in my heart of just, like, I knew this is what I wanted, but I didn't want to disappoint anyone. I didn't. Like, I had already told a few of my friends and family that I was going on this date with this guy. So I was like, what are people going to think about me if I. All of a sudden, like, you know, like, so I was. I was afraid of what people would think of me. I didn't want to let people down. I was just, like, stuck in this internal war and then I think I finally said, like, I think the only thing standing in my way is me. And he was just. He said, no more. He just started praying.

[Ginger Duggar]

And then, well, I started praying for her because she was like, oh, yeah. Well, I said, I have fear, anxiety for myself.

[Lydia Plath]

Because, yeah, I think I said, like, I think I'm the only thing in my way. Like, my own fears, my own insecurities is what's hindering me from making a decision.

[Ginger Duggar]

And, like, I just prayed for that specifically. I was like.

[Lydia Plath]

So he just prayed, and then we went onto the second hike. He just poured his heart out for an hour, like, not necessarily expecting anything in return. He just wanted to be clear with me and let me know where he was at. And she also said that, like, before.

[Ginger Duggar]

That she was like, I need more time.

[Lydia Plath]

Oh, that was it. I forgot that. Yeah. So I told him I was like, I just need time. Because, like, that was just the easiest thing to say. And then he was like, okay, what do you mean by that? And I was, oh. And he was like, what does scripture say about time? And then. So that's what got me thinking. And I was like, oh, it's actually myself that I'm struggling with and my own fears, my own insecurities. And I told him that, and he prayed, and then I cried. And then he got up and started hiking to the next mountain and over the next peak or for the next mountain. Our time was kind of measured in mountains. So for the next mountain, I was just. I was just praying the entire time. I was just like, lord, I don't. Like, I don't know what's happening here. I can't deny this. I see you in every part of this. But, like, I don't. You know, I don't want to let anyone down. I don't want to. Like, I want to keep my word. I want to. I just want to do what's right here. And it was just a battle going on inside for the next mountain.

[Ginger Duggar]

So we were at the third peak. I had clarified some stuff, and we had gone to the bottom of the third peak, and we're looking up at the fourth peak. And we had talked about the afternoon showers, and we're like, oh, this is, like, kind of looking sketch.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Like, it's dangerous when we die together on the mountain.

[Zach Wise]

Yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

I had experienced it before. Like, lightning struck close. Hair stood up. It was. It was crazy.

[Lydia Plath]

And I had two. My hair stood up before on the mountain, too.

[Ginger Duggar]

It's not fun. Yeah. So we were like, okay, let's Be safe, better safe than sorry kind of deal. And so I was like, all right, let's just pray about it, see what happens. And so we're like, God, give us an opening just so we can get up and down.

[Lydia Plath]

And give us wisdom for what we should do.

[Ginger Duggar]

And give us wisdom for what we can do. And so we're like, okay, so there's a false summit there, and then there's the final peak. And so we'll see at this false summit if it's good to go where we need to. And so we get to the false summit, and we're looking up. We're like clouds everywhere. But the peak, the sky had opened up.

[Lydia Plath]

Wow.

[Ginger Duggar]

Wow. So we were able to get up and down. We got down real quick because we were like, okay, we're good.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

So then on the way down, it started snowing.

[Zach Wise]

Oh, my goodness.

[Ginger Duggar]

She's from Florida.

[Lydia Plath]

So it's like, oh, my word. Well, it's also September, like, early September. And so it starts snowing. And then the snow turned into rain. And previously, he had told me how he loves dancing in the rain. And I love dancing in the rain, too. We both love the rain. So he was like, wanna dance?

[Ginger Duggar]

We're on the side of a mountain.

[Lydia Plath]

I'm like, the rocks.

[Ginger Duggar]

Would you like to dance in the rain with me?

[Lydia Plath]

We dance in the rain in the middle of the beautiful mountain range. Like, we're.

[Ginger Duggar]

So this is the for loop. We're, like, in the middle, in the.

[Lydia Plath]

Valley of the mountains.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

And so you're still thinking about if you want to date this guy.

[Ginger Duggar]

Still avoiding me.

