*Stephanie and Greg drove the TISD food truck while volunteering to pass out free lunches when schools closed for shelter-in-place last year.*

*Since they are both educators for TISD, Stephanie and Greg enjoy supporting the Texas High Tigers football team.*

*Greg works on a celebration sign at Genoa High School for the Brush’s new business, SignMe Up.*

Stephanie and Greg Brush own 20 chickens. They are the proud owners of two dogs, Abbie Jo and Roxxy, both rescues who needed a home. They both teach at Texas High School and attend Buchanan Baptist Church. They spend their days with family, taking four school-aged kids to activities and cheering them on, attending church, and are very busy people.

So, it may seem like a stretch that Stephanie and Greg decided to start a new business in August of 2020; but, when you consider raising four kids on two teacher salaries, you can understand why they were looking for ways to make some extra money.

“We were throwing around a few ideas this past summer about small business opportunities that would benefit us financially, help our community, and create job opportunities for our own children,” Stephanie said. “I saw on Facebook that a friend of mine had started a yard card celebration business in her hometown in another state, so I contacted her about it. The opportunity arose to join a franchise. However, we chose to invest in our own business and build a yard card sign business from the ground up by ourselves. We saw that there were no other local companies in the area, so we dove in, and the investment paid off. SignMe Up was launched in August of 2020, and it has continually grown. In fact, a few months into our business launch, a friend of mine contacted me about buying her small stork business, Texarkana’s Storks on Parade. She saw how successful our business was becoming, and she was ready to retire. So, we purchased Storks on Parade and added custom baby announcement stork rentals to SignMe Up. This was all very exciting!

“Greg and I have always been very busy people,” Stephanie said. “We were both raised to work hard and earn our own way in life.” The couple certainly has been working hard for the past year, as evidenced by the sheer volume of their business growth. “Our business has been very well received,” she said. “We had a few friends order some signs at the start, we posted them on FB and Instagram, built a website, and then the business just took off from there. At the start of the business, we were also contacted by our first nonprofit – Just Love and Kindness, and that also helped guide us into offering our services to all local nonprofits. We absolutely love being a part of our community and giving back.”

So, just how busy is busy? “We now book 10-20 signs per week,” Stephanie said. “Our business serves Texarkana, Texas and Arkansas, Ashdown, Atlanta, Fouke, Genoa, Hooks, Leary, Liberty-Eylau, Maud, Nash, New Boston, Ogden, Red Lick, Redwater, Queen City, and Wake Village.” The business is a means to celebrate. Customers order custom-designed outside yard signs to be set up to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, school events, babies being born, and much more.

“Our signs bring happiness to our community. They bring celebration to our community. They bring families together. Our signs celebrate our community!” Stephanie said. She said that the business served a special purpose the past year during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“During the time of a pandemic, our signs brought ways to send gifts by way of yard cards and smiles to others without the risk of spreading COVID,” Stephanie said. “There really is no limit to what we can celebrate. In the future, we want to continue making people happy during all of those milestone celebration times, and we want to become more involved in our community and school districts with our new business.”

Of course, in addition to full-time jobs, and a full-time business, Stephanie and Greg have a family to raise. “We met on the sand courts at Minton Sportsplex in 2000,” Stephanie said. “I asked Greg on our first date. He will tell you otherwise, but he’s very shy; I am NOT.

“We make a great pair because we balance each other out,” Stephanie said. “We were married at Hickory Street Baptist Church on June 21, 2003 (exactly three years to the day of our first date), and we vowed at that time to be a strong Christian family allowing God to lead our marriage.”

Now, the couple has four children: Carrigan is 16, Bella Marie is 11, Brynlee is 8, and Lincoln is 5. “Carrigan attends Texas High where she is a junior,” Stephanie said. “She is on the varsity girls’ soccer team, she is a member of STUCO, on the Leadership team, a yearbook photographer, a yearbook editor, and a member of the Rosebuds. Bella Marie, Brynlee, and Lincoln all attend school at Red Lick ISD. Bella Marie and Brynlee are amazing soccer players and play on local soccer teams. Lincoln is a beast of a tee ball player!”

*The Brush family: (front row) Lincoln, Brynlee and Bella Marie; (back row) Stephanie, Greg, and Carrigan.*

Luckily, Greg and Stephanie live next door to her parents in Liberty-Eylau. “It’s the best thing ever,” Stephanie said. “And Greg’s mom lives here in town as well, so we have a super strong support system that makes it possible for us to get all of our kids to all activities and taken care of. Without my parents and his mom, we would not survive.”

The Brushes spend their free time with family, gardening, taking trips to state parks for family hiking, kayaking, working on their land, attending lots of soccer games, working with their church family, and just being together.

“We love to visit Dauphin Island each summer as a family!” Stephanie said. “It is our go-to relaxation/family time place” They are also very involved in their church. Greg is the youth director, a deacon, and head of landscaping. Stephanie is the Children’s Church teacher, the VBS director, and both take the youth to church camp every summer.

Stephanie and Greg chose Texarkana for their business because Texarkana is their hometown. They vowed early on to keep their children in one town to avoid moving from school to school. “Texarkana is our permanent home,” Stephanie said. “You never know, growth may bring forth our business to open in other areas in the future, but this will be our base.”

Stephanie and Greg, and the rest of the Brush family, are truly assets to this community—serving, giving, encouraging, teaching, leading, celebrating, and much more.

Feature Stories

Here's Your Sign