← More Than Reality with Adam and Danielle
More Than Reality with Adam and Danielle
EP 62 - We Were Done. Here’s What Finally Pushed Us Over the Edge
00:52:18
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- [00:01]
Danielle Busby
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- [00:31]
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- [01:00]
Adam Busby
We're all about, you know, your story has a purpose. And no matter where you are in your story, no matter what you've, hurdles you've had in your life, whatever you've overcome at the very beginning, you know, we, we wanted to start this podcast, just the two of us, to where, you know, we can fully retell our story, who we are and stuff like that, but then eventually start to bring other people on.
- [01:27]
Danielle Busby
We feel called to still share. We're still praying about what does that actually continue to look like and if it's something larger than what we're currently doing for God to make it evident to us and to, you know, open the doors for those opportunities.
- [01:47]
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.
- [02:04]
Adam Busby
Welcome to More Than Reality podcast with Adam and Danielle Busby.
- [02:10]
Danielle Busby
Yes, that is I.
- [02:11]
Adam Busby
And it's episode 62.
- [02:15]
Danielle Busby
I was, I was going to. Coming at you. 62.
- [02:19]
Adam Busby
Coming at you.
- [02:19]
Danielle Busby
So welcome. Thank you for joining. If you haven't listened to us before in this is your first time, we're the Busbys. We are. Yeah. We give a little background of who we are since we're kind of like, you know, kind of like we have.
- [02:37]
Adam Busby
Had, we have had a lot of subscribers over the last few months and so people that don't know our background haven't gone back and like, maybe you.
- [02:48]
Danielle Busby
Haven'T listened to the.
- [02:48]
Adam Busby
We started this podcast with completely retelling our story. So if you want to learn a lot about us? Go back to the early episodes because, yes, we were on reality TV for 10 years, 10 seasons on TLC TV show called OutDaughtered. And we struggle with infertility.
- [03:14]
Had our first daughter a couple years later, wanted one more, had five more girls at the same time.
- [03:21]
Danielle Busby
So it's called Quintuplets. Yeah, they were the first all girl quintuplets in America. And yeah, then we captured our life. We did it via our YouTube channel, our blog, everything. And then obviously the show Adam talked about on tlc. And so after we've kind of like, our girls gotten older, we just kind of like wanted to take a. A session away of just like, okay, let's just. Things were getting harder and harder to just kind of like adjust schedules and film because kids are in school all the time and yada, yada, yada. You can go listen to all the details and all that stuff in, in the earlier episodes actually just go listen to all of them. Just start from the beginning. But yeah, so we just kind of wanted to open our hearts more and give a real glimpse of like, the true side of, you know, of our hearts, meaning where our foundation is, like, what the deepness of our desires are, what our hearts are, our love. We talk about marriage, we talk about family, we talk about parenting, we talk about just all the things.
- [04:32]
Adam Busby
Yeah, that goes back to the meaning of the name of this podcast because obviously we came from reality tv and a lot of people know us from television, which is more or less like a caricature of your life. You know, a very small percentage of your life that's just gets edited for dramatic effect. And, you know, a big part of us and being so open and, and real and relatable and sharing our story on TV, but also sharing our story on social media and YouTube and all the things we're all about. You know, your story has a purpose. And no matter where you are in your story, no matter what you've. Hurdles you've had in your life, whatever you've overcome, everybody's story can speak to someone out there. And I mean, I think that's going to be a little bit of a springboard into 2026 for us is so at the very beginning, you know, we. We wanted to start this podcast, just the two of us, to where, you know, we can fully retell our story, who we are and stuff like that, but then eventually start to bring other people on, other people that have stories, other people that have very. I was gonna say dramatic. Dramatic's not really the word.
- [05:54]
Danielle Busby
Everyone has a story to share, and so people that we feel impact, people that we feel we would love the opportunity to use our platform to share their testimony and their story, to touch the lives of someone who might be listening. So we want to be able to do that. So.
- [06:10]
Adam Busby
So going back to the title, the name of the podcast, it's More than Reality. So we are. You are so much more than the reality, the surface level of what people see in front of you. You know, we're so much more than, you know, the reality that you saw in reality tv. There's so much more that you can learn from us, from our experiences. We. What we've done as parents, as couple, and all the things. And, you know, this is a platform where we can share and talk about that.
- [06:44]
Danielle Busby
And we really like to.
- [06:48]
Want to be able to, like, be responding to you guys. And, like, what do you really want us to really share? Because, I mean, we could talk for forever, but we want it to be most meaningful to y'. All. So we do get feedback and everything. But, you know, when it comes to marriage, family, family, parenting, you know, all these different categories, I would love in the comments. You know, we want to see, like, what are the questions that you have for parents who have witnessed and have experienced life in a glimpse of stages with so many different effects all at one time? Right. So when we hit a milestone, we are going through it with so many different experiences all at the same time. Same time versus comes in like a wrecking ball. I experience it this with my first and then three years later with my second. Those are. It's very different scenarios than what it is all at the same time. But we've learned a lot. We've experienced a lot, and we've seen God's grace and God's glory and God's love through all of it. And it's. It's got. It's. It's good. It's so good, and there's so much to share. You'll see that we've.
- [08:07]
Probably more. So me have been emotional. I'll cry at times. We talk about the past. We talk about, you know, the future. We talk about things. We've gone through some hard. Some. Some. Some interesting things and some things you've never heard before. Some things we've talked about. I think one episode, we did, like, a back. A back episode of, like, watching one of the first episodes ever.
- [08:31]
Adam Busby
Yeah. I don't know if I'll ever do that again.
- [08:34]
Danielle Busby
It was too complicated for you.
- [08:35]
Adam Busby
It's because our TV show is still like streamed everywhere and so there's like all kind of copyright loopholes. But we tried and it was a.
- [08:44]
Danielle Busby
It was a big fail.
- [08:45]
Adam Busby
It took me about four tries of uploading and getting rejected.
- [08:48]
Danielle Busby
Yeah. So that's. That sucks.
- [08:52]
Adam Busby
But we have friends that have reality shows that have done like commentary on past shows. It was more so because their show is very old.
- [09:05]
The start of like the Duggars. 19 and kids and counting. I'm talking about Jeremy and Ginger Duggar. They do some, but they're like commentating on like way, way, way back, early 19 kids, accounting stuff. They started as like 17 kids and blah, blah, blah. And those aren't streaming. And so they kind of got around that. But Jeremy was texting me like a week or so ago and he's like, okay, we got hit because I guess they try to use like a later episode.
- [09:37]
Danielle Busby
Yeah. So too much copyright and too many things that make it too complicated.
- [09:41]
Adam Busby
So we really wish we could do that more.
- [09:42]
Danielle Busby
But yeah, we don't have the rights to that part.
- [09:47]
Anyway.
- [09:48]
Adam Busby
It's our story. That's why we're retelling it right here.
- [09:51]
Danielle Busby
Yeah. But you know, I think it was interesting just even experiencing that because like literally watching that first episode, there's just so many things that in the beginning years of like having the quints and having a four year old and then if you go into it and then going through the NICU for, you know, those three months and then getting them all home and sleepless nights to then, then starting to film a TV show and like everything was all new all at the same time. So a lot of people ask us, was it hard filming the TV show?
- [10:28]
Or the question is like, did they, did it overtake your life? Did it, Was it hard letting them come in? And it's like, honestly, when we became parents of quints of the babies coming home and filming a TV show, like it kind of all happened at the same time.
- [10:46]
Adam Busby
Yeah.
- [10:47]
Danielle Busby
You know, and so we never really had. We never really knew anything different.
- [10:52]
Adam Busby
It's just like, you know, whenever I run into or you run into like another mom or another dad, they're like, man, how do you do it? Like, well, that's our normal.
- [11:01]
Danielle Busby
Yeah.
- [11:02]
Adam Busby
Like, that's just our everyday life. And so like whenever we first brought the quints home, we had TV cameras with us. And so it all kind of came together at the same time. And so it wasn't like. But we were by ourselves. And then the TV crew came like later. Yeah, it all Happened at the same time. So it just became our normal. It became like our everyday life. Our crew members.
- [11:25]
Danielle Busby
No one knew what we were doing. We were just literally trying to survive with a microphone on. Yeah, that's literally what it was like. It was like, how are you supposed to make something out of this? Because.
- [11:35]
Adam Busby
But also like what you said is like divided up into two camps. Like, there's people that are like, oh, you're on tv. Like, oh, that must be super easy. You make a lot of money and people just kind of follow you around. Like, man, have you not really thought about that? But I mean, there it's being on tv. Being on reality TV is a. Even though you may not, because you don't see all the behind the scenes stuff, all the, all the time that goes into filming an episode, all the hours, hours and hours of couch sessions and stuff like that. Like, you just don't see like the, you know, 10, 12 hour days for five days a week. At the early stages, it was six days a week because they were just capturing everything, overshooting everything. And so they were always there and you just, you can never turn it off.
- [12:24]
Danielle Busby
Holiday season is here. And skip those forgettable gifts and give the people you love something they won't forget, Which I'm talking about. Good ranchers gift them a box and it's not only filled with 100% American raised meat, it's filled with moments that matter. Right. So we're gonna bring meals and family time and conversations and gathering around the table. And that is what is important for over the holidays, is to remember our family, remember our special times together. Whether you're gonna send it straight to them at their door, whether you're going to give them a digital surprise and you can give them an e gift card. There's multiple ways that you can get good ranchers out to the ones you love.
- [13:07]
Adam Busby
Yeah. Right now is obviously the big gifting season. And what better gift to give than just spending time with others at the table and just sharing family memories and being with the people that you love. And you know, that's been the big mantra of good ranchers, honestly from the start. But especially, especially a big push this year is just getting back to the table. And that's what a gift like this can do. I mean, and there's two options. You can, you can order the box and have it shipped straight to their door, or you can do an E gift card where they get to select when it comes. I was actually just at good ranchers a couple hours ago and One of the biggest things every year is the ham. I mean, we had ham, the good ranch ham at Thanksgiving time.
- [13:54]
Danielle Busby
The best ham that hands down the best ham you will ever eat.
- [13:57]
Adam Busby
And if you want one or you want to gift one, you better do it right now. Because we literally we were going over the numbers of like what we have left in inventory because ham is somewhat of a seasonal item like that, a spiral cut ham. And we have less than 250hams total in stock in the country. So there's only 250 good ranchers hams left. And they go fast. So jump on that right now.
- [14:25]
Danielle Busby
Right. And all their meat is high quality, 100% American, raised on local farms, delivered right to the door. So whether they're gonna order it, you gift them an E card and they're gonna order, it's still gonna go directly to their house. And everything is pre cut, pre proportioned by master butchers. Meaning you're going to spend less time prepping your meals and having more time with the family to sit down and enjoy the meals.
- [14:50]
Adam Busby
So get over to goodranchers.com, use the code BUSBEE at checkout and get $40 off your subscription plus free meat for life.
- [15:00]
Danielle Busby
Yeah, sounds like a deal.
- [15:02]
Adam Busby
Either get it for you or get it for, for a family member or a friend for the holidays. And don't forget that ham. So go to good ranchers.com use a code busbee at checkout.
- [15:13]
Danielle Busby
Thank you good Ranchers for sponsoring our.
- [15:15]
Adam Busby
Podcast, American Meat Delivered.
- [15:18]
Danielle Busby
In the beginning, I just didn't know it was happening. It was like it wasn't my focus. It's like, okay, put a microphone on. But like, it's not my priority. That was my priority.
- [15:26]
Adam Busby
Right.
- [15:27]
Danielle Busby
And so as years went on, just like any other form of a business and a job, you get more adjusted to how things work and you know, the, the ways of what the day is going to look like. And then you start to say, like, okay, so what's the plan today? And then what's the schedule? Like? What's. So there was just our.
- [15:52]
We just, we grew more knowledgeable around a lot of it and started to have to be more structured because, you know, our babies are as structured as I was with the routine. Yeah. Never can be as structured with the TV show because you're following a family with six kids. Like nothing's ever going to go as planned. And the funniest part is, is that everything that happened, like for real, like real disasters, everybody thought on TV that it was fake. Every real disaster, like When Adam, like, you left your passport, Remember when we were going to Hawaii or something, and you left your passport and Don had to come bring it up at the airport. Yeah. We had to call Don and he came and brought it.
- [16:44]
Adam Busby
I don't know if I even remember that. That was a blur.
- [16:47]
Danielle Busby
Yeah. Everyone was like, that was such a setup. It's like, that was actually so real. That was so real.
- [16:57]
And then it's like the stupid little things that people think are real that may. We may have, like, emphasized, like. I don't know, I can't even think.
- [17:07]
Adam Busby
Of what it was like, a lot of. So, I mean, you got to think about it. You know, we have a TV show where Danielle and I and the girls are primary characters, but whenever five members of our family cannot really communicate, you have to have somebody there that furthers along the storyline. You have to have, like, dialogue and stuff. And. And so, you know, for the most part, as parents, Danielle and I are on the same page with pretty much 99% of the stuff we're on the same page. And for tv, they're like, but in order to make a TV show work, you have to have some sort of conflict that has to be resolved at the end of the episode. And so to keep the viewer engaged.
- [17:56]
Danielle Busby
Yeah, just to keep what's going to happen.
- [17:57]
Adam Busby
Yeah. So you have, like, cliffhangers, and you have, like, reasons for people to come back from TV commercial breaks and stuff like that. You know, they would want some sort of conflict. Like, okay, you know, producers sitting down with us. Like, okay, like, I know you guys are pretty aligned on whatever this decision is or topic is, but, like, let's play devil's advocate a little bit and somebody be, you know, on the fence about it, and then we'll get. We'll get back to it and, you know, we'll come full circle in the end. But, like.
- [18:28]
Danielle Busby
And so the drama in the middle.
- [18:30]
Adam Busby
Yeah, so, like, it, you know, obviously it created drama specifically for tv. There's some people, I don't know, we get. We get mixed messages from, like, a lot of viewers. Like, some people are like, no, yeah, you guys have a great family and a great marriage and stuff. And they don't read too much into it. But then there's other people. And I think it's actually.
- [18:51]
Danielle Busby
It was actually a lot of those things were meant to be seen as this happens normal, in normal relation, like, other people's lives. Like, every marriage is going to have X, Y, Z. Like, there's going to be some. Some tiffs, you're going to resolve it. You're going to banter like nothing's ever perfect. And we were never perfect. But nothing was ever meant to be like this blown out drama, huge thing. But people will take things to the extreme from something, you know, it's, it. I mean that's just the media itself.
