EP 33 - Our Biggest Setback Yet: Why We Had to Walk Away from, Graeson Bee

Summary

Podcast Summary: EP 33 - Our Biggest Setback Yet: Why We Had to Walk Away from Grayson B

Podcast Information:

• Title: More Than Reality with Adam and Danielle Busby
• Hosts: Adam and Danielle Busby
• Episode: EP 33 - Our Biggest Setback Yet: Why We Had to Walk Away from Grayson B
• Release Date: May 15, 2025
• Description: In this episode, Adam and Danielle Busby delve deep into one of the most challenging periods of their entrepreneurial journey—the decision to walk away from their beloved storefront, Grayson B. They share the obstacles they faced, the emotional toll it took, and how faith guided them through this setback. Additionally, they provide insights into their future endeavors and offer personal growth tips for listeners navigating their own trials.

---

1. Introduction to the Episode

Adam and Danielle open the episode by addressing listener comments, highlighting recurring themes of trust and intuition in their lives. They set the stage for a candid conversation about their recent struggles with maintaining their storefront, Grayson B, amidst unforeseen challenges.

2. The Grayson B Struggles

Building Issues and Operational Challenges

From the outset, Adam narrates the initial excitement of opening Grayson B in League City, Texas. However, the reality soon turned sour as they encountered significant structural issues:

• Roof Leaks and Structural Damage: Early rainstorms exposed the storefront's vulnerabilities, leading to persistent leaks and water damage despite repeated reports to the landlord.

  "We realized really quickly that this shopping center... pretty much needs a new roof." [23:00]

• Neglect from Building Management: Efforts to secure timely repairs were met with delayed responses and inadequate solutions, exacerbating the problems over time.

  "The roofer looked at me apologetically and said this isn't going to fix it..." [24:03]

• Sewage Issues: A severe sewer smell permeated the store, driving away customers and making daily operations untenable.

  "Customers walk in... they're like, 'I'm sorry, I can't,' and I'm like, 'I completely understand.'" [26:19]

Impact on Business and Family

The ongoing issues not only strained their business but also took an emotional toll on Adam and Danielle:

• Event Cancellations: Monthly events designed to generate business had to be repeatedly canceled due to the store's poor condition, leading to financial and reputational setbacks.

  "Many of those we'd end up, like, canceling because of the smell." [27:07]

• Emotional Exhaustion: The relentless stress from battling the storefront's issues led to feelings of frustration, exhaustion, and questioning their future.

  "It's hard. It's like, I've... something you've built for so long... now there's been some suffering and hardship." [32:08]

3. Decision to Walk Away

Legal and Financial Considerations

After years of battling with the landlord and facing continuous damage, Adam and Danielle reached a breaking point:

• Seeking Legal Counsel: Consulting with a commercial real estate attorney provided them with the necessary guidance to terminate the lease without penalties.

  "They just recommended we vacate the premises... terminate our lease without any penalty." [29:48]

Emotional and Spiritual Reflections

Transitioning away from Grayson B was not just a business decision but also a deeply personal and spiritual journey:

• Faith and Guidance: Both Adam and Danielle reflect on how their faith played a pivotal role in navigating this setback. They express trust in divine guidance, believing that this closure is paving the way for new opportunities.

  "Maybe God is just like, pushing us to start something new, start a new chapter." [35:10]

• Emotional Struggles: Danielle opens up about the difficulty of letting go and shifting roles within the family dynamic, highlighting her struggle to trust both God and Adam with the family's future.

  "I'm having a hard time... I have to trust you too." [52:00]

4. Coping with Change and Future Plans

Adapting to New Realities

With the storefront closed, Adam and Danielle discuss how they are managing their business and personal lives moving forward:

• Transition to Online Sales: Although Grayson B's physical location is vacant, they continue to manage it online, facing challenges in clearing inventory amid declining customer engagement.

  "Grayson B is still online, and I am trying to sell out a lot of that inventory." [31:30]

• Exploring New Ventures: Both hosts share their excitement about future projects, including Danielle's upcoming women's conference and their children's book series aimed at promoting intentional conversations between parents and kids.

  "We're super excited about... children's book series... something for the mom and kids to talk about." [62:00]

Personal Growth and Development

The episode emphasizes the importance of personal growth during times of adversity:

• Danielle's Women's Event: Danielle discusses her passion for ministering to other women and how overcoming the storefront setback has fueled her drive to empower others through her upcoming conference.

  "She's been sharing... possibility to minister to other women." [62:15]

• Adam's Media Expansion: Adam talks about expanding his media ventures, consulting, and leveraging his skills in marketing and photography to sustain their family's income.

  "It's like, all this... is now a lot of pressure." [55:10]

5. Notable Quotes

Throughout the episode, Adam and Danielle share poignant moments that encapsulate their journey:

• On Trust and Faith:

  "Sometimes when mommy and daddy say things, we're right." [03:21]

• On Overcoming Setbacks:

  "No matter what's hard, there's going to be something beautiful in the end." [20:43]

• On Personal Growth:

  "One step forward. Just one step forward." [62:15]

6. Conclusion and Encouragement

Adam and Danielle wrap up the episode by offering words of encouragement to listeners facing their own challenges. They emphasize the importance of taking incremental steps, trusting in the unknown, and finding joy amidst uncertainty.

"If there is some situation or a phase that you feel like you're lost or just feel stuck, my encouragement to you is just like, one step forward." [67:08]

They also tease upcoming projects, including Danielle's women's conference and their children's book series, inviting listeners to stay tuned for more updates.

---

Final Thoughts:

Episode 33 of "More Than Reality" provides an unfiltered look into Adam and Danielle Busby's most significant business setback to date. Through their heartfelt discussion, listeners gain insight into the complexities of managing a family-run business, the emotional resilience required to overcome unforeseen challenges, and the unwavering faith that guides them toward new beginnings. This episode serves as both a testament to their enduring spirit and a source of inspiration for anyone navigating their own tumultuous journeys.

Transcript

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[Testimonial Speaker 2]

This is more Than Reality podcast, where we dive into all things faith, family, and marriage and share that there is so much more than the reality that you see on the surface. Welcome to More Than Reality with Adam and Danielle Busby.

[Adam Busby]

What's up? It is episode 33.

[Danielle Busby]

3:33. I need that one.

[Adam Busby]

Hey, I was reading the 33 of more than Reality podcast.

[Danielle Busby]

I was actually reading the comments, and there was a lot of people that.

[Adam Busby]

Was like, yeah, Adam's right.

[Danielle Busby]

Adam's right about saying the number, because I didn't know that there was 31 more episodes to go listen to previously. And. Okay, it's a good point.

[Adam Busby]

Danielle's recurring theme this week was, Adam's right on a lot of things.

[Danielle Busby]

No, that's not what I said. I said I have quite a few.

[Adam Busby]

Texts from this week. Okay, you were right.

[Danielle Busby]

Okay, I'm gonna read it to you. It says sometimes.

[Adam Busby]

It said so this week.

[Danielle Busby]

I guess sometimes you're right, but not.

[Adam Busby]

Often because you just don't want to admit it.

[Danielle Busby]

And then it came up again tonight with the kids. You're saying something in Riley.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah, Riley was. So we have this little mattress that's in the playroom.

[Danielle Busby]

It's literally an old. It's Riley's old mattress.

[Adam Busby]

And we just hold on to it for when kids come over to, like, spend the night and st. So we just, like, put it out in the room. Well, apparently, the quench drug it out and used it as a trampoline in the playroom.

