Transcribe your podcast
[00:00:04]

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.

[00:00:19]

All right, welcome back, guys. This is the More Than Reality podcast with Adam Busby and Danielle Busby, and we're married.

[00:00:27]

We're not siblings.

[00:00:30]

And so this is episode one. And so we're going to take you way back.

[00:00:36]

We're going to take you- The way, way.back.

[00:00:39]

To how we met.

[00:00:41]

Okay. Episode one is bringing it back to how Adam begged to go out with me. It's about where it started, guys. It's where it started.

[00:00:53]

As we tell the story, you'll realize really quickly that's not how it went.

[00:00:58]

I know it's worse.

[00:00:59]

It is worse. It is much worse.

[00:01:04]

I'm glad you admitted that, finally, for 20 years. So how about you start telling the story, and then I'll fix the story? In between.

[00:01:16]

Okay. All right. So... Once upon a time. It's interesting. So in order to go back to how we met, we'll eventually probably have to go back even further.

[00:01:29]

Yeah, We'll do that next episode.

[00:01:31]

We won't really cover that in this episode. But obviously, we'll have to get... Because we want to be real. We want to share more than reality. We want to share everything that makes us who we are. And that's the whole theme of our podcast is showing we're so much more than the reality that you know. And a lot of that is stuff that you've never heard, stuff that about just our childhood, how we were brought up, different home situations, stuff like that. And so instead of going all the way back, we're going to go How we met. We're going to start that with episode one, How we met.

[00:02:14]

How I met your mother.

[00:02:17]

Just to give a backstory of, we were both in-You just said we weren't going way back. We were both going to college at the time. This is the story.

[00:02:26]

Okay. Remember, I'm fixing everything that you say.

[00:02:30]

Here we go.

[00:02:34]

Because I will give the details, and you're going to give the what makes you sound best version. Hey, just being honest. You got to do that because it doesn't start out too good.

[00:02:56]

I'll be the first to admit. So whenever Danielle and I I was in a rebellious period of my life. In college, it was... I don't know. So that period of time was probably whenever I was probably most furthest from my relationship with Christ. And it was just a weird time in my life, just jumping around, partying and going I was very involved in car-Lions, lights, and cars. Car culture. Around that time, way back when, it was whenever the first Fast and the Furious movies were going back, and that was the biggest craze right then. That was at the height of that popularity. So that was the cool thing. And so I was very involved in that car culture, super toxic type stuff, going to all the car shows. And I mean, to be real, going to car shows. You have trash women everywhere. Going to car shows and partying, and strip clubs, and all that stuff. Like stuff that my mom is probably going to cringe at, even hearing that stuff. But it was probably the lowest point in my life.

[00:04:17]

Wait, did your parents know that you were doing that? No. Oh, more than reality right here.

[00:04:23]

Sorry, Nana and Papa. Sorry, Mom. I mean, we all have- It's part of your story. We all have a story to tell. And this is my low, and this is where I was at the time. I always tell people whenever Danielle and I met, even though I was a complete jerk Thank you. At the very early on and stuff like that, I was just a jerk. Do you just learn that in the culture?

[00:04:52]

I think you're more of a player instead of a jerk.

[00:04:53]

Well, it was still like, jerkish behavior.

[00:04:56]

But- Did your parents know that, too?

[00:04:58]

I always tell You probably still think I'm a jerk.

[00:05:03]

No, America does. Oh, no, wait, I'm the jerk.

[00:05:07]

In that time, I always say that meeting Danielle, Danielle was my saving grace. And she pulled me out of just that spiral that I was in, that was just only... I was only headed to destruction.

[00:05:29]

So We were in the college age, so I was 19. I think you were 20, something like that. But we did not... We are from Lake Charles, Louisiana. He is from a town called Moss Bluff, Louisiana, which is part of Lake Charles. But we did not grow up going to high school together. We didn't know each other until we met at Target. Target had just opened. It was like... I mean, Lake Charles was small back then. It It was a Walmart.

[00:06:00]

The cool place to wear.

[00:06:01]

The mall had JCPenney's and...

[00:06:05]

We had a Dillard's.

[00:06:07]

Oh, yeah. Dillard's and Dillard's. Yeah. But there was nothing. That was really about it. That was really about it. Lake Charles was really small. They built a target, and it wasn't even a super target. It literally was just a target. I don't even know if they make those anymore.