- [19:27]
Adam Busby
Back to my point though, I was talking about.
- [19:29]
Danielle Busby
Sorry, I'm gonna look something up real quick.
- [19:31]
Adam Busby
You know, some people, you know, they watch it and they're like, they don't really think too much into it. But then as with social media and stuff, like whatever is going on in your own life, I think you kind of look at everything through that lens. Whether it's, you know, you have a life or a relationship or you know, that has a lot of conflict. And so you look at it through that lens and so then you're just like, oh yeah, they're always fighting. And like we never saw it as like fighting. We just thought, thought of it as like kind of working through. Yeah. The end goal of getting to something. But you know, some people just see it as fighting. Some people see it as a. Oh, that's just normal things that parents or married couples do. And so it's hard to really. I don't know, you kind of, you kind of face that from both sides on just like people that are viewing from the outside in.
- [20:33]
Danielle Busby
I would think, like, I think a question that like I have today, like for like us, because it's kind of something I want to like share about after the after effects of like after filming, like, so if you look at like now we've been years, like what, three years out? Something like that. Two years out or something I don't even know about two years solid out of the last times we had full on cameras in the house. And as you look back, like, how does it, what do you, what do you feel? How, how does it, how do you feel about those days? Like whenever. Because I'll say this as I look back and I say like. And I like kind of like self meditate or like as I process or like I'll be reading something in my Bible and I'm like, oh, that triggers this or that makes me think of that scenario or like whatever. I'll be, you know, meditating on something and I go a lot of times in the, that first year of like stepping away that I needed a lot of time to just like process because a couple, a couple things. One was I don't think I ever really processed what I physically went through. Right. Because I was always go, go, go, because you had quintuplets. But then there was always a lot of workaround. And I think a lot of this is just gone into where life is today. And I've been aware of more things coming. I think we've talked a little bit about this kind of in a lot of our episodes. But I think what I look back and I think that.
- [22:19]
There'S this world of.
- [22:23]
We've talked some in the past episodes about, like, spiritual warfare. And some of us might say, like, oh, that's. That's weird, or, oh, I don't understand that or whatnot. And that's okay. But I'll still say that. I think as I look back, that in that world, when we were in the depthness of filming kids, media everywhere, like, the prime of it all, I think I was in a. Probably the most mentally spiritual battle. And I wasn't aware of it in the moment, but I was struggling so bad in probably some of the worst seasons of, like, not the worst, but like, some very challenging seasons that we went through, through all these years. Because the last 10 years have been like, a lot have been.
- [23:20]
Challenging, let's just say challenging because we were. Had quintuplets and then raising six kids. But I think that there was. This world is filled with lots of temptation everywhere you look. Right. And then when you're.
- [23:38]
When you are put.
- [23:41]
Not put. When we are involved in that, in a work environment, you have to be very cautious. And I feel like I was very aware. And we both had our own struggles and battles through, like, what we thought was easy with filming in that public life and what we thought was hard about it. Right.
- [24:02]
Adam Busby
Yeah.
- [24:03]
Danielle Busby
And it caused. It caused some frictions between us because those things were like, okay, but family first. Family first was always the priority. But there was always. There came to be, like, this imbalance because there was so much like, battle spiritually between what was happening under the roof of the house, in a sense. And I'm not sure that I. As strong and as much as I was walking my days, like, dependent on God and feeling like I can't do this without him, every day was covered by him pushing my feet to go forward. I don't think I was aware or I mentally understood what a spiritual battle would have been. And I think that I've grown in the aspect of understanding that. And I think I look back and say, like, man, because I remember specifically days, specific days, and I'm like, that is exactly what happened. That's exactly what was taken over that day. I just remember, like, afterwards, like that first year, just. It was just so much having a process and like, rebuild myself, I think, like, rebuilding myself.
- [25:18]
Into believing who I knew I was and who I knew God created me to be. Because towards the end I kept saying this was my biggest fight because I was like, I was like, I'm done filming. I don't, like, I just need to. I'm so over this. I'm run. I'm done. And I kept saying, y' all don't want me. You just want the person. You just want a person to be this character. Right. On tv. Like you want, you want a mom of this, but you don't want who I really am because I'm not really that person to the extreme. Right. Like, I'm not going to cause fights, I'm not going to cause confrontation, but if you put me in it, I'm gonna fight. If you put me in it, I'm gonna win. You know, Like, I, I will stand firm, I will stand forth. But.
- [26:15]
I just remember going through, getting towards the end, just. Man, getting defeated, just getting defeated and feeling like, just tell me what to do to get through this. Tell me what to do. Like, just giving in. Just want to give in.
- [26:28]
Adam Busby
Well, I think it was like once, once you really started to see like the disconnect between like reality and the final edits and like, it didn't line up the same as.
- [26:43]
Danielle Busby
Yeah, they were getting worse.