[Lydia Plath]

You're still so. Okay. So like I said over this last mountain, I was just praying continually the whole time.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

And it was just, like, burning in my heart. And so we danced. And then he was like, we should. You know, we should head back. And I just grab his hand and I pull him back in. And I was like, I'm ready to take a risk and say yes to whatever the Lord has for us.

[Zach Wise]

Wow.

[Lydia Plath]

And then he, like.

[Ginger Duggar]

I, like, exploded with joy and exploded.

[Lydia Plath]

With joy and just gave me a big hug and was like, thank you so much for trusting me.

[Ginger Duggar]

Whoa.

[Lydia Plath]

And then we just hugged. And then we got down to the bottom of the mountain. As soon as we got in the car. The last few minutes of the hike was kind of. It was like the only somewhat awkward stage we had. We're like, okay, what just happened? Is this just a mountain high? What is happening? And what did I just say yes to? And he was like, well, what now? So. But once we got in the car, he tried to break the ice with his. I don't even know what question.

[Ginger Duggar]

I think I like, just like, I think I actually kind of like joking.

[Lydia Plath]

So what's your favorite color?

[Ginger Duggar]

I have a really deep question for you. What's your favorite color?

[Lydia Plath]

It didn't cut it.

[Ginger Duggar]

And it was just. It did not break the fell flat. I was like.

[Lydia Plath]

So I was like. I was like, okay. I had this one question, had just been pressing on my spirit this whole time. So I was just like. I just went in deep and I was like, okay, what are your thoughts on the gifts of the spirit? You know, praying in tongues, you know, do you believe Jesus still heals today? Just. I just went in the deep end. Like, do you believe the Holy Spirit is still alive and active and a part of our. Of the Christian walk and the one who leads and guides us? But more than that, heals, saves, sets people free. So I just, I always went in the deep end. And he was like, absolutely. And we just. So we just talked about that. And then that led to deep conversation for the two and a half hour drive back.

[Zach Wise]

Wow.

[Ginger Duggar]

Sigh of relief for me. I was like, this is kind of.

[Lydia Plath]

You just how I really feel me. Because I was like, what did I just say? I just said yes.

[Zach Wise]

Well, that was my first thought was there's tons of conversations you guys hadn't had.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah, we have not had so many conversations. And that was like the first thing burning on me because I was like, this isn't going to work if he doesn't believe these core things. Because the mission trip I went on two years ago, we saw people healed, set free from addictions, limbs restored, rods and plates dissolved in the name of Jesus. And it's just so seeing it firsthand, it's important to me. So, yeah, we covered that and just talked about that and then just talked about all kinds of stuff for the rest of the drive home. And that just opened the floodgates. And then the next day he had to go to work. Bummer.

[Zach Wise]

Bummer.

[Ginger Duggar]

Dang it.

[Lydia Plath]

And so he came to pick me up after work. You wanna talk about that?

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah. So I came and I was like, okay, I have a plan. It's Tuesday. There's like a food truck day in Fort Collins. And I was like, so we can go to the food trucks or we can go to like Old Town Fort Collins, Just like have a night on the town. Well, actually, no, it was Shields. There's this big sports building. I'm like, we can go kind of.

[Lydia Plath]

Shields and ride the festival, ride the.

[Ginger Duggar]

Ferris wheel, kind of look around, just, you know, kind of shop together in a way. And. And then my buddy, my best friend calls, and we play disc golf all the time. And he calls. He's like, bro, you want to play golf? I'm like, yeah, but I'm with a girl right now. And he's like, oh, sick. You want her to come too? And I was like, I'll ask and I'll let you know. And, like, one of the pivotal moments for me, I. I bring it up to Lydia. I'm like, hey, Noah just called. I am looking to, like, I would love to hope with him, but of course we have these other options. And so I'd love to do whatever you want to, whatever you feel more inclined to. And she's like. She looks at me and she goes, I trust. What did you say again?

[Lydia Plath]

I said, I trust your decision. Whichever one you think would be the most fruitful.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah. So, like, using those phrases specifically, I was like, wow. Like, that's.