[00:06:25]

They do. If you go to these really small towns, you'll see that like Walmarts. But they It might have a freezer section. It won't be the Walmart Super Center. It'll just be a Walmart, standalone Walmart. And those are always super crazy. But yes, this was just a regular target.

[00:06:42]

This was new, small town. What everybody is going to work at Target. This is so cool. Look at this cool place. And this is where we met. We didn't know each other prior to meeting each other in Target. So there we go.

[00:06:57]

And so I was working in Electronics. And Danielle was back when they actually had photo labs. So people would... She had a...

[00:07:08]

I worked in the Codat developing pictures.

[00:07:11]

Yeah, like a cubby in the side of the store that was just adjacent to electronics, just adjacent to the electronics closet. And so naturally, I constantly had to walk by her every time that she worked.

[00:07:27]

This is where I come in and fix a couple of things. So So the store opens, everybody got trained. I was a little bit different because I worked for the photography lab, and that was the only thing that I did. I didn't move areas within target. So I was really working under Codat. So everybody started at the same time. We started working there in nine months, nine months, guys, of working side by side, meaning Adam is stepping into my my area to get in the closet that he needs to get products for customers or whatever. So, I mean, it's FaceTime. See him all the time. He is like the one person who doesn't say anything to me, but probably the one that works most by me. I had lots of friends who worked there. I had my cousin work there. And everybody talked with each other. Everybody knew each other, even though we were different schools and high schools and colleges that went together. So it was nine months of Adam being too cool, too cool to talk to the girl.

[00:08:40]

It wasn't that I was being too cool? So at the time- It was. At the time, I had a girlfriend and you had a boyfriend, and I knew that. This is what you say. Even though I didn't... Because I would see him. He would come and visit you every now and then. So I would see this same guy.

[00:08:59]

He was developing photos.

[00:09:01]

Yeah, but you could tell it's something different. He would just hang around and stuff like that. You could tell, Oh, that must be that girl's boyfriend. And at the time, I had a girlfriend or just jumping down.

[00:09:17]

But- Remember, this is her belly.

[00:09:20]

I knew that, and I wasn't one to like, well, I knew she's taken or whatever, so why bother?

[00:09:30]

I like how you say that.

[00:09:33]

I mean, because I know if I walked in there, it'd be all over. You'd just be completely enamored.

[00:09:44]

Just It's great, guys. It gets way better. It's getting better. It's getting spicy. Go on.

[00:09:52]

So, yeah, after six to nine months.

[00:09:54]

See, it's really nine months. He has to try to make himself sound better. So it was really nine months.

[00:10:01]

Oh, goodness.

[00:10:03]

Keep going. I know you will.

[00:10:08]

So after nine months of working there.

[00:10:13]

Guys that are listening, he just did air quotes because you can't see that, but he did air quotes like, Oh, nine months. No, it really was nine months. Nine months. Keep going. Your sister's birthday is in May. This was October.

[00:10:29]

After nine months of working there. I finally, just one day, I don't know.

[00:10:39]

It could have been in between-I might throw up in my mouth.girlfriends.

[00:10:41]

Or something.

[00:10:42]

What? I might throw up in my mouth right now. It's like the most cheesiest.

[00:10:51]

Guys, we've been married for 18 years, and we love each other.

[00:11:00]

But I'm about to throw up in my mouth as you're telling our love story. Maybe I need to be nicer.

[00:11:11]

So, very first thing I ever said to Danielle. Are you nervous right now? I don't know. Maybe.

[00:11:23]

You're finally listening to your story.

[00:11:26]

I'm like, Man, what a loser. You're like, What a jerker was. I'm going to play. After nine months, finally, first thing that I said to her, I think I went into the closet, had to pull something out or whatever, and I just walked up to her and I said, Hey, beautiful.

[00:11:47]

I literally was like…

[00:11:52]

Guys, we've been married 18 years, so obviously that worked.

[00:11:56]

Darn it. I was like…

[00:11:59]

Oh, my gosh. This guy is actually talking to me.

[00:12:03]

This guy with the highlights and pouca shows.

[00:12:06]

So gorgeous.