- [26:44]
Adam Busby
It was getting like worse and worse and like more drama filled and stuff like that. Just because it's TV and, and I don't know, like, that as like a, as a couple, as parents or whatever, that just kind of beats you down because you're like, okay, like it's, it's one thing filming it, but then also like fielding the criticism from like, the repercussions of it.
- [27:10]
Danielle Busby
Because it's like the repercussions.
- [27:12]
Adam Busby
Like people don't like, have a, a full understanding of like, what our life is and what reality really is. And all they're seeing is that caricature of us. And they have a completely different representation of like, who you really are.
- [27:28]
Danielle Busby
Yeah.
- [27:29]
Adam Busby
On TV versus, like real life.
- [27:31]
Danielle Busby
Yeah.
- [27:32]
Adam Busby
You know, whenever you have like, family members calling you and like, are you all okay?
- [27:36]
Danielle Busby
And so these are like, that's what I want to talk.
- [27:39]
Adam Busby
Like, it wears you down because you're like, no, like, everything's fine. It's. That's just how they edited it.
- [27:45]
Danielle Busby
And, and at some point you got to. It's like they're probably hearing that going okay. That they. You got to edit it. And it's like. I know it sounds bad, but it really is. Like, we didn't have control at that point. We didn't have our. Our. Our. Our. What do you call it? Status status.
- [28:06]
Adam Busby
Executive producer status.
- [28:07]
Danielle Busby
We didn't have that status yet to make decisions like that. But it really was. Is. Is. It just started to get like we were locked in and you had. We had to get through it. And I was just like, tell me what to do. Because, like, I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm done. I'm done. And I. It really did beat me down into the fact that I was just, like. It started to make me question who it started to make me feel. Because two things. One, I truly believe that God created Adam and I for this life. To have these girls and to live this life of a public life, to share the testimony and the. The. The love and the gifts and the miracles that he has blessed us with. And nothing we would have ever dreamed of, nothing we would ever thought or ever could have imagined. Us having quintuplets and being a public family on tv, like, that is not. Was ever in our imagination and. Or ever thought or that we would ever even have a large family. Never thought that. So I really do feel that from a little child, God knew that we would one day. He would one day put us together and we would have this life. And I believe that. And I believe that he chose us for a purpose. And I believe that we both have gifts that can fulfill these needs of our kids. With God. With God, we can't do these ourselves. We can't do these alone because we will fail. But with God, we can do these things. And I was so. And am so comforted and secure with that and who I was and who I was through all of filming. And I'm like, this is me. Like, don't tell me, because I know who God. I know who Christ is in me. I know who God created me to be. I know who he is in me. And that was firm. But about what, four or five. Four years in. Four years in, or whatever, roughly. I just started. It just started to get. Where it started to get turning in that editing, and everything just started to get more conflicting, conflicting, conflicting. And it just. I just started to say, like, man, like, y' all just want me to not be me. So then I started to question, okay, so I'm not good enough. You really don't want someone who's got anything put together? Not that I feel put Together. But you don't want this, so why do you want us?
- [30:53]
Because it. I literally would. I literally would argue with this all the time. I'm like, you don't necessarily want us. You want someone for tv, but you don't want the Busbys. Because the Busbys can do this for t. We can do this for tv, and we can do it our way for TV and still make it doable.
- [31:14]
Adam Busby
Yeah. I mean, a lot of the stuff.
- [31:16]
Danielle Busby
They were, like, with drama, with some entertainment.
- [31:19]
Adam Busby
Yeah. Producers coming to us, like, okay, you'll make this look way too easy. Can you, like, struggle a little bit?
- [31:25]
Danielle Busby
And I'm like. And it's like, it's not to say. And, like, maybe that's a completely whole different kind of show or something. But I. We both know what our strengths are. We both know where our gifts lie. We both know what we're capable of. But, like, you know, I also thought that there's a good reason to show a lot of times, like, Adam could take care of his children without me there by himself. Adam. Danielle could be at home with her kids by himself. How amazing for that. To encourage other dads to see a man at home with his six kids, even as toddlers. Like, that's okay. Like, oh, my God. Like, got to get Adam all this help. Like, don't get me wrong. Yes, we did have that, and we would schedule that if I was out of town. He was out. Like, we did do that, but there are days that it was like, if filming wasn't around, like, there were days where it's like, hey, babe, I'm gonna go, you know, hang out with my girlfriends tonight. It's like, I'm not getting a sitter. Like, you just stay home with the kids. Follow the schedule. You're like, you know the routine, you know? And so, like, there's things like that that I'm like, this is encouragement. This is like, other dads could see. Watch this and be like, dude, he can do it. Like, I should be able to hopefully. Maybe I should, like, be encouraged by this and can stay home with my, you know, two kids.