[Danielle Busby]

You can actually bend this mattress in half.

[Adam Busby]

And so Riley's in there just jumping on the trampoline as I come upstairs. Not trampoline, mattress. She was jumping on it as I came upstairs. And she's like, daddy, watch me. I can touch this up here. And I was like, riley, don't do that.

[Danielle Busby]

Because the top of, like, the projector screen.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah, the projector screen in the media room. And I was like, don't jump on that and try to do that, because you're gonna fall forward, and you're gonna pull that whole thing down. You're gonna fall into the screen. And she's like. She's like, no, I'm not. In mid sentence as she's saying, no, I'm not. She falls forward, hits the screen. Like, riley, sometimes when mommy and daddy say things, we're right.

[Danielle Busby]

And she goes, yeah, you were right. And I said. I said, yeah, Mommy and Daddy are always right.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

And then you told Riley. Yeah, mom said I was right today. And I said, well, when I say things, I said, sometimes Daddy's right.

[Adam Busby]

But another thing that I was right about what? I don't know. Whatever we were talking about. Because you said that. You're like, yeah, I told Daddy he was right.

[Danielle Busby]

But I said, we are always right when it comes to y'.

[Adam Busby]

All.

[Danielle Busby]

Mom and Daddy are always right when it comes to y'. All.

[Adam Busby]

Anyway, Daniel has to trust my intuition with marketing.

[Danielle Busby]

What?

[Adam Busby]

She doesn't want to let go of things.

[Danielle Busby]

What does that have to do with Riley jumping on a mattress trampoline?

[Adam Busby]

That was another thing I was right about.

[Danielle Busby]

Oh, that's what my text was about.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

And I said, but not often, so I'll hold to that.

[Adam Busby]

So this week, let's ask a question. Oh, we're just gonna jump right into that. I was gonna talk about the week.

[Danielle Busby]

I'm just. We can still get a card this week. This week.

[Adam Busby]

Oh, we went to the race this week. We took the whole family. We had family weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

[Danielle Busby]

It's a good question.

[Adam Busby]

And, you know, you read my question as I'm talking. And so every. Well, the past two years, we've gone to the Sanzio Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It's like the first race of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway because it's, like, a lot more mellow. There's not as many crowds as, like, the Indy 500. And so it's a little bit easier to take kids around and do different stuff around the track and stuff. It's not crazy and hectic like the 500 is. We went to. They just finished the race museum at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. And it was.

[Danielle Busby]

Oh, the museum was amazing. I was wondering why, because the kids were so excited to go do, like, the car riding, the bicycle car riding thing.

[Adam Busby]

Oh, yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

And they didn't have that this year over in that kid area. Yeah, they did. No, they didn't. They only had cornhole over there.

[Adam Busby]

No, there was like a whole thing set up over there.

[Danielle Busby]

They didn't have the track.

[Adam Busby]

I have to look.

[Danielle Busby]

They did not have it anyway. But the museum, like, way made up for it. Like, the museum. The kids loved the new museum that they did.

[Adam Busby]

Like, it's not just like a race museum, so, like, race fans would just enjoy it. There was stuff for kids there. There was all kind of like, really cool stuff. Yes. They have, like, all the historic race memorabilia from Indianapolis Motor Speedway in there. And it's like, super awesome. They had this really cool, interactive, like, video that plays with the.

[Danielle Busby]

Oh, yeah.

[Adam Busby]

And the three Penske cars that started 1, 2, 3 last year in this room. And it was like, it was like the day leading up to the Indy 500 last year. And, like, it was like this really cool, like, video screen. But then the screen continued all the way up into the ceiling and behind you. And there was all kind of stuff happening. And the kids were just locked in.

[Danielle Busby]

Like when the jets flew over.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah. And they just went all the way.

[Danielle Busby]

That was really cool. I got chills just watching that part.

[Adam Busby]

It'll fight. See? Telling you. We just wait till you're there.

[Danielle Busby]

Well, so the Indy 500 in a.

[Adam Busby]

Couple of weeks, that video, it felt like you were there.

[Danielle Busby]

That is a lot of people.

[Adam Busby]

A few times in the video, I could, like, point out myself and see myself in the video because I was down on the grid for the national anthem and stuff. And so I'm like, oh, yeah, I was right there. I could see myself. I'm wearing red with a red hat.

[Danielle Busby]

You did not see yourself in that.

[Adam Busby]

Video A few times. And then after the the video, like, we went out into the main area. What are you showing?

[Danielle Busby]

That's the biggest great.

[Adam Busby]

And we went out and then there's this whole, like, interactive, like, kid area with like, plush, like, race car in there where they can, like, act like the pit crew. But then there was stuff where you could, like, test your stuff self against, like, this simulator that simulates you changing the tire in the car and refueling.

[Danielle Busby]

The car timed and stuff.

[Adam Busby]

And so you're like, going up against, like an actual pit crew.

[Danielle Busby]

Then there was the driving simulators. And there's like the whole like. Like computerized, like, it was really thing. I mean, there was so much. And then there was like the game where you like your reflexes. Yeah. And then you went into the other.

[Adam Busby]

Room and there was like a whole, like, robotics. Robotics room where like the. All the kids had these little robots and then they put these squares on the floor and the car does different things, like goes fast, coding, slows down, turns left, turns right, spins around, whatever, depending on what. What square you throw on the floor. And so they can make their own tracks and stuff on the floor and get the car to do all kind of stuff.

[Danielle Busby]

All kind of things there. It's just. It was a blast.

[Adam Busby]

The kids probably spent an hour, hour and a half in that room just like, playing with the cars and the robots and stuff.

[Danielle Busby]

And then us parents were having fun with it, too. But also we're like. Had a moment where we're like, we can just sit and they're just playing.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah. We could have spent all day in that room. It was fun.

[Danielle Busby]

The kids, for sure. Yeah.

[Adam Busby]

So that was a cool little breakup. Like, you know, we were going around to the track. Good ranchers has, like, a really cool barn activation there. And they have the Scott McLaughlin.

[Danielle Busby]

Oh, the good rancher at the meat.

[Adam Busby]

Wagon wagon inside the barn. So it was. Looks just like. It's like the race car that he drove at Barber Motorsports park the week prior. And so they have that car, and that'll be in there all week. I mean, all month. So if you come for qualifying or the Indy 500, you'll get to see that car, take photos with the car and stuff. And. And so we spent some time in there and like, walked around the different stuff. But the museum was really cool. Just kind of break up the day and, like, get the kids, like, engaged in other stuff.

[Danielle Busby]

And are you serious about who's going to sing the national anthem?

[Adam Busby]

Kelly Clarkson.

[Danielle Busby]

Kelly Clarkson. Kelly Clarkson.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah. She'll be there.

[Danielle Busby]

I love her. I have loved her ever since she was on American Idol. I'm like, she's been one of my favorite people. I want to meet her.

[Adam Busby]

We'll have some pretty cool people, like, in our suite at the good rancher suite. We have a cool suite right on the front stretch on the infield side of the Indy 500. And we'll have some cool people in there. One Houston person, Bun B. Oh, yeah. Will be there. Him and his wife are coming. So they'll be in our suite.

[Danielle Busby]

So, yeah, Indianapolis race, whatever one. It was Sonos Sanzio. Sanzio, yeah.

[Adam Busby]

So Danielle got to go down. She came down with me on the.

[Danielle Busby]

Grid, and we saw David Letterman to.

[Adam Busby]

Start, like, to start the race, and they did the flyover and all that kind of stuff.