[00:12:07]

So gorgeous and blue eyes.

[00:12:08]

I think I'm in love.

[00:12:12]

That's not at all what I said. I was like, You're talking to me? You're talking to me? Actually, I don't know what I said. I think I just looked at you like, Did you really just say that? I think that's what I said. I think I looked at you and said, Did you just say that? Probably that sounds like something I would say.

[00:12:31]

I mean, you also have to understand, like- I understand that.nearly everything that I say- for nine months, you're walking side by side. Nearly everything that I say is like, sarcasm. And so I was just like, it was- I didn't know that then, though. Well, it's That was the first thing. Partly, it was partly sarcasm, partly just to see how you would react. But I just walked up to her and I was like, Hey, beautiful.

[00:12:52]

No. You were like, Hey, beautiful. Hey, beautiful. I was I'm going to be nice. But I literally was like, I was more of a guys girl and friends with guys. And so I was like, If you think talking to me like that is going to win, clearly it did. But it was just like, does this really happen? Guys talk like this to girls like, Hey, beautiful, and they're all like, Oh, my God. He said beautiful to me. I'm like, This not at all me.

[00:13:33]

Yeah. I mean, so for months, I would see Danielle, and she was definitely unlike any girl that I would normally talk to.

[00:13:43]

And you classified me as what? Different. Different.

[00:13:46]

Yeah. She was definitely different. It was just like the-Different because you loved me. And it was just like the- The way that she... I mean, most of the girls that I would date, they're either athletic, sporty, cheerleader, even like pageant-type, preppy, in a sense. And so Danielle definitely was not that. She was like... You could clearly tell she was... She was just beautiful. She was definitely... She was beautiful. But it was just something about her was different. And it was unlike anything that anyone that I'd ever talked to or dated at the time or whatever.

[00:14:23]

That's why it took him nine months to say something so cheesy to me because he was so enamored and I was so nervous around my differentness.

[00:14:32]

I was like, How do I talk to this different girl?

[00:14:35]

I had glasses. I love me some Converse.

[00:14:40]

She looked like Avril Lavigne.

[00:14:41]

I never wore a tie. No, I didn't, Del Mills. I never wore a tie, except when we had a Halloween costume.

[00:14:47]

And you dressed up as Avril Lavigne because everybody called you Avril Lavigne.

[00:14:50]

What was her husband's name at that time? I don't know. Some other punk rock star.

[00:14:55]

He was like the lead singer. And you died your hair black. Yeah, with a black eyeliner. Yeah.

[00:15:03]

I wonder if we can find that photo. Sure we can somewhere. But... Yeah.

[00:15:10]

So I had seen Danielle, obviously, many, many times, and like, Man, she's different. She's intriguing.

[00:15:18]

Because I didn't throw myself at you, probably, is what attracted you more to me. So as much as you distance, as much as you tried to be a player to me, I was like, no.

[00:15:30]

I mean, it was a weird time. I made you work for it. I had a really cool car, going to all these car shows.

[00:15:36]

I had like a-Attention, attention, attention.

[00:15:38]

In a sense, like a stigma. I don't know what you'd call that. But I It was not-A big head? Maybe. Probably so. I was just arrogant. Arrogant, yeah. Because I never really, at that time, for sure, didn't have a problem, like approaching, talking to, meeting girls, stuff like that. I don't know. That probably comes from the Hello, beautiful, whatever. I'm just going to talk to this girl. And since I didn't-I'm going to throw this BS at her and see what happens.

[00:16:09]

And since I didn't fall at my knees at that point-Oh, she's cool.

[00:16:14]

I was And then he was like, Oh, I see. That intrigued me even more. Like, Huh? Okay. So I actually have to work for this one.

[00:16:25]

Oh, I did, too. For you. Did didn't know it then, but after the first and second dates.

[00:16:35]

Yeah, keep going.

[00:16:38]

Let's speed this part up. That was a fun part.

[00:16:39]

Over the course of probably weeks, maybe a month, we would But we talked more and more. It was just like, yeah.

[00:16:47]

And it was banter, just like some back and forth, just BS. Because he now was…

[00:16:55]

We were talking to each other.

[00:16:56]

He broke the silent wall, and so now we were able to talk to each other.

[00:17:00]

So we became friends, and we would take lunch breaks and stuff together in the little food court at Target. We were like nachos and whatever. I remember. But we would just hang out and talk. And we got over the course of weeks and months, just getting to know each other, finally said, Hey, let's go on a date.

[00:17:24]

Oh, yeah. This is where I step in because that's not at all how it happened.

[00:17:28]

I don't have the greatest memory, so that's why I look on Danielle a little bit.

[00:17:33]

Because you cut out all the things that made you a jerk. He does remember. We talk about this all the time. Just kidding. So, yeah. So after weeks of just taking lunch breaks together. I mean, this was a part-time job. It wasn't like we're there working for... Or I wasn't. Forty hours a week, I'm putting myself through college at that point and just doing that around school. Adam, there was days I would work and he wouldn't work, and he would come bring some pictures to get developed because that's what he saw that other boy do. I guess I should have a reason to go over there. I remember him coming up on a day off and asking me to go out in the way of saying it like, Hey, beautiful, like that. It was like, I'm going to do this. We should and you should go. It wasn't really like, Hey, let me take you out on a date. It wasn't that terminology because he was too cool for that. So he had to be swag with it. And so finally… Swag? Yeah. I don't know if that makes sense, but…

[00:18:44]

It does not make sense, but okay.

[00:18:46]

Yeah, you had to be swag with it.

[00:18:47]

A weird choice of words.

[00:18:49]

Well, that's just what came out. I know it was like, I guess time. I think time had gone by. I had broken up with the guy that I was with, and this is when you were like, Oh, let me go ask her out, but not properly ask her out. So he wasn't working that day, and I was like, Okay, well, call you when I get off work or whatever. He was like, Cool, cool. So I get off work and he wasn't. And I go back to my apartment and... I mean, just time goes on. And time goes on. And time goes on.

[00:19:26]

So we didn't have an official- Let me take you to dinner. It was just like, let's hang out or let's go. Yeah, it wasn't like, let's maybe hang out later, whatever. I'll call you later. Since I wasn't working, I was hanging out with some friends or whatever, and the night-The none-kind of got away from us.

[00:19:41]

The none good influence friends.

[00:19:42]

Yeah, for sure. The night got away from us. I think we were that night. We ended up going to... I don't know. We were just hanging out that day, and then we got invited, a bunch of other people were like... It was like the De Quincey Railroad Festival or something weird. And so we ended up the town in one of the neighboring towns that evening, and just hanging out, drinking, and clearly the night got away from me.

[00:20:11]

Yeah. Never answered, never called, nothing. And I'm like, Screw this guy, until I get a call at 1:00 in the morning. And I'm like, Excuse me? And he's like, Hey, what are you doing? I'm like, Sleeping, sleeping. And all I know is that you were at Water burger, or just picked up Water burger, and you got that nasty gravy, and you had spilt gravy all over you. This is what you were saying on the phone because you were probably-I don't even remember that.

[00:20:43]

Babe, I remember. I do not remember that.

[00:20:45]

Because this was the first time we were supposed to go out as a date, and that was with quotes, air quotes. I just remember being like, No, no, no. I don't really know what happened between there and then us. I guess just that day went by, that night went on, and it was like, Okay, we'll just see each other at work or whatever. Then you asked me out to go to dinner. I don't know how much time went in between the two, but then you asked me to go to dinner. Go ahead. I want to hear your version so I can fix it.

[00:21:28]

I don't It's partly because... I mean, obviously we have- Actually, I still don't understand.

[00:21:35]

Oh, gosh. I actually still don't understand why you did this, because But knowing you and your mischievousness, it totally makes sense, but I still don't know why.

[00:21:52]

I mean, hindsight, you can understand for sure.

[00:21:57]

Yeah. Knowing you for 20 years. Not much has changed.

[00:22:05]

Yeah. If anybody that knows me knows that I will only share enough details of something that's going on. To keep it mysterious. Just to get by. Make a rise out of you. I'm only going to tell you what you need to know, and I'm not going to give any other details. You'll either have to cry it out of me or you'll find out later.

[00:22:28]

That's what he wants. He wants you to find out later, but he hates surprises. He just wants to be in control of I know and you don't, but he hates surprises.