- [32:46]
Adam Busby
Or don't get us wrong. Like, we still did get a lot of those messages, like, from. I personally did, from other dads. Like, man. Man, I just. I watch your show, and I'm. I'm just saying to myself, like, man, if you can do that, then I can do it. You know, if you can do that with six and I tell a lot, I can do that with my two or three.
- [33:04]
Danielle Busby
Yeah.
- [33:05]
Adam Busby
Or one or whatever they're saying.
- [33:07]
Danielle Busby
And I tell. A lot of moms, always ask me, I can't imagine how hard it is with six. And I'll say, like, well, how many kids do you have? And she might say two, she might say four. Like, whatever the number is. And I said, listen, your hard with however many kids you have is the same hard as however many kids I have. Just because they're quintuplets or just because it's six. Yes, it. It's a lot. But your hard is your hard.
- [33:33]
Adam Busby
Yeah.
- [33:33]
Danielle Busby
And it's easier. It's. Your one was easier. Right. So your hard is your hard, and my six is my hard. My one was my easy. You know, I didn't have anything in between. We went from one to six. So this is my hard one was easy. You went from 1 to 2 to 4. Maybe you went from 1 to 2 to 3 to 4 to 5 to 8. I don't know. Like. But whatever your max is, that's hard. Like, so don't beat yourselves up, parents, for thinking you don't have six kids, that your life shouldn't be hard. Absolutely not. Like, I don't. Like, doesn't matter how many kids you have. Like, your hard can be your hard because everyone has a different adjustment of life. And maybe you're a single parent. That's hard. That is a hard balance. That's a hard life to live and support and do all the things. And, you know, I just want to praise you and give yourself grace to say, like, I can have a hard day even with two. I. I can have a hard day even with two, you know, so don't think that because we might have a good day with six that you should not. Not have a good day with two. Like, don't. Don't do that.
- [34:42]
Adam Busby
Yeah.
- [34:43]
Danielle Busby
Love on yourself. Give yourself grace.
- [34:45]
Adam Busby
For sure. I mean, we all have, like, a normal, and that's just what you're used to. And, you know, our normal is 6. Your normal is 2, 3, 4. I mean, but that's your normal. That's like your every day. And you're gonna have good days and you're gonna have bad days, just like we do. We have good days and we have really bad days. But.
- [35:06]
Danielle Busby
And I'm sure when you have four and you. And one of them goes and plays out with a friend and you only have three at home, you're like, oh, my God, so much easier. Or maybe you have three in the. The youngest, the baby or the toddlers, like, out with your, you know, sister and you only have your three older ones, and you're like, wow, it's so much easier with just one, you know, out of the house for a while. Like, you have your own hard and easy. And so we do, too. So I don't want to compare us, but the hope was with sharing our lives is for you to see that, you know, we are faced with challenges and that we can work as a team together to overcome and work well for the family and do things for the family. And we'll have friction, we'll have conversations, we come together and all is well. And that is. That really is like. Would have been like, the perfect kind of throw some of our faith in there would have been even better. But, you know, so I just was curious on, like, what.
- [36:16]
Because I battled with trying to. I battled towards the end of. When all that got really, really hard with.
- [36:24]
Allowing myself to believe that something was wrong with me.
- [36:31]
Because why should I be capable, in a sense.
- [36:36]
Adam Busby
Yeah. I mean, I always struggle with that, too, of them always coming back. And like, look, you'll make things look too easy, and you'll need to. For cameras, for TV purposes, we need to have some sort of, like, conflict and struggle. And that was, like, always, like, a fight of. But no, I mean, that's like, why can't we show that? Why can't we just show, like, two parents that are on the same page to have a good relationship that, you know, working together? Yeah, I mean, like, that's a happy story. And. And we. We did get a lot of that feedback, like, on.
- [37:13]
Danielle Busby
Yeah.
- [37:13]
Adam Busby
Like, our YouTube channel and stuff. Because, like, people would see that, man. Like, your YouTube channel is like a starch con. A stark contrast to, like, what we see on tv because that shows, you know, through our own perspective and, like, what things are really like. And. And so that. That was always a struggle because, you know, our fans resonated with that. People that watch that resonated with that. And we're. And so, like, it was always a conflict with, like, producers and stuff because.
- [37:44]
They thought the complete opposite. They thought you have to have conflict in order to make TV successful. And, you know, there's shows out there that show, like, good family dynamics and stuff that are still successful. I mean, that. That doesn't have to be the model.
- [37:59]
Danielle Busby
Yeah.
- [38:00]
Adam Busby
And. But that was always the conflict, and that was always the struggle.
- [38:06]
Danielle Busby
Yeah.
- [38:07]
Adam Busby
So.
- [38:08]
Danielle Busby
So, yeah, it took me. It took a while for me to, like. I guess, like, re.