[Danielle Busby]

And David Letterman, I have that fun picture, like. Yeah, but David Letterman, man, he. How old is he? He's got to be, like, in his 80s.

[Adam Busby]

He's got the big beard and. Yeah, yeah, he's old. He's like, one of the part owners of the Ray Hall. Ray Hall Letterman race team.

[Danielle Busby]

Oh, yeah. So cool. I mean, the race. The race life is very. Is very different. And I know it's like, it's a big deal, but, like, for me to get, like, really amped up and excited about sports, it's like I want my kids to be in it, you know? So it's like, I want. I want Riley to, like, start racing course.

[Adam Busby]

She was actually. Riley actually did really good on the.

[Danielle Busby]

City, and that seemed like she did best out of all the kids, even Blake, like, following it. Like, she did the best. Like, would you race this? Would you be a girl? Because there was one girl.

[Adam Busby]

Did you go meet Haley Deegan?

[Danielle Busby]

No, we had. We didn't meet her. We couldn't find her at that time. But I'm like, that's cool. Riley. That's a cool sport.

[Adam Busby]

Haley drives the Monster Energy car for nxt.

[Danielle Busby]

Oh, yeah. But Riley would be all about that. That is very much her thrive on, like, high adrenaline.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah. Never know. Get her and go karts.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah. So. So read your card out loud.

[Adam Busby]

All right. What?

[Danielle Busby]

No, I want. I want to ask you that card.

[Adam Busby]

Okay.

[Danielle Busby]

You picked it. You picked it. So I read it. What is something you love that you wish I understood better?

[Adam Busby]

That you understand. Understood.

[Danielle Busby]

What's something that you love that you wish that I understood better? Or let's just say you wish I either understood or cared.

[Adam Busby]

To understand smoking meat.

[Danielle Busby]

Wow. Why? I don't know.

[Adam Busby]

It's fun.

[Danielle Busby]

You want to talk about smoking meat?

[Adam Busby]

Yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

Baby meets at 190.

[Adam Busby]

I'm a man in my 40s. It's time to start smoking meat.

[Danielle Busby]

You do? But that's kind of like your thing.

[Adam Busby]

I know, but it's fun.

[Danielle Busby]

Oh, okay. I'll take your word for that.

[Adam Busby]

And you don't have to call me whenever I'm out of town. How do I work this thing?

[Danielle Busby]

And then Ben comes over. He's like, I know how to work a girl.

[Adam Busby]

That's funny. So I was gone. Where. Where was I?

[Danielle Busby]

You're at Alabama.

[Adam Busby]

Oh, I was in Alabama at the racetrack and Ben was coming, like, a later day. But Danielle. I thought it was just Danielle and Corey.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah.

[Adam Busby]

And so they both texted.

[Danielle Busby]

This was the first time. Ben was the third.

[Adam Busby]

Will, Adam, we need some help. Which grill do we use and how do we use it? And Ben's in the group text. And then a little bit later, I guess he was in meetings or something, but a little bit later, he's like, ladies, I'm gonna be there.

[Danielle Busby]

I do know how to use the grill.

[Adam Busby]

I know how to use the grill.

[Danielle Busby]

It was funny. It was pretty funny.

[Adam Busby]

It kind of gave me anxiety, though. I'm like, oh, gosh.

[Danielle Busby]

Who, him using it or me?

[Adam Busby]

No, not him using it.

[Danielle Busby]

Oh.

[Adam Busby]

Trying to figure out the.

[Danielle Busby]

I didn't want to use the Traeger. I just wanted to use.

[Adam Busby]

The Traeger's easy. You just push a button and set the.

[Danielle Busby]

I thought you got to put stuff.

[Adam Busby]

In it and it was already in there. Oh, you literally just have to push the button and set the temperature and hit start. And then make sure you turn it off because it'll burn through all my pellets if you don't stop.

[Danielle Busby]

Well, thankful Ben was here, and he just was our chef for the night or the afternoon. Evening.

[Adam Busby]

The meat man.

[Danielle Busby]

The meat man. So that worked out.

[Adam Busby]

Ben and Corlee are the owners of Good Ranchers, and so they're really close friends of ours, and so. And we were there this past week with. At family weekend at the racetrack too, so. Yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

So you wish that I understood your love for smoking meat. That's a good one, babe. Yeah, I wish. I'm gonna remember that on Father's Day and put that on a shirt for you. I'm gonna smoke meat for you on Father's Day, guys. And it is. I am drinking a glass of wine because it's nighttime, and I don't know, like, tonight I felt like a glass of wine.

[Adam Busby]

I mean, it's not like you. You don't do that every night.

[Danielle Busby]

No, I. No, I've never done it while we filmed a podcast.

[Adam Busby]

Makes it sound like, oh, it's night time. So I'm on my wine. No, I'm.

[Danielle Busby]

No, that's what I was saying. Like, I have not had a glass of wine in forever. And so I was like, I kind of want a glass of wine tonight. And then we're filming, so it's in there. So I was just kind of explaining.

[Adam Busby]

That if I need to explain, I gotta read it. All right, Danielle picked the card. When was the last time you felt completely present with God? When was the last time you felt completely present with God?

[Danielle Busby]

That is a great question, a great conversation starter for our topic today. Honestly.

[Adam Busby]

Okay.

[Danielle Busby]

Like, the full on ambiance presence in the aha was when I was at Grace and B in my office that day. We weren't open. It was a Monday. And I went in there to, like, work for the day and I got. I dropped, like, office call. I went there and I was like, hey, before I start my day, I'm gonna just go ahead and go through my Bible study. I did my Bible study and then I went through my journal and I was like, writing and I just was like, I'm gonna go back and look and. And in that moment, God was so present to me in that moment and told me, you're going to put on a women's ministry event. A women's event, A women's conference next year, which is this year. This was, I don't know, probably September where it was like that full, like, wow. I've had other experiences, but that was probably the last, like, epiphany of, like, God present in, like, verbally hearing and, like, feeling him tell me. And it was just evident. It was so evident that day. So, yeah.

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[Danielle Busby]

So this year I'm putting on a women's event conference.

[Adam Busby]

So for those of you that don't quite understand how that works and, like, hearing from God, you know, some people, it could very well be like an audible. Like, you just hear something, which I've heard stories about that. Yeah, usually the times that I've, like, felt like God's presence And like, a direction. It's been like just this. Either a picture or just like. No, but it's been. It was like a very clear, like, you need to do this. Like, just not necessarily a thought.

[Danielle Busby]

I think you can feel God's presence.

[Adam Busby]

In multiple different ways, but then with. Accompanied with that. Just this, like, sense of, like, ultra clarity.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah.

[Adam Busby]

And like, peace in that. Of like. Like, this is exactly what I need to be doing. And, you know, followed by probably, like, just a lot more, like, detail or whatever.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah.

[Adam Busby]

And just an impression of ultra, like, just clear direction, you know, that's been. That's been the times that, like, I've, you know, God. I feel like God has spoken to me through other people as well. You know, people have approached both of us at different times with just, like, providence.

[Danielle Busby]

I never even told you this.

[Adam Busby]

Okay, cool. Tell me right now.

[Danielle Busby]

When I was at the last church retreat. Just recently, a month ago, whatever.

[Adam Busby]

A couple weeks ago, somebody came up to you and told you something.

[Danielle Busby]

Yes.

[Adam Busby]

And it was, like, clarity on something.

[Danielle Busby]

It wasn't clarity. It was like, really?

[Adam Busby]

Oh, really?

[Danielle Busby]

They were like, you and Adam are going to start a church. Church. You are going to be, like, leading a church. And I was like, I don't see that. But maybe church doesn't mean the same church.

[Adam Busby]

This is our church right here, guys.

[Danielle Busby]

That's what I'm saying. Like, maybe the church doesn't actually mean, like, a building where people are coming in and the people. Because the church is the people. Right. So maybe this is. Maybe we are leading into a form of building a church. The people in some aspects. So it's kind of. Kind of fitting, I feel like. Is kind of like what we feel.

[Adam Busby]

Like for sure, what that truly means. But. Yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah. But it kind of, like, took me off guard, but now that I'm verbalizing.

[Adam Busby]

This is it this.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

So it's. I don't know. It's kind of. I could kind of see a little bit of, like, how that could kind of fit into some of the things that actually kind of, like, coincide with talking about change and, like, trying to talk about, like, what's next for the Busbys and, like, where do we go from now on and what does life look like and changes that we're making and what God's doing in our world? And, like, sometimes that involves, like, destruction to then like, weed out a lot of things so then, you know, build something beautiful. And no matter what, there's always something beautiful in the end.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

I mean, no matter what's Hard. There's going to be something like right.

[Adam Busby]

Now I feel like we're in like kind of a tear down period.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah.

[Adam Busby]

That we've kind of just really got forced into that's like now like kind of forcing us into like the next, next chapter of you know, some ideas and thoughts that we've had in our head about potential future. But now it's like go all in here because you know, I'm closing the door on this and it seems like. And you know, one of those big things is like, you know, if you follow us on social media, if you follow Grace and BE and stuff, like our clothing boutique, Daniel.

[Danielle Busby]

So we're talking about it.

[Adam Busby]

We're talking about it today.

[Danielle Busby]

We're gonna talk about it. I'm still very sensitive to this because I'm still very like sensitive to it. I still haven't like, I have peace with it. I just haven't fully allowed myself to be there.

[Adam Busby]

I think it's just because it's probably progressed so rapidly.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah.

[Adam Busby]

Just over the last month. And it wasn't really like a timeline that we were expecting or necessarily even wanted, but just because of the nature of like how things transpired, like so what, three years ago we opened up the storefront.

[Danielle Busby]

It was only four years in June.

[Adam Busby]

A little over three years. So you know, we opened up the storefront. We built out the storefront in this shopping center here in League City, Texas. Not long after we realized there's some serious issues with the building and the space.

[Danielle Busby]

And the Grayson B Was beautiful. Yeah, like did great work. Turned it all around. It's beautiful.

[Adam Busby]

Build out was great. The store was beautiful. Building itself, issues, deficiencies with the building. We noticed very early on once we started getting our first few major rains, rainstorms in Grace and B that we.

[Danielle Busby]

Did not put buckets on the budget to catch water coming through the roof.

[Adam Busby]

We realized really quickly that this, this shopping center that's been around for a while was like pretty much it needs a new roof. You know. So you know, we started getting these rain showers and whatnot. And then there's like hurricanes, there's like leaks everywhere. And so you know, you bring this up to the, the building management company and you know, you know, per your, you know, you have a contract and stuff and like, you know, they're supposed to respond within certain number of days and take care of the issues within a certain number of days and stuff like that. And just, just over the course of the years, you know, every. Seemed like every single time it would rain, there would be issues in the building. Like, sometimes it was like leaks on the outside walls. Sometimes it was, I mean, water just pouring in the back room, like on the couch and stuff where the. Like usually. So we had this room set up in the back of Grayson B. We would have it set up just in case the kids ever needed to come up with us.

[Danielle Busby]

But it was also like the break room. It was the kitchen.

[Adam Busby]

It was a break room for meetings.

[Danielle Busby]

It was.

[Adam Busby]

But we had like a couch set up there and a TV and stuff. So, like, the kids could go back there and just like kind of either do homework or some days just like, you know, watch Netflix or whatever and just kind of be back there instead of just running around in the store.

[Danielle Busby]

Days when kids would be sick at school and I'm like working and it's like, okay, y' all just come lay out on the couch. And.

[Adam Busby]

And so. And then, you know, their major leak back there. We're just like, water is just pouring all over the couch. And. And so you, you know, you'd reach out to the landlord. No response. No response. And then it would sometimes if you would get a response, it would be like way later than per the contract says that they're supposed to be handling stuff.

[Danielle Busby]

I don't want to get into too much, too much specific detail.

[Adam Busby]

But then like multiple times, like, there was not a.

[Danielle Busby]

There was some negligence on their part to the building.

[Adam Busby]

Like a roofer would show up to like come and repair or whatnot. And I remember one time, there was like two separate times, like one time that I actually climbed up there with the roofer just to like, get my eyes on it and see, like, what are we dealing with. And then another time I actually flew a drone up there and like, just to look and see the roof. And it was just funny because, like, I remember on two separate occasions, like, the roofer looked at me and he's like, kind of like walking up to me, like, apologetically, and he's got like a can, like a 1 gallon can of tar. And he's like walking up to me, he's like, I know this isn't going to fix it, but this is all they're paying me for. And so I'm just going to do what I can. And like, apologetically, like, I'll be back or somebody else is going to be back because this ain't going to fix the problems because you need a new roof.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah. And then things just started to escalate. The building started to have more damage, Things started to get damaged. Then we started having the sewer issue and the smell was starting to, like, really take over the unit. And just sum this up. We've just have not had a great time in the space with the building issues.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah, like, we've noticed. So, like, we would get, like, very strong, like, sewage smell kind of seeping in what seemed like the back of the building, which. That we could clearly smell from, like, in the showroom in the. And which is embarrassing, I mean, because this is like a nice. A nice clothing boutique. And then no one wants to walk.

[Danielle Busby]

Into a porta Potty to go shopping.

[Adam Busby]

Walk in. And it's just like this smell, like, hit you in the face. And so you have like. We have like all these pura, like, air fresheners and stuff, like, plugged in everywhere. Just. Just in case. Like, it's a day where you're gonna smell it.

[Danielle Busby]

No. And there's days where, like, customers walk in. They're like, I'm sorry, like, I can't. And I'm like, I completely understand. I don't even be in here right.

[Adam Busby]

Now, you know, so like a Grayson B. Like, we would hold. Danielle would hold like, these monthly, like, big, like, get togethers and stuff, like in the evenings and stuff. And it'd be like a big driving, you know, business generator, sales generator. Like, we'd have like a big event, like, with women would come and be like a wine night or a hat, a hat making night or a jewelry night or whatever. And all these people would come in and they would, you know, do the activity or whatever or see the vendor that's there and also shop. And so many of those we'd end up, like, canceling because of, like, the smell. And it was just embarrassing and, you know, so just going, oh, going through that over and over for years, you know, telling the landlord, you know, they would respond late. They would send a plumber that would, like, snoop around and like, at some point they like, cut a hole in between in the wall or whatever.

[Danielle Busby]

And we did all the things that we were allowed to do. When you fight with this for years and years, it gets weightful and it's heavy and it's exhausting and it's stressful and it just starts to weigh on you and it starts to affect your employees and how annoying it is. And this is like, you get nauseated because it's like, it's bad. And then you're losing customers because of it. So it's just been so hard. Especially last year. Especially last year.

[Adam Busby]

And it finally got to a point. Where like we gotta take. We even contacted like our realtor and then she gave us some advice like, look, you really need to just like here I can recommend, you know, like a commercial real estate like attorney like to help you kind of navigate all of this because we're constantly just reaching out to the landlord. Slow response, if any response.

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[Adam Busby]

That works, you know, so they told us, hey, you need to just like send a strongly worded email to the landlord per your contract. You have this many days to whatever.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah.

[Adam Busby]

And they didn't really follow through on that. They didn't really live up to, you know, what the contract says. And so it was finally got to a point where just like after years of just dealing with this and it causing like issues with the business and everything, it just got hard.

[Danielle Busby]

It's like, okay, so now we need to get an actual lawyer involved in.

[Adam Busby]

And we found a really great lawyer. And he was, he just recommended to us that, look, you just need to go ahead and just vacate the premises. We'll send an email. We're going to terminate. Terminate your lease which had already been actually terminated. Yeah. You're well within your rights, per the contract and everything, to terminate your lease without any penalty. You just need to get out the space so that we can just move forward with this. And so we never anticipated that, nor did we want to because of, I mean, we wanted, we wanted the business. We wanted the business to like, work and thrive.

[Danielle Busby]

And thrive. Yeah.

[Adam Busby]

And. And then just with all these issues and it just causing just hardships in the business and everything, we're like, I guess. I guess we got to do this. And so this is where we're at.

[Danielle Busby]

We are. No. No storefront. It sits vacant. We're kind of like, in this battle right now, and it's unknown territory for us.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah. We've never been in a lawsuit before or potential lawsuit.

[Danielle Busby]

It's not there yet.

[Adam Busby]

It's not at that point. But, you know, obviously, you know, anticipating that there end up will. Will be. But.

[Danielle Busby]

So Grayson B.

[Adam Busby]

Is not fun.

[Danielle Busby]

Grayson B. Is still online, and I am trying to sell out a lot of that inventory because we're just holding on to it right now and still managing online and whatnot. But, you know, it brings up. It has brought up a lot of conversations and topics about, you know, what do we do? And what does this mean? What do we do next? And, like, it's just. It's. It's been hard this last probably two months for. Specifically harder these last two months and just having conversations of, like, trying to explain things even to, like, Blake and the kids. And, like, what do you mean? There's no more storefront? So, like. And that hurt. That hurts. That hurts. It's like, well, it's not there anymore. We had to take everything out. And so it's in this, like, limbo phase. And that's hard to do with, like, a business and just weird. It's just. It's hard. It's like, I've. Something you've built for so long, and you've seen it come to life, and you've ex. You grew it. You had a storefront, and now there's been some suffering and some hardship through that. And now we evacuated out of the space and terminated lease. And now in this fight, and it's just like, what on earth is happening? This was never the vision for. This was never the vision. And so that kind of. We haven't. I have not. I'll just say I have not felt comfortable sharing those level of details.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

And therefore, there are more details and. And more. But I just feel like I haven't felt comfortable enough to talk about it because, one, it's kind of like a phase of, like, still hurting. And I feel like I still am hurting from kind of seeing that. Like, I'm looking forward to deteriorate or dissipate.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

Like, in a way, you know, like, when you have something and you see it, like, flourish, and then in. In an instant, you know, you take it all away in. In an aspect, it's just, man, like, I haven't experienced anything that drastic. In the form of business to be like, bam, bam. You know, and, you know, dealing with employees and like, it's just. That is hard stuff to deal with. That's hard. It's things I've never had to experience before. And so I haven't really felt comfortable talking about it because I don't know how to talk about it. But.

[Adam Busby]

And we still can't, especially just because of the nature of the potential, like, legal issues. There's not. We can't really share a whole lot of the details.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah.

[Adam Busby]

But, you know, that's just kind of where we're at right now with it. And, you know, we try to look at it from a positive side of, well, maybe God just like, pushing us to start something new, start a new chapter or.

[Danielle Busby]

Or for Daniel, slow down. And like, I don't know, like, things.

[Adam Busby]

Things that we've kind of aspired to do over the years that we just haven't been able to do because, you know, having a storefront, having a, you know, has kind of held us back because that's so labor intensive and so time intensive and everything.

[Danielle Busby]

But, like, so much fun.

[Adam Busby]

Like, maybe like God's shutting the door on this, so he's definitely doing something. He can redirect our gaze and refocus, like, our attention on something else that we probably should be focusing on or he wants us to focus on. So that's how we're looking at it right now.

[Danielle Busby]

But we don't know the outcome of, like, what this is going to turn into or what it's going to be and whatever.

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[Danielle Busby]

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[Danielle Busby]

Can protect you, your trips and your peace of mind all year round. Learn [e-mail] at this point, I. I don't want. At this point it's managing online, but it's very hard because I had to drastically in a day or so like to bring that up to talk about, like a change. It's a definitely. It's. It's to. To get more to the real side of it, of that being like a business and a work for me, something that I have done for almost seven years, I have done that for almost seven years. I actually have done that for seven years. To not do it like I have been doing it is so different. And I'm a worker, I'm a doer. And I just. It's. It's been kind of like a state of like, depression in a way of like, you go through all these thoughts of like, failure or like, I'm not good enough. What did I do wrong? And some of these things could be true. Some of them are probably just lies. And I don't know. I feel like God is definitely doing something within this. And I don't know really what's next. But I do know with that question that ironically came up about like, when's the last time you felt God most present? Yeah, so it was. And so if I think about that question last, if I think about that experience last, which was last year, sometime to then, like today, I'm like, wow, what did that mean back then to here we are today to see the drastic life change. Like, was. Was this. Is this something he's doing?

[Adam Busby]

Yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

You know, and like. And it's a fight. It's a fight, like I fight within and I fight with God about, like, I don't want to do this. This isn't what I want. Why is this happening? I mean, I think anytime we go through something that is uncomfortable, we ask a lot of those questions. And. And I go to God with that. And I think via. I was reading our blog back the other day because I've been. I've shared this too. I've been doing a lot of writing and I was like, I need to go back and read some of those things that I wrote. It's the same questions that I'm fighting or I have been fighting with the last two months with God. I mean, I have peace about it, peace about obedience. I have peace about being obedient to the situation. I don't know what the outcome is. But I do have peace about where we sit today with Grayson B. In connecting with this lawyer and abiding to, like, his counsel and stuff. So I have peace with this direction. I don't know what it all means and what it's all going to turn into. However, to look back and to read things. This was literally like two nights ago, two Days ago, I literally was, like, talking about, like, wrestling and, like, asking those same questions. So it doesn't matter. Like, your scenario. And I think I shared this on my story yesterday. A piece of it. Like, you might not be experiencing a quintuplet pregnancy, but you might be experiencing something drastic change in your life. You know? And this is one of those scenarios where it's like, why. Why now? We didn't prep for this. We put all this money into this and built this place out and, like, bought all this stuff and inventory. Not just inventory. Like. Like equipment and, like, everything you need.

[Adam Busby]

And furniture and fixtures and.

