Brunssen babies were big news in Randolph in January
Jan. 9, 2019
RANDOLPH — Warren and Debbie Brunssen didn’t know if they’d ever have children — let alone grandchildren.
In the last six months, their family tree sprouted all sorts of branches with the addition of five new grandchildren.
Warren and Debbie were married June 13, 1981, at St. Frances Catholic Church, Randolph.
As the Brunssens settled into their wedded bliss with dreams of raising a family, the couple’s dream slowly fell apart.
From what became month after month of disappointments, gradually became year after year of infertility. The Brunssens desire to have a baby slowly turned into just a faint thought of one day becoming parents.
The couple tried everything — many doctors’ visits, dozens of tests, multiple medications, and even major surgery.
On April 11, 1985, their prayers were finally answered with the birth of their daughter, Tanya.
The prayers continued to be answered with the birth of another daughter, Clarissa, in 1987. Lucas came along in 1989, and Andrea followed in 1992. Then came Tyler in 1995 and Grant in 1997.
Prior to 2018, five of the six Brunssen children were married and growing their own families.
They had three grandsons and three granddaughters. They felt blessed with the six little gifts from God.
Things started to change when Andrea (Brunssen) and Nate Gubbels, Randolph, gave Warren and Debbie a little jar of jelly with a poem attached saying, “Dear Grandma and Grandpa, Mom didn’t want to be the only one with a belly.”
The jar had a due date of May 30, 2018, and the couple shