AmyGubser.com

So, our plan became to eliminate all of our debts so that Amy could stay home when we had children. We thought this might take 3-4 years and we were fine with that. We did want to have some time together before having kids.

Our debts were pretty stubborn. I had been pretty stupid with money before meeting Amy and had racked up some serious credit card debt on top of school loans. She had some school loans, too, but nothing like what I brought to the table.

It seemed for years that we took two steps forward and one step back. Sometimes three steps back. And the cycle continued such that we never really made any headway. We prayed about it and did all we could. Still we made some dumb decisions, too.

Finally, I got the opportunity to leave Bandag to pursue my hobby and ministry full-time. I became the Technical Arts Director at our church. I had been doing this for years in my spare time and it became the right time for both the church and I to take the plunge. Even though we sacrificed significant income to do this, we were able to cash in my Bandag pension and 401(k) to eliminate all of our debts asside from one school loan and our home loan. Everything else was paid for. Our vehicles, credit cards, everything!

We have to start over with saving for retirement, but we are out of that “bad” debt that was weighing us down. And finally, we could make it on my check alone. We could start a family the way we had been dreaming of for, at the time, seven years!

We were able to get pregnant right away in June of 2005. Unfortunately, that pregnancy ended about as quickly as it started with a miscarriage that August. This was very devastating to us. However, it was amazing how many people came out of the woodwork to encourage us by saying they too had been through miscarriages and went on to have many children. Some women had as many miscarriages as they had children! How terrible this reality is!

We carried on and were pregnant again by November. This time it all worked! The pregancy was rather gruelling for Amy. She was sick just about every day. We also made about five trips to the hospital for kidney stones during the pregnancy. All of that on top of worries that something was going to go wrong after losing our first baby. In the end, though, it all was worth it.

Our baby boy, Harrison Dean Gubser, was born August 19, 2006!

This provides the backdrop for our blog. We want to use it to help folks we know all over the world to keep up with our family if they wish. Particularly Harrison’s granparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. But also our many friends here locally, back home in Lincoln, and those that have moved on to places all over the globe.

Please comment on our postings as a way to interract if you would like. We will keep things updated here as best we can, too. That way whenever you visit, there will always be something new!

Filed under: Uncategorized on September 16th, 2006