‘Counting On’ Star Forsyth Explains Why She & Her Family Are Living in a Camper

“Um…it’s a GLAMper, thank you very much!” 

Joy Forsyth says her family’s house on wheels may be small– but she’s willing to live that trailer life for the sake of the almighty dollar!

The Counting On star recently took to Instagram to explain to fans why she, her husband Austin and their 17-month-old son Gideon are once again living in small 5th wheel camping trailer.

“I think it’s pretty cool,” Joy said in the Instagram video of her 32-foot-long camper/home. “It has three slide outs … It fits our family great. We have been living in it for nine months to a year.”

‘Counting On’ fans watched as Joy and Austin moved into the camper immediately after their wedding. (It was likely the place that they conceived Gideon, who was born almost nine months after the couple’s May 2017 wedding day.)

“You know what they say: if the camper’s a rockin’, don’t come knockin’!”

The couple eventually moved into a beautiful home that Austin had renovated, seemingly for his family to live in. However, Joy informed fans that they sold that home for a nice profit and returned to their camper life, this time with their infant son in tow.

In her video, Joy stated that she and Austin “just started building a new house”…however, she and her family will not be abandoning their home on wheels any time soon.

“[It’s] to sell, not for us to live in,” Joy said. “We did one last year and we did really well so we’re excited to be starting another one.”

While Joy did admit that there are some downsides to camper-life—-“It’s hard sometimes because you don’t have a bigger kitchen or space,” she said—- she feels that the house on wheels is “the perfect size” for the Forsyth family. She even shared some photos of the inside of the camper on the Instagram post.

Plenty of Duggars showed up in the comments of Joy’s post to let her know how much they approved of her camping lifestyle.

“Your tiny home looks so good! Can’t wait to see more pics of the house you are building,” Joy’s sister-in-law, Anna Duggar wrote. Joy’s brother Josiah chimed in that Joy is “so amazing.”

“I love the makeover you’ve given your little home!” her sister Jessa Seewald wrote.

It has been a rough few months for Joy and Austin, as the couple announced in July that they had lost their baby 20 weeks into Joy’s second pregnancy.

“Today marks one week since we heard these words, ‘So this is your baby’s heart. I don’t hear any heartbeat or see any movement.’ We had gone in for our 20 week ultrasound and gender reveal,” Joy wrote on Instagram. “It was a baby girl.”

We will get to see all of Joy and Austin’s trailer-living adventures when ‘Counting On’ returns to TLC this October.

RELATED STORY: ‘Counting On’ Stars Joy & Austin Forsyth Reveal They’ve Lost Their Baby 20 Weeks Into Joy’s Pregnancy: Carlin Bates & Duggar Family Respond

(Photos: TLC; Instagram)

18 Comments

  1. This isn’t the same camper they moved into when they first got married, luckily it’s a lot nicer.
    But I do hope they’ll build a great place for themselves one day.


  2. Y’all are not the only tiny home dwellers. Check outliving big in a tiny home. It’s a global way of life. Totally cool home school life style you take life and education anywhere at any moment, serve the Lord through serving others anywhere you can drive. An honest WWJD life of parenting Gideon and glorifying the Lord. Praise God for your convictions and submission to His leading.


  3. And what’s wrong with living in a camper?? It’s about personal preference. If this is what they want, who are any of us to say it’s wrong?? I’m a firm believer in “the smaller the space, the closer the family”.


  4. Austin, put your wife and baby in a real house! Joy needs comfort and space, and a washer and dryer! I am so sorry for their terrible loss. I want you, Austin, to show Joy that you love her and care for her! She needs you now more than ever!


  5. [* Shield plugin marked this comment as “trash”. Reason: Failed GASP Bot Filter Test (comment token failure) *]
    Does Austin think Joy is not worth a better place
    To live than a camper trailer?


  6. What’s wrong with living in a camper? It seems spacious enough and they are flipping homes apparently. I don’t see an issue.


  7. Has anyone seen the 5th wheel? (I didn’t watch any videos associated with this article. #lazy) Some of them are nicer than my house!


  8. Ahh, so what poor Joy means is that she is the new Jana but with a wedding ring on. She’s sawing wood and reupholstering sofas while Austin rides quad bikes or some shit.


    1. I think this is neat. I’ve had several friends live in a RV or tiny home and it was great for their families. 🤷‍♀️


  9. I can’t imagine losing a daughter at 20 weeks while 5 of your sisters/sisters-in-law are still pregnant. What a strong woman she is to be up and about and smiling. I’d probably be in bed under the covers still. That is a lot to handle.


    1. Unfortunately, her job is baby machine, not mother. They don’t give her time off of work to grieve the loss of a child because she’s got to get better so she can get those insides working again.

      Shame she was raised like that. She seems nice enough.


  10. [* Shield plugin marked this comment as “trash”. Reason: Failed GASP Bot Filter Test (comment token failure) *]
    Poor thing, I wish daddy J would set her up the way he has the others.


  11. She just looks exhausted and depressed. I hope she is getting a lot of love and care from those around her. I really feel for her.


    1. Nothing wrong with living in a tiny home, there are larger families that do it.
      I loved our camper. Also, cleaning up and cleaning was a breeze, done in 15 minutes ;-).


    2. I’m pretty sure it’s because she isn’t allowed to mourn her daughter properly. I mean, sure her husband supports her but such a traumatic thing deserves going to therapy to heal. Because otherwise she will just keep popping babies while none of them will replace her…because they can’t. She needs proper counseling, not “pray about it and all is good”.

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