- [38:16]
I kind of just like, build myself back up into, like, who I knew I was in Christ Because I let. I let myself get defeated because I was just exhausted and tired and over it all. And because it's pretty common with most women, but as a woman, but even just like, background of growing up and everything, just the struggles that I had, like, with my own mom and stuff, just like, they're not good enough. So going through that feeling like I can do something, but once again, it wasn't good enough. And it just started. It just was attacking me because I'm like, even my good is not good enough, you know? And so I just was. I would battle with. With that, like, man, I even, like, you don't even want me to be good, and it's not good. Like, you don't even want me to have it together. But I don't even know how to do it differently, you know, because this is how I do it. And I'm not. And I'm not saying that in a way of, like, bragging. Oh, in any way. But I'm saying. I'm saying what is unique about this situation with us is that we were very much well placed together.
- [39:28]
To have this life. And that is what I believe.
- [39:32]
Adam Busby
And I mean, and that's true for, like, a lot of people out there, most people out there or all people out there. I mean, like, you were like, God has a purpose for your life.
- [39:40]
Danielle Busby
Yeah, everyone.
- [39:42]
Adam Busby
And he knitted together your relationships, whether it's like your husband and wife or your friendships or the people that are around you, your people for such a time as this, for to prepare you and to lift you up and stuff like that, through whatever you're going through. Everybody has hard days and tough days where you just get kind of beat down and you lose sight of that. But we are very much so believers, and we have a faith. And the entire world was knitted together.
- [40:18]
By a God that orchestrated, like, time and history and, like, all these things to.
- [40:28]
Create this beautiful story of, like, life and redemption. And, you know, God just wanting to be in community with us and to show, like, the entire story of the Bible, it's like foreshadowing, you know, Jesus later on that he'll do. He brought you all the way to this point so that he could sacrifice everything for you. And so why would he let you.
- [40:57]
Just fail miserably or go through this hard time if he wasn't right there with you to carry you through it or to equip you with whatever you need to get through that situation?
- [41:11]
Danielle Busby
And. But that also calls for you to surrender into. Into trust. Like, trust and to come to God and say, like, I need you. I need help. You know, and surrender that to them because. Yeah. I mean.
- [41:29]
Been through that. Can listen to that in the beginning episodes of.
- [41:32]
Adam Busby
And that's the hardest thing, you know, just in life and in life in general, it's just like losing sight of that and just trying to do things on your own and just feeling. And whenever you get into that mindset, you feel like you're on an island. You know, you just. You feel alone and, you know, especially if things don't start going your way, you know, you feel like a failure. You feel like you have no hope. You feel, you know, all those things without, you know, looking above and realizing, if he got me all the way to this point, why would he just, like, abandon me?
- [42:11]
Danielle Busby
Yeah. And I think that was. I think that too, was part of the struggle as well, because it was already hard for me to actually. I believe in and feel called to. Share story but it was so hard for me to. To be the front man of the. To be the face of it right here. What you call that, to be, like, the face of it and, like, you know how hard it was for me just be out in. In public and like, I could do things, like, in the home or, like, on the couch, in the interviews, but the second it was like, anything outside, anywhere with cameras or publicity or, like, I just. It just, like, it literally would attack me inside. I literally would, like, ball up, like, I can't do this, can't do this, can't do this. I don't want to do this. You know? And so, like, it would go against me. And so it was a fight in me to even try to be the person that I. That I needed to be that wasn't good enough to be.
- [43:15]
Adam Busby
Yeah.
- [43:16]
Danielle Busby
So I was just, like, in this, like, cluster of, like, who am I supposed to be today? What's my feelings today? And then you'd have to go film and be like, oh, we're not filming, like, live today. This is a pickup. So you actually need to feel like you did where. But. And I'm like, oh, my word. I can understand why kid actors are so screwed up.
- [43:38]
Adam Busby
Yeah.
- [43:38]
Danielle Busby
But anyway, I think. I think us giving, filming, like a stopping and like, a breaking like, has been very healthy. It's been very healthy for us. It's been very healthy for the kids. I think that.
- [43:53]
When you. I think now in the age that they are, I think it's very. Actually, I think in the season of, like, how old they were when we kind of, like, stopped and took a break from filming and really, just really stopped filming. I think it's been a good age gap, like, a good age break for them, meaning for Blake, the phase that she was in middle school and whatnot. And then, you know, the quints. The quints could have been a little bit older, but, like, right now it's like, I. I don't know. I. I couldn't imagine filming right now or, like, what the next middle school years would be like. But all this to say is that, like, it was a part of our life and our journey that I think God brought us through, and we grew a lot and we learned a lot, and it has given us opportunities. It has shown us a lot in multiple different ways, about people, about business, about just the industry, about career paths, about family. Like, I mean, I could go on and on and on.
- [45:08]
But all this to say is that to this day, we still feel that God has not called us to step away completely.
- [45:16]
Adam Busby
Yeah.
- [45:17]
Danielle Busby
And we don't know what that looks.
- [45:18]
Adam Busby
Like, hence why we're still here.
- [45:20]
Danielle Busby
Well, I mean, the podcast. But the podcast is different. So the podcast is us. It's not like the family. Like.