[Lydia Plath]

But it's also setting him up to, you know, choose wisely and lead and lead me and. And kind of just setting the standard for, like, you know, just setting the tone for what. What the evening's gonna be like.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah. And so I really, like. I don't know, it was just. It was a cool way that she honored me. I didn't think I would feel that way, but it was really cool. And so that was just a really special moment. And so we actually decided to go disc golfing. Cause I wanted her to get to know my community. Like. Yeah, I know it sounds like, oh, he's gonna do his thing, but no, I, like, really wanted her to know my people.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

And so that's awesome. We went. And then after that, we ended up going to Old Town as well. And I was like, you want to go get some ice cream?

[Lydia Plath]

We both chose each other's flavors.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah. So it was like, hey, like, keep it exciting.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

What's your flavor?

[Ginger Duggar]

Oh, yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

Oh, mint chocolate chip.

[Ginger Duggar]

Oh, that was yours? Yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

No, that's not mine.

[Ginger Duggar]

We forget. But that's not the important thing. It's fine.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

I just had to know because we're big ice cream people.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yes.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

So the place there has so many different flavors. It's great.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah. But anyway, so my favorite is moose tracks. Or moose tracks, your footprint, if you like. Let's go.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Has to be something farm related or, like, mountain related.

[Lydia Plath]

Yes.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Like, what is it going to be? That actually is very fitting. For what we've talked about today. Yes, yes. Moose tracks.

[Lydia Plath]

But like, what you said before, before.

[Ginger Duggar]

Ice cream on the way.

[Lydia Plath]

Oh, yes, this is key.

[Ginger Duggar]

I was thinking, like, just into my head, like, just a thought that had crossed my mind that was very distinct. I was like, man, it'd be cool if we had an opportunity to share the gospel while we go to Old Town and that sort of stuff.

[Lydia Plath]

And we're driving, listening to worship music. And I just have this burning in my heart to pray for someone that night. And so he parks the car, he's thinking that, and I just start praying, just like, lord, please give us an opportunity to share your love with someone, to be light and to minister to someone. Tonight.

[Ginger Duggar]

We get out of the car and walking away.

[Lydia Plath]

And then he was like, I was literally just thinking the same thing.

[Ginger Duggar]

Stop reading my mind.

[Lydia Plath]

What is happening?

[Ginger Duggar]

No, it was great, though. I was like, wow, that's crazy. So kind of like a God moment there. And then get the ice cream, walk to the square of Old Town, which is kind of like a nice kind of like, overhang lights. And just this night with a fountain and everything. And it's like a ground fountain, so it doesn't have, like, a puddle, and it's just gonna spring up. And so we're just talking, and then we start dancing.

[Lydia Plath]

Dancing the fountain.

[Ginger Duggar]

We love to dance.

[Lydia Plath]

And then I was like, teach him Cotton Eye Joe.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah, I have two left feet, so it wasn't the greatest, but she was starting to teach me Cotton Eye Joe. And then someone comes and taps us on the shoulder, and we're like, what is happening? And this lady comes up to us, she's about our age, and she was like, hey, you know, I saw you guys at the ice cream shop, and I just saw your joy and, like, the. How happy you guys were. And I just had to say something like, you guys are just so cute.

[Lydia Plath]

She had, like, followed us from the ice cream store.

[Ginger Duggar]

Such a cute couple. Such a couple. I'm like, we're not a couple yet, but thank you.

[Lydia Plath]

And I knew, like, when she said that, I knew it was the joy of the Lord that was. Drew her to us. And so I just jumped right in. I was like, hey, I love the Lord. And I was just wondering if there's anything I could pray for you for. And she was a little pencil at first. She was like, oh, no, I'm good. I'm okay. I'm just like, you know, there's a few things, but I'm good. But that's where Zach just Shined. He was. Just started asking her all these intentional questions, just asking what she likes.

[Ginger Duggar]

I started with, do you have a faith?