[Danielle Busby]

And, you know, here I am sitting, and I'm like, you know, this is. This is hard to accept that that's a loss. Like, I'm. I'm at a loss with that stuff because I haven't recouped in almost four years the amount of money we put into it. So, you know, it's. That's hard. Like, what am I supposed to do with that? What do we do with that? We just have to trust that God's gonna continue to provide and secure us with the amount of debt that we'll take on with that. And it's just. I mean, it's a. It's a. It's another. It's another constant change in life and a pace of life which has brought up a lot of other conversations of, like, what does this look like? What is. What do we need to do? And what does this mean? And it's been very wakeful, I will say. I read about that today in my Bible study. Every time I open up my iPad, I put in Grayson B's password. So, yeah, so just trusting in God and, like, the uncertainty and, like, trying to really stay grounded in, like, what do I know? Not what are all the what ifs and what are all the sadness and all these things, but, like, there is a lot of fears that we could potentially have. There are a lot of doubts. There's a lot of things that we possibly, both sides of us probably, like, overthink or we think differently and we process differently. And, you know, we've talked about a lot of. A lot of change. Like, what. What. What are we doing? Like, I'm not good just being steady. Like, I work better. I do better under stress. But I think maybe God's saying, slow it. Slow it down. Take this. Like, whatever is happening, I'm trying to see a positive side to it, even though I don't understand it. And I'm trying to just absorb, like, okay, well, here we are so now what? Now what is today? What is today? And you know, we speak a lot on like, find joy in your everyday. Yeah, find joy in your everyday. There's a lot of times that I wake up and I'm still very sad. I'm still like, I'm still. I'm actually still very sad about the fact that I like, don't go to grace and be. And like, I'm just going to say, gosh, this is when I'm going to get emotional finally, like where I don't get up and I like, go to grace. Like, I feel like I have to like, not even like, drive by it because it's. It breaks my heart to see it just like vacant. I don't know, it's. And it's hard. So, yeah, let's change the topic.

[Adam Busby]

So we're just talking about change and what's in store for the next chapter. And some things that we have been looking at and have been wanting to do but just haven't been able to because of the time restraints and stuff like that with having the store and.

[Danielle Busby]

Trusting into let go of that control.

[Adam Busby]

In a sense, like freeing up mental capacity to be able to focus on, you know, other things, potentially more meaningful things. Things that could say like that have. Well, I'm talking about like, I don't.

[Danielle Busby]

Know, but I do, I do feel. I do feel that what's the weight that's put on me more? So I feel. Does this glorify the kingdom? Does this glorify and all the things and everything, like, God's really pressed that in on me. Like what you're doing, does it glorify the kingdom? Going through the book of Matthew and like this Bible says it's like reading this and it's like, wow, work for the Lord. Like what you do. Like, you know. And so like, I start thinking of that, like, okay, well, going forward, because I can't change the past. Remember Hakuna matata. How to do something differently. What do we. What am I to learn from this? What's next? Like, because I'm like, let's figure this out and move on and not like to like, linger over things. But here we are in this situation where it's like kind of lingering because we're kind of out of the control of it. Yeah, we're kind of left to like.

[Adam Busby]

Limbo period of, you know, what's. What's going to happen with the building and all that kind of stuff. The landlord, you know, it's kind of in attorneys and attorneys Hands, which we're very confident and just like the attorney that we've, we've been in contact with and like, we're super pleased with, you know, the things that he said and his confidence and just everything and so super lucky with that. And I think that was like kind of a God thing, you know, just even finding him and. Because it was just one day and it was like one of those, I feel like one of those gods, like today, one of those God moments for me, you know, like, I'm stressed with, you know, everything going on and you know, everything that's on my plate, but then worrying about like Danielle and like how she is navigating this and coping with potentially, you know, closing a chapter on something and. And then all of a sudden just like, boom, it hits me like a name pops into my head and so I immediately jump up. Just like a family friend of ours that's like helped our family and stuff. And he's huge. He's a attorney, but he's also big into real estate. And so I'm like, man, I know, like, his name just was like clear as day. Call him.

[Danielle Busby]

And I was thinking, why have we not thought about talking to him?

[Adam Busby]

Yeah. And so immediately like went into Danielle and I was like, hey, I think I should call.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah.

[Adam Busby]

And sure enough, like, great conversation. Like he heard, heard like our side of the story out and he's like, man, he's like, yeah, that sounds like a really clear case of like negligence. I know just the person. It's my son in law and he can help you. He's like, call him right now. I'm going to text him and I'll follow up with them. And so, yeah, and it was just like, I feel like God was just kind of directing this. And so.

[Danielle Busby]

And ever since I feel like we've connected with him. We've had like, it's been. I feel like too, because we both said like, man, that was just such a blessing, the way that, that lined up and how it's happened. Like, it, it has been a blessing and I'm trusting in that. And there has been a sense of peace and I'm not going to say a closure because there's. No, there's not a closure. But I feel like I have this closure of like the visual of Grace and me with that struggle and the wanting like to escape this destruction of a place in the actual building, not the business itself, but like just the building and the fight, you know, and just being connected with him, like, it was just such a blessing. How all that lined up and the coming through of the guidance and whatnot was like, wow, this is exactly what you do and this is what we need guidance on. And so anyway, I think a lot of people and I actually talked to my sister the other day and I was just like, yeah, I can't imagine what the gossip in the town, in the community is all saying because it's. There has been no.

[Adam Busby]

We haven't really spoken about it. And so it's just been like.

[Danielle Busby]

And we are a public family now.

[Adam Busby]

Their store is empty.

[Danielle Busby]

And you know, I did call, I did call a lot of my like, top close customers and told them like, I called them directly and I was like, this is. I'm going to give you, you know, we love you, you support this business and you're, you're like business family to us and we see you all the time and connect with y' all and like called all of our top customers and people we see often and told them to come in and have like a first, like, help us clear out a lot of this stuff. Like, the less we have to take out, the easier it is and the less potential, like damage we would bring to the building with moving everything, you know. And so I did do a big sale and that was, that was very hard. But the least amount of things we had to move, which was going to be the easiest to try to get it out the next day, you know. But yeah, I mean, so I can't imagine what the community in the town and all the speculation, speculation and. But that's okay. Like, I know that where we sit and where we sit with God is like, bigger. And I have peace about trusting in our guidance and moving forward. We don't know what's next. We don't know what's going to happen. It's still online and that's where we are. But that is something. As my sister brought it up, she said something and I was just like, oh yeah. I can only imagine the gossip that's going around the town about what this all looks like and whatnot. But I was like, that's okay because I don't have to care about the lies, you know?

[Adam Busby]

Yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

So, boom, I know the truth. And that brings me comfort and so does brings me comfort. But there's also a lot of other things that are moving along and what's happening and. Or actually that I would say the season of probably the last six months of dealing with a lot of like, hardship with that has brought up a lot of conversations, brought up a lot of questions. And, you know, Adam's been getting busier and busier with, like, his media stuff and everything he does with good ranchers, but also just like podcasts and like, consulting and, like, photography and, like, that's just been growing. And, you know, he's so talented and so gifted and could be of a resource to so many people. I'm not sure I want him to do that all the time, but he. It is like one of those things that, like, when you work within your passion, it's just joy, you know, and so it's good for him. And I know he enjoys it and it's a lot of work and play all at the same time. So that's been really good for him to really kind of like, build. Build your work. It's good for you.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah, I think. And. Yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

And you're surrounded by girl life all the time, and our girl life is only getting more teenager girl life. And I think as that gets old, bigger, you do need to be ever more involved in present. Not that you're not. Right. Not that you're not, because you are, but you need to be. You need some guys in your life.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah. And I think that's God providing, you know, knowing that I'm gonna allow this season of, like, hardness hardship in your life, but I'm also going to provide. And, you know, I've just had so many, especially over the last few months and stuff, just like, opportunity after opportunity just like coming my way with just the stuff that I normally do, you know, and.

[Danielle Busby]

Can I be honest for a second?

[Adam Busby]

What.