- [45:26]
Adam Busby
Yeah. I think the overall, like, calling on our life is to continue to share our story.
- [45:32]
Danielle Busby
Yeah.
- [45:33]
Adam Busby
And to continue to, you know, spread that message of. Just to convey to other people of, you know, family and faith. And, you know, it doesn't always have to be just about drama, but God gave us a story, and he gave us a story for a reason, and.
- [45:54]
Danielle Busby
And I just don't want.
- [45:55]
Adam Busby
He gave us both a calling to be out front and to share our story and to share with the world and.
- [46:03]
Danielle Busby
Yeah.
- [46:03]
Adam Busby
For whatever that continues to look like. I mean, I know we have some ideas for, like, next year of, you know, kicking off, you know, the YouTube channel some more and be more consistent on there and, like, share stories, share other parts of our life and stuff and. And kind of do some more of that. Some other special projects, potentially, that are still in the works that. Where we would be sharing some fun projects as we go.
- [46:32]
Danielle Busby
Yeah.
- [46:32]
Adam Busby
And I think that's never left us, I think.
- [46:36]
Danielle Busby
Yeah. And we. We both feel. And I think God's spoken both to us. Like, it's. It's evident that we need to continue to share.
- [46:46]
We're. We're doing it via the podcast now. And like Adam said, like, we've been. We really do want to, you know, revamp and just. I don't know if revamps the right word, but just like, relaunch. Relaunch. Like, the YouTube, because the kids really do miss like filming. I don't hope anybody really production was, but they kind of miss like the funness with filming and the cameras and all that kind of stuff. And so. Well, that's kind of like the goal of like next year is like re kind of launching the YouTube channel. And the girls are so much older now and I just, there's so many different things that I remember us doing an episode on Outdaughter about like everybody won their own YouTube channel. Well, that's not literally going to happen, but like they're so capable of like filming their own thing right now. Like, it's just, it's funny, you know. All that to say is that we feel called to still share, we're still praying about what does that actually continue to look like and if it's something larger than what we're currently doing for God to make it evident to us and to, you know, open the doors for those opportunities. But I also don't want to be wasting what he's put in front of us. So the battle that I personally have struggled through, through it has been like, I don't like being the front facing person of it, like, because I'm not one to want to be a public figure. But yet we have the, we have the grounds for that, right? So we have the stepping stones where God's like, here, you're up here already. I don't want to waste that. And so whatever he wants us to do with that level, I want to, I want to be able to use that to glorify him. And I don't know what that, what that next step is, but I want to trust that it's going to make me uncomfortable. And I'm okay with being uncomfortable. Even though I'm not okay with being uncomfortable. I want to be uncomfortable.
- [48:44]
Because I know all that means is it's going to just mean growth. And so, and I know that's all good. And so next year's gonna be good. I think it's gonna be busy, but it's okay. We've had a, we've had a pretty crazy, wild, interesting year this year. So hopefully as this year it comes to an end, we can start to feel more settled as next year starts and just really kind of step away from like the whole focus on like.
- [49:22]
Housing situation. I know we're still like in this little lease house, which I'm. I'm just kind of feeling like I'm just content. Like I'm okay, like I'm okay. I'm just like gonna keep praying about like when the right house comes, the right house will come. And I'm really not thinking at least till the summer time next year because nothing's really around and so I don't really want to move before for then anyway.
- [49:44]
Adam Busby
Yeah.
- [49:45]
Danielle Busby
So just to just. I think we only have a couple more episodes for the end of the year. So I'm just kind of like making my end of the year thoughts putting them out there right now.
- [49:57]
Adam Busby
Save it for next week.
- [49:59]
Danielle Busby
Yeah. I don't know yet. And then my birthday's going up.
- [50:03]
Adam Busby
Yeah.
- [50:04]
Danielle Busby
But anyway, so this was just, I guess just a little bit more vulnerable sharing hearts and what a little bit more depthness of some hardness of like what that reality of reality is and what it has more so kind of like did a little bit to me like emotionally and everything. So Jesus said rest is okay and we've had some time of rest which rest is healing and I definitely need it like that time of which I see now, you know, after closing the business, moving, selling the house, like all this I'm. I still struggle with like not enough to do, but enough to do. But I'm not working on a project.
- [50:54]
So I'm trying not to put a project in my house because there's really a lot of stuff we need to do. But just wait till 2026.
- [51:03]
Gonna enjoy my birthday month.
- [51:05]
Adam Busby
Yeah.
- [51:07]
Danielle Busby
And Adam just get mad at me for not doing those things.
- [51:13]
Anyway, hope you had fun listening to me rant.
- [51:16]
Adam Busby
Yeah. So this is episode 62 of more than Reality podcast and we'll see you in the next one.
- [51:25]
Danielle Busby
Thanks for listening.
- [51:26]
Adam Busby
All right, we love you guys.
- [51:27]
Danielle Busby
Peace out.
- [51:49]
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