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

And I love that question because it opens up the general spectrum of what they believe and what they understand. And she just kind of opened up off of that. And then I was like, oh, like, what are your goals in life? What do you want to do? What is. Like, what does your life look like for you in the future? Like, who are you? Who do you want to be? Like, just these questions that kept popping up. I'm like, whoa, this is cool. And she answered all of them very open and honestly. And it was just. You could see her pouring her heart out. And then by the end of the conversation, I looped back, like, to Lydia, and I was like, yeah, I'd love to. You know, I think this is a great conversation, and we really appreciate your compliment, but I. I just have to ask Egan, can we pray for you? And she was like, yeah, mostly, like.

[Lydia Plath]

Just everything she shared. Cause she shared a lot. And she, like, was very open and vulnerable and shared some deep things with us. We're like, can we pray for you in this?

[Ginger Duggar]

But to see the change of heart for her to go like, oh, no, I'm okay. To like, yeah, like, yeah, let's pray.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

And she could see that you cared too, I imagine, and just see that.

[Lydia Plath]

Love of sort of through. He talked to her for, like, 20 plus minutes, just letting. Just opening. Being a safe place for her to open up. And that's when I, like, saw even more of just who Zach is. That so sweet, the fact that he would do this to a complete stranger just because he cares with, you know, nothing in return just to. To show the love of God. And then we prayed for her. And just, like, you just feel, like, these sighs of relief in her and just, like, the peace. And then after that, we just, like, we both looked at each other. Like, what just happened? Like, we had prayed for this joy overflowing again. And the Lord drew her to us. Like, we were just being ourselves. We were just dancing and having a good time, and she was drawn to us. Like, how amazing is that?

[Ginger Duggar]

So we danced away.

[Lydia Plath]

And then. And then we left, and Zach was like, oh, we forgot to play the piano. So he's like, oh, there's another piano at the college campus.

[Ginger Duggar]

They have pianos all around the city that are just.

[Lydia Plath]

I don't think I had really been to a college campus before. Like, not, like, walked around and toured it in depth. And Zach had done college ministry there before. So he showed me around all the things. What had happened. Where.

[Ginger Duggar]

This is where I played volleyball with newcomers. This is where I did this. Like, just all these little different events. That was really fun and just cool to walk through with her. Cause I was like, wow, I just remembered that. And so. And then I, like, went to the intramural fields where they play a bunch of intramural sports, and we just took our shoes off. Took our shoes off and, like, frolicked. We just had a fun time.

[Lydia Plath]

I did a few acrobatics and see if. Yeah, he didn't have much to show, but that was to come true.

[Ginger Duggar]

He was about to really show anyway, so I, like. We sit down and we're kind of talking for a bit, and I'm like, hey, like, we have had an incredible few days, and I really have just enjoyed every moment. And I just want to clarify, like, you said yes yesterday. Like, yes to us. We don't, like. I just want to clarify us. And I would love to ask you to be my girlfriend. And nine days after we met.

[Lydia Plath]

Wow. And again, I was quiet.

[Ginger Duggar]

And she was quiet for a minute. I was like.

[Lydia Plath]

And then he started talking. He was like, I'm just gonna let you.

[Zach Wise]

Yeah, I'm just gonna be quiet.

[Ginger Duggar]

Trying to, like, answer. I was, like, trying to explain more. I was like, yeah, I just had this great time. I'm like, I'm gonna let you answer for my bad. Sorry. And then she was like, yeah.

[Lydia Plath]

So I. I was just quiet for a little minute. I left him hanging once again, like I have every time. Cause obviously I'm still trying to. And I'm joking. We're past that. Still leaving us hanging. And. Yeah. So I was quiet for a little bit. And then I said yes.

[Zach Wise]

Wow.

[Lydia Plath]

Ta da. And that's when he, like, we hugged.

[Ginger Duggar]

And that's when he did not contain my joy.

[Lydia Plath]

He showed off his acrobatic moves like never before. He was just jumping around the field like, I have a girlfriend.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yep.

[Lydia Plath]

It was so awesome.

[Ginger Duggar]

Such a sweet moment. I, like, contained my joy. I was just like, let's go. Like, this is insane. And I just love it. And so it's just.

[Zach Wise]

What a cool story.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Wow.

[Zach Wise]

Okay.