[00:22:38]

Yeah. At the time, it had quite a bit of time had probably gone by then that we were just talking lunch breaks and stuff like that.

[00:22:52]

After this time. After he stood me up that night, there was no other together, except if we saw each other at Target working or whatever. That was about it.

[00:23:02]

Yeah. And then, so I invited her just to fast forward real quick. It was my little sister.

[00:23:11]

No, don't say all that first, because it didn't come out like that.

[00:23:15]

Well, I just asked her if she wanted to go out to dinner.

[00:23:17]

Hey, you want to go to dinner? We're going to go to... Let's go to Casa tonight.

[00:23:20]

Okay. Casa is a local Mexican restaurant. It's like the town staple in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

[00:23:26]

It's like one of the... Mexican restaurant? Yeah.

[00:23:29]

If You're going to go to Lake Charles. You got to go to Casa Mañana.

[00:23:32]

And Steampo bills.

[00:23:34]

Yeah. And so I just told her that we're going to go to Casa Mañana. I'll come by, pick you up. I'll pick you up. No, we'll run to my house. I'll change, and then we'll go there.

[00:23:45]

Which none of this- Which is weird because she lived...

[00:23:48]

It didn't make any sense. Her apartment was maybe five minutes from Target, and I lived about 25 minutes away. And so I was coming here picking her up, going back home home just to turn around. Casa Minyana was three blocks away from her old apartment. Yeah. So it was pretty close.

[00:24:08]

So it didn't make any sense. It didn't make any sense of, why do you want to pick me up to then go to Moss Bluff so you can change, so then you can come back to Casa. Just go change and come pick me up and let's go eat. So that's what I'm thinking.

[00:24:21]

I'm like, I don't understand this guy. Little did she know. I was testing her. Were you really? Yeah.

[00:24:30]

For real? No. You just wanted to show that you had a date.

[00:24:36]

I wanted to see how you'd react.

[00:24:38]

That's not true.

[00:24:40]

I wanted to see how you would react in a pressure situation. And so we get to my house, and my parents- He picks me up. My parents are in the kitchen or in the living room or whatever. I introduce them.

[00:24:55]

No, you didn't. No, no, no. I have a very vivid memory of this day.

[00:25:01]

I don't recall what she's saying.

[00:25:02]

Because you just went to go to shower and change, and I'm just sitting. So he picks me up. It's like, Okay, cool. Yeah, let's go. I didn't know. He still lived at home with his parents, which is completely fine. But we go there, we get out. He's like, All right, I'm going to change real quick. Real quick for Adam is not real quick. He's got to do his hair. Well, not anymore. You don't have any. He's shaved it all off. But I just am like, Okay. And I down in the living room. He's like, Hey, you can just sit in here. I'm going to go change and whatever, real quick. And at this point, there's nobody around, and I'm just sitting in the living room. And then I think it was your mom walk through, and I'm like, Oh, hi. And I'm like, A stranger in your living room. And I'm like, I'm Danielle. And it just was so awkward and so weird. And then your dad comes out, and then your mom's like, Oh, they're talking to me and, How are you? I don't even know what they were asking. But all I know is that I see Adam from around the corner peak his head over like, Oh, they're talking to her.

[00:26:12]

She's fine. What? Are you kidding me? I don't know.

[00:26:15]

I don't know these people. This was the test.

[00:26:17]

I am getting all these questions. This is the first time this has ever happened to me because everybody in every guy's house that I've been to, I've been friends with that I've known their families. It was just weird, most of them. And so it was just like, this is so awkward. I feel so uncomfortable. I'm just out of place right now, and I just want to go back home to my apartment. And here's Adam's still not out. His sister walks out, and his mom said, Are you all going to to to Cosa tonight? And I said, Oh, yeah. I'm just going to go get some dinner at Casa. She goes, Okay. And here comes, Are you all going to ride with us? What? What?

[00:27:04]

What the dinner was.

[00:27:06]

No, we're not riding with you.

[00:27:08]

Why? It was Kayla's birthday, my little sister's birthday.

[00:27:11]

Why would we ride with your parents on our first real date?

[00:27:15]

We were going to Casa Mañana to celebrate Kayla's birthday.

[00:27:21]

Which is his younger sister's birthday. Guys, I'm sweating just thinking about being in that moment.