[Danielle Busby]

You know, like, I'll get a little bit real here. So I've talked a lot about, like, in our previous episodes because remember, this is 33, so there's 32 more previously to listen to. I'm aware of that. Duh. My whole life, I have always felt like I've had to take care of me. Right. And provide and do. Even today, I still live with that mentality. And so I'm having a hard time now going, how am I providing? How am I providing? And for a couple years now, a prayer that's been prayed over, me and whatnot, is to be like, stop trying to be leader of your family and let Adam do what he does. Let. Let Adam lead you. Right. And that's biblical. And it's been very hard for me because that's my instincts and that's.

[Adam Busby]

You've always fought against it.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah. Okay. So. So now. Now, as of, like, as of right now, I feel like I'm in that position. I'm in that position where what am I doing? I'm not providing in the way. In a sense, literally, right. So as God is providing you all these opportunities, here I am sitting under here going, okay, is this where I'm supposed to be? And that's scary. That's scary for me because I've never. I've never been able to, like, let go in a sense like that, you know, and just be like, wow, I have not only trust God, I have to trust you too. And that's. I've never said these words to you out loud. So, like, that's hard. That's hard for me to let go of that control. And. Wow. I did not expect to, like, really get this deep today, tonight. But, like, I think. I think I'm having a hard time along with all my hormones and all the other things I'm working through. It's hard for me to. To be. To do this. It's hard for me to be here. And I want nothing more than for you. This. The hard thing is that I want nothing more than for you to be and do all those things for this family. I have a hard time letting you do it.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

And not on purpose. It's just my. It's just my instincts of. I think.

[Adam Busby]

Well, for. For like, the last 10 years, you know, while we've had the TV show, you know, we've done everything as like, a team, and it's been kind of more equal, but it's also given us the freedom to take some chances, like to start grace and be. To do some stuff and where you have your own thing. Aside from, like, the stuff that I do now, right now, it's like this season of, like, limbo, where that's kind of innocence gone away to allow you to focus on other things. But right now, in the immediate present, because you don't necessarily have your thing right now and.

[Danielle Busby]

But. But I do.

[Adam Busby]

But also over the last 10 years, like, the stuff like what I do, I haven't been able to do it fully because you've been supporting me at Grace and be. And also, you know, having a TV show and stuff like that, it's, like, taken a lot of my capacity away to where I can't be gone doing the things that I do most of the days, every day, because I need to be here filming and stuff like that. So I haven't been able to get.

[Danielle Busby]

Kids because I have to work at the shop.

[Adam Busby]

I haven't been able to, like, go all in on what I do, you know, with My media stuff and my consulting and my marketing stuff that I do for other people and other companies and, and brands and I haven't been able to do that fully. It's only been like kind of like part time and stuff because I, I've always been pulled in another direction and, and so now it's like, oh like, like you have to go all in on it and really, you know, play to your strengths and, and really focus on that and do do that to the fullest. And you know, I'm in that season of my life where right now like that's pretty much everything that's like bringing income to us is like all the stuff that I do. Yeah. As my job. And yeah. I mean it, it, it's a lot of weight because it's not just like, oh, you know, we have this other stuff too. But now it's like all this. And so, you know, it's. For me, it's a lot of pressure.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah. But I think you always have felt pressure since the day you knew that you were going to have six kids.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

[Danielle Busby]

So I think those things, you, you could learn to release that, that fear. Yeah. But I will say that I'm, I'm seeing, I'm seeing the fruits of this hardship right now. I am seeing fruits of it, which is beautiful. But it's still very hard to be me in this situation, so. Because part of me is like the person who's like, you stay home with the kids and I'll go work. Because that's what all I know, you know, and I'm doing something that I'm not used to. I'm not. Yes. I stayed home with the kids, you know, when they were baby like all that. But it was different. That was like chaotic time. And I was constantly, I was constantly busy. Right. And now it's. They're more independent. And so I've always. What God's revealed to me, especially over the women's retreat last week, last month, was just like, man, I have always felt that being a mom was not enough.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

And I don't know if any other mom has ever felt that or my instincts are to do and to work and to be busy and to. No one sits down till I sit down. And like, if we're not doing something, we're not, we're not providing or we're not growing or we're not learning.

[Adam Busby]

But yet being a mom is probably the hardest job out there.

[Danielle Busby]

It is. And, and so that's what I'm. And being a mom of six kids being a mom of a teenager and five preteens like this. And like, God is, like, just bringing to my eyes and, like, my life of, like, you'll see the value and the destruction and whatever you think is hard right now, you'll see what I'm doing. And I don't know, I think that he's trying to show me a couple things. A couple things. But one of those is what I just admitted out loud to whoever's going to listen to this and to you for the first time about the whole, like, me being under you.

[Adam Busby]

I didn't even go there.

[Danielle Busby]

I was waiting for you to go there because that's my normal. Adam means you're listening. You're actually, like, being listening and taking it in. But I don't know, it's just. It still feels weird for me to. To not.

[Adam Busby]

I don't know, I thought it was weird.

[Danielle Busby]

Like, I'm writing at times to kind of fill my emotions and spirit and, you know, do something kind of place.

[Adam Busby]

I don't know. Like, this week you said something, like, something came up around us and you told the girls you're talking about, like, breadwinner or something like that, and it.

[Danielle Busby]

Was just because they said it was interesting.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah, yeah. I was at dinner the other night. And you're like, because dad's the breadwinner in our family.

[Danielle Busby]

Because that's an outdaughter joke.

[Adam Busby]

That is an outdaughter joke. But it was just the fact that, like, you said that in this time of our life right now stressed you out. It didn't stress me out. It was just like. I don't know, like, I wondered if that, like, affects you somehow.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah, it does. But I have worked since I was like, I have contributed money since I was literally the queen's age, fourth grade, babysitting.

[Adam Busby]

But we've always kind of like, on outdaughtered and stuff and, you know, saying that it was kind of like tongue in cheek. But just like you said it the other day. I don't know, it just. It felt different, like, the way that you said it and I don't know.

[Danielle Busby]

Did I say it with believing it to you?

[Adam Busby]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

And it just.

[Adam Busby]

It hit different. Yeah, yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

Because you probably heard that from my mouth, not as a joke. Is that like, wow, his words are true.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

And then you got stressed out. Love you.

[Adam Busby]

I love you.

[Danielle Busby]

Anyway, what else are we going to talk about today? Since that went on a different rant.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah. That took a turn for. Why don't we Always go, like, so deep and heavy on these things.

[Danielle Busby]

I don't know about love. It's the only way you talk to me. Just kidding.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah. I mean, we were talking about just, like, new chapters and stuff, and.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah.

[Adam Busby]

I mean, but there's.

[Danielle Busby]

There's a lot of new things.

[Adam Busby]

There's. There's a lot of new things, like, in the works, and. And honestly, it. These things could be.

[Danielle Busby]

A creation or of, like, a building very, very, you.

[Adam Busby]

Know, very, very beneficial for our family, even whenever it comes to. Even just, like, income and stuff for our family and stuff, that Danielle's, like, working at home while she has the capacity. And I feel like not contributing some of these things. Some of these things that Danielle's, like, working on, like, while at home and stuff. She's not just sitting on the couch and just, like, doing nothing. Like, she's, like, being productive and, like, okay, like, what's next? And, like, what are some things that I've been, like, dreaming about over the years that I just haven't had the. The capacity or just, like, the mental.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah.

[Adam Busby]

Bandwidth to be able to focus on? And she's been focusing on those things. And, you know, like, one of those things is, you know, we've hinted at, like, books and stuff like that, and, you know, we're kind of dipping our toe into the water with those.