[Lydia Plath]

So that was the day.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Long distance.

[Lydia Plath]

Yes.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

For that whole thing.

[Lydia Plath]

Right. So all that happened in nine days.

[Zach Wise]

Well, here's the thing. Here's what we need to do, because we need a part two to this story, because that is, I imagine, a lot of people who followed your journey. Lydia, don't know a lot of.

[Lydia Plath]

No, I have not Shared much in detail at all. I've been wanting to. But this is a very special.

[Zach Wise]

This is your opportunity to share it all. And so what a cool story. I think we need a part two.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Let's go for part two, where we.

[Zach Wise]

Go from boyfriend and girlfriend to engagement to marriage. We've got more to this story.

[Ginger Duggar]

There's a lot more.

[Lydia Plath]

There's a lot more.

[Zach Wise]

And so you guys are in town for a few days, so we're gonna have more time to hang out.

[Ginger Duggar]

Awesome.

[Lydia Plath]

Let's go.

[Zach Wise]

Okay, well, let's do this then. We're gonna bring a part two to this.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Let's do it.

[Lydia Plath]

Let's do it. So if you're listening, I love sharing this. If you can't tell, we enjoy the story.

[Zach Wise]

Well, it's Catherine. And what's so cool is to see. See how God providentially just used.

[Lydia Plath]

Yeah.

[Ginger Duggar]

These little moments from the beginning. Like, we weren't supposed to meet.

[Lydia Plath]

We weren't supposed to meet.

[Ginger Duggar]

And then like, she's talking to someone else. So she's always having these. She's avoiding me this whole time. Like, but, like until the third peak.

[Zach Wise]

That'S when the avoidance.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yes.

[Lydia Plath]

That's when the walls came down.

[Ginger Duggar]

But it's, it's like so cool to see how God worked.

[Zach Wise]

That's very cool.

[Ginger Duggar]

And it. But it took obedience from us, I think, showing up and being like, okay, we're going to worship God at this time. Time. We're going to, we're going to pray for this moment. We're going to pray for this person. We're going to be intentional and being.

[Zach Wise]

Open to God's guidance too. That's something in life so many times, especially maybe in our culture. Like, we try to plan everything in our world and we don't want to be reckless.

[Ginger Duggar]

Right.

[Zach Wise]

We want to be intentional, but also our lives, we've reflected on this a lot. You look back and you just see God's providential dealing on things you did not plan. The reason we're in LA is we did not plan that. Like, so God draws you and leads you through these doors he opens and doors he closes.

[Ginger Duggar]

Yeah.

[Zach Wise]

So it's really cool to see in your story, guys, thank you so much for being open.

[Ginger Duggar]

Oh, my gosh. Thank you, Sharon.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Oh, yeah. This has been a lot of fun. It's so great.

[Ginger Duggar]

I love the relatability too. I'm like, getting to know you guys more obviously. We've talked a lot on this end, but even just being here hosting us, it's great to just know you more.

[Zach Wise]

Oh, we love it. We're glad to have you guys out. Okay, we're gonna pause and then we're gonna. You guys, our listeners are gonna have to wait a week.

[Jeremy Vuolo]

Yeah.

[Zach Wise]

And get part two. But guys, thanks for hanging out. You know what to do, like subscribe, do all that stuff and we'll see you next time.

[Lydia Plath]

Think you know America's destinations? Well, think again.

[Zach Wise]

The gap between the visitors perception and locals perception is as big in St. Louis as I've ever seen in any community.

[Lydia Plath]

We made a decision to really advertise and promote who Charleston really is, not who we wish we were.

[Ginger Duggar]

Come here and see up close what it is like to live in America.

[Zach Wise]

You won't be disappointed.

[Lydia Plath]

On view from afar, you can discover the real America. Find us wherever you Listen to podcasts. Discover the sweet surprise of a sugar bee apple. Ever had an apple that stopped you mid bite? That's not just any apple. That's a sugar bee. Packed with flavonoids and essential nutrients, these apples boost heart, health, brain function, and your immune system. Sugar bee apples the snack that thanks you back Click or tap to download our free healthy recipe book now.