[00:27:27]

They're under the wolves, for sure.

[00:27:29]

Yeah, and That is Adam right there. The mischievousness that he knew he was going to get a laugh out of it one day, and I was going to be tortured. Wasn't really tortured, but I mean, just imagine, whoever's listening to this, If you've been in that position, it is not fun. I'm like, I don't know these people. This is the first time I've been in a car with this boy. I'm sitting in the living room by myself. Your parents come out. Then they ask us if we're going to dinner. I'm like, Yes. And then they ask if we're riding with them. I'm like, Why would we ride with them? Why? I have no idea. They're going to drop us off? I don't get it. So next thing you know, here comes Adam. And, Yep, we're just going to ride with him, but I can't sit in the very back seat with Adam. So Adam has to sit in the front seat with his dad driving. Then we're going to pick up his sister's boyfriend, so he sits in the middle. It's like a Yukon. So it's me and his sister, or it was me and your mom in the back.

[00:28:32]

I'm like, this is it. And I'm in the third row. I'm like, this is the most awkward thing I have ever been put into a situation, the most awkward. What are we doing? I don't know any of these people. This guy stood me up for the first time to go party with the boys. Now I'm going to dinner with him, which is his sister's actually family dinner for her birthday. We're riding with the parents. We go to dinner.

[00:28:58]

Yeah.

[00:28:59]

By the way, we love each other, and we've been married 18 years. Yeah.

[00:29:05]

And to also preface this entire story, we both-Yeah, explain to us. We both love Jesus.

[00:29:14]

I didn't know Jesus then.

[00:29:17]

Now we do. We both love Jesus. And I mean, this is what makes us all human. We all have a story to tell. We all have done stupid things in our life. We have all just been in ups and downs and lows and highs. And this was one of my lows for sure. One of my lowest moments.

[00:29:41]

So meeting me was a low?

[00:29:43]

No, this is me, a rebellious time whenever I was just an idiot. A lot of the decisions that I was making at the time made no sense, and it was stupid. Here we are. We're on our first date at my little sister's birthday party because our family is very close, and we would always do stuff together and stuff. And so at the root of everything, family is so important to both of us. And if she can survive this. And if our relationship can survive this dinner for a first date with a family, it'll survive anything. So here we are.

[00:30:27]

I like the way you put it.

[00:30:28]

Yeah.

[00:30:29]

There you go.

[00:30:29]

So first date.

[00:30:32]

And then we had to go. And I don't even really remember what our actual first date was by ourselves. A movie or something. I don't know. I don't remember at all. I'm not even sure if we've actually had one. We just started hanging out after that for whatever reason.

[00:30:49]

Yeah.

[00:30:50]

That's so weird. It's so weird to think about.

[00:30:52]

So we had the dinner, went all the way back. We drove back to Mosla, 25 minutes away, so that we could get in his car to then take me all the way back.

[00:31:02]

I'm surprised your mom and dad didn't go, You want me to drop you off at your apartment? They didn't even probably know I lived in an apartment.

[00:31:08]

Yeah, probably not. They didn't really have many details at the time. Then, from that, it was-We just became good friends.

[00:31:17]

It sounds really weird, but- But Danielle was always that person that-Was fun.

[00:31:24]

Whenever I was in college. And you're just a guy. So you just do young, immature things and want to play video games and want to do this. And Danielle was always down, and she was always super fun just to hang out with. And we would play video games together. We'd just go hang out at her apartment and watch movies, play video games, just hang out. And it was just-Just normal. It was always easy. It started out as a total cool friendship. She was just this girl that was just so different compared to everyone else. And it just It made just hanging out really easy, and it was fun. And that's what attracted me so much to her. And so fast forwarding through just many months of just hanging out and... Just having fun. One thing that Danielle did a lot was whenever she was not working at Target, she would babysit.

[00:32:23]

Oh, yeah.

[00:32:24]

And I even started going and we would go and babysit together.