[Danielle Busby]

And, you know, children's book series.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah. Daniel's. We've been. We've been, like, kind of toying with this for quite some time now, and eight years, but we've been wanting to do, like, a children's book series, and that kind of mimics the character, like, our children, our characters in these books, and just doing, like, a series of books and, like, stories of their life and. And different things. And so she's been working on that. And, you know, she had talked about, like, the women's conference and stuff. She's, like, super passionate about ministering to other women. And.

[Danielle Busby]

Well, I wasn't. I'm not gonna say I wasn't. That was something God put on my heart.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

In Brazil. Mission trip.

[Adam Busby]

But you're acting on it.

[Danielle Busby]

Yeah. Because I see. I see. I see the works of the goodness of God when I'm in that mode. And, like, that's how I want to live.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah. And so, you know, all those. All these things are now, like, in.

[Danielle Busby]

The works for myself.

[Adam Busby]

The gears are moving and stuff now, and. And things are actually happening, and things are, like, taking shape and. And stuff like that, which is really cool to see, and, you know, and I've just kind of let Danielle, she's like, let me in a little bit. Hey, can you read this? Can you read that? Blah, blah, blah. And, you know, it's great and it's going to be so cool just to like, to be able to see it one day and like, hold it in your hand and. But that's something that'll probably be coming, you know, probably later this year or something like that.

[Danielle Busby]

And it's funny because, like, with the children series, I had the girls, like, each read like, their story out loud to me to see what they thought about it because, like, write a story or whatever. And there it's like a children's book series that is kind of fit for like this 5 to 9 or like under 10 years old. Like a kindergarten. First grader who could read like first grader who could read to like, you know, like this fourth grade. Kind of like in between their age gap and just like trying to. I'd have them read it to me and think about what, you know, something is particular about the story based off of something of them or something they do or like, whatever. And I already have a whole nother, like, thing coming next or whatever, but I'd have each of them, like, read it out loud and stuff. And then at the end they're like, what's all this? I'm like, well, because your mama likes intentional conversations. I wanted this, these books at the end to have something for the mom and kids to talk about. Okay. But then I let two people like, pre fruit it, pre freed it to one who's like an English major and like, whatever. And then another one just like a friend. And then obviously you just said, I need some feedback and some like, tell me what's wrong or edits or whatnot. Anyways, one of them said, I love the fact that you put me in that part. Like, that's you. The mom part is like, like, let's. Let's make this a valuable book read. What's the value of reading this story?

[Adam Busby]

It's not just a story for, like, a kid to read. It's something for the kid to read, but it's also something for the parent to have an intentional conversation.

[Danielle Busby]

And like, whether it's about friendship or. Or. Yeah, you know, feeling perfect or insecurities or like, whatever.

[Adam Busby]

So to bring back, like, the purpose into it.

[Danielle Busby]

Right.

[Adam Busby]

And to keep it intentional rather than just being another mindless children's book just to get them to read words, it's something intentional with purpose. Yeah. And they're short it's like kingdom honoring. Yeah. And so, you know, we're super excited about that.

[Danielle Busby]

I mean, the illustration.

[Adam Busby]

I'm super proud that Danielle is actually, like, doing this and it's taking shape and, you know, the thought and everything that she's put into this and stuff. And so that's in the works. That's coming. Don't exactly know the exact timeline on all of that, but I know that.

[Danielle Busby]

My book thing that I've been writing and devotional and all these things based around my story of my life and testimony, I want that completed and done before my women's event.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah.

[Danielle Busby]

So that's a hard.

[Adam Busby]

And. And you've been sharing, like, little snippets of that over the months and not really talking about, like, fully that you have this whole thing done, but it's just like she's been sharing just, like, snippets and excerpts and stuff like that. Unbeknownst to, like, you guys, super cool podcast is actually.

[Danielle Busby]

This podcast has got the first of all the things.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah. You'll find out about a lot first.

[Danielle Busby]

So if you're not listening to the podcast, you're not hearing this.

[Adam Busby]

Yeah, we haven't really shared much at all of, like, any of this and stuff, like, on social media and stuff.

[Danielle Busby]

So actually, anything that you've heard today has never been shared on social media. So the special ones.

[Adam Busby]

So, yeah, I mean, so, you know, this episode was just really about, like, change that's happening in our life. And then we got whether we wanted it or not and, like, how it's going, how we're reacting to it, how we're coping with that, and then give you a little bit insight of some future stuff that we're working on. We'll probably share some more of that in future episodes.

[Danielle Busby]

But, oh, I will say for some encouragement for not everybody's story and. Or situations or whatnot are always the same or, like, can relate to, like, what we're talking about. However, if there is some situation or a phase that you feel like you're, like, lost or just feel stuck, my encouragement to you is just, like, one step forward. Just one step forward. One step at a time. You don't have to have it all figured out, but if you could just take that next step, your growth will continue. And if you can trust in the unknown of, like, that uncertainty and, like, put your faith into something that you can't see and trust in God, like, man, it's gonna be beautiful. And that is my hope, is that I know that whatever I am doing I feel called in a sense, even if it's not what, like, my instincts are, like, my instincts are like, I need to be doing and working, and here I am. I could, like, be running some errands or, you know, doing birthday dates recently. And, like, then it's like, oh, I'll come home and, like, be, like, sitting in the bathtub and I'll write something. I'm like, what? Like, this is. This is weird. This is a weird life for me. It's not the life that I ever thought I'd have. And more so a life of, if I'm talking about writing, I've hated English. I hate it. Literature, I hate it. Writing. I write like I talk. And so trying to make myself right, like, to where it's actually, like, publishable, that is hard.

[Adam Busby]

And that's one thing I told Danielle. You can't. If you're gonna write, like, a formal book, you can't write it like, how you talk. She's like, but that's the whole point because that's how she always said her blog.

[Danielle Busby]

But I have done. I've. I've done better. I've done better.

[Adam Busby]

Even on a lot of your social media posts, you don't know this, but I go back behind you and proofread.

[Danielle Busby]

I do know you do that. It's annoying. Stop it. I'm gonna change my password and then the next day and be like, adam, can you post that?

[Adam Busby]

Yeah, exactly.

[Danielle Busby]

Anyways, so, Yep. Thanks for listening to our hearts. They went way beyond what the topic of today was. We were going to talk about other little things, but now we've kind of talked about the same thing for a long time. So I think we should wrap this one up and say, thanks for listening. I will say, since I do have this women's event, one more thing, because I'm always good at that. In the comment or in the notes, in the description, I'll put. I can give you a link. And if you want to be in the know about the women's event that I'm going to put. Be putting on later this fall, you can sign up for the email list thing. I'll give you a thing. And it's literally that's all it is because the website's not done yet, but it's literally like, hey, I've talked. I did talk about it on social media. That is the one thing I've talked about, like, a couple months ago. But I'll put the link here. If you want to put your email address and name, I'm hoping this comes out on Thursday, Thursdays, I'm hoping by the end of this week. So Friday or hopefully by next week before the kids get out of school is the deadline for me before the 22nd. I want the save the date, the information all out so people to know and can.

[Adam Busby]

There you have it there. So we'll tell you where to go.

[Danielle Busby]

Tell you where to go.

[Adam Busby]

All right. So thanks for listening to episode 33 of More Than Reality podcast and we will see you in the next one.

[Danielle Busby]

Thanks, guys.

[Adam Busby]

We love you guys. Sam.