[00:32:31]

Yeah. Usually, there's a family, and if they're listening to this, they know who they are. I'm not going to say names, but they know who they are. It was always like, It was one of my mom's friends, but it was her and her siblings and then all their kids. My mom had us young. Whenever her friends had kids, we were like, I don't know, 18 years apart or whatever. So I'm not 18, 15. So I was old enough to babysit the kids when they were having kids. And so there was this big family. And so it'd be six kids, which is ironically what we have now. And I would just say, Hey, you want to come hang out? I'll be over there playing with a bunch of kids, whatever. And he did. He came over one day because he wanted to hang out with me. And that was a turning point in, I think, our relationship. Like, whoa. These people, they were family to us. We were with them all the time, all family, or just babysit, whatever. Loved them, still love them to this day. But My previous boyfriend would come over, too, but it was just a very different…

[00:33:49]

Stop, stop.

[00:33:50]

Bo, bo.

[00:33:52]

Probably the girls.

[00:33:55]

Oh. Okay.

[00:33:55]

It's like friends or somebody else would come over and babysit, too, but it It was just different this time. Adam came over and just jumped in and played with these kids, and they were little boys and girls. It was just like, This is awesome. They were drawn to him, and he would play with them. He was just a big kid, just as much as I was drawn to kids and loved kids, and was just naturally good with them and stuff. I saw from that very first time, wow, he actually will interact with these kids and play with them. Who does that? What college boy does this? It Just at the time, I remember being like, This is so fun, and it's so much easier with you here, and roughhousing with the boys, and playing outside. It was like that with all of them. But he would just come in, and it just made the babysitting more fun and easy. It was an extra hand. And so it just started to be like a thing. If I could babysit, I'm like, Hey, you want to come? And especially with that family. And they all knew him.

[00:35:09]

They would meet him. It wasn't like a, Oh, don't worry, your boyfriend babysitting. It wasn't anything like that. It literally was just like we were best friends going and babysitting together because there was a bunch of kids. That's what it was. And I started to... I think that was a turning point in our relationship where I was like, that opened my eyes to, I love kids. I've always been told, you're naturally gifted and kids are drawn to you. You have this gift. That's just what I've been told my whole life. Then to see some male figure have those things, too. And then getting to know him more, we were told that he would get told the same thing, growing up, kids when you have four of them.

[00:35:57]

Me growing up, just involved in church and stuff like that, and mission trips, and doing all this stuff in my early church life. My parents were very active in church, and so we were just very involved in Mission trips and vacation Bible schools and all this stuff. I loved kids and loved hanging out with kids and loved just... I mean, just really... And kids just were drawn to me and to the point where I had a mentor growing up. He literally told me, he's like, Adam, I see one day, he said, just divine vision or whatever. He said, One day you're going to do something and you're going to have a lot of kids around you. And he said, I just see the way that you have a gift. God's given you a gift and how kids are just drawn to you. One day God's going to use you for this. And so I always had that in the back of my mind. So whenever she was babysitting, I would just go help because it was fun. And we had so much fun together. And I saw how just awesome she was with kids. And honestly, that was definitely a turning point in our relationship where things got serious because we both saw that connection In each of us, we saw how, for one thing, family was important, and then just how much we just enjoyed spending time with kids and how kids were drawn to both of us.

[00:37:45]

And Obviously, fast forward to where we're at right now, we have a lot of kids around us. And it's just one of those things that God is weaving this beautiful picture.

[00:37:59]

Sometimes you're not aware of it in the moment.

[00:38:01]

And you have no clue in the moment, just in the macro moments, what God is doing and what he's orchestrating in our lives. But it's all for a much bigger and a much more beautiful story.

[00:38:15]

That's right.

[00:38:18]

We didn't really know at the time or whatever, but immediately, that was one of those things that, wow, there's something special in this girl. That's what really drew me to Danielle, was just seeing that.

[00:38:39]

That was a fast version story of us meeting each other because there's a lot of funny things in between and everything. But on the level of how we met, that was it. Then we dated for about two years, and then Adam proposed to me, which is a whole 'nother interesting story, just like that dating one.

[00:39:04]

So we will get to that in episode two. This is a very quick version of how Adam and Daniel met. Hope you enjoyed it. Hope you got some laughs out of it, mostly at my expense.

[00:39:16]

Yeah, and if you thought that was a pretty good meet story, meet, meeting story, and how we started dating, proposal and stuff, it's not really any different.

[00:39:29]

Tuned for episode two, a more than reality podcast with Adam and Danielle Busby. And we'll see you in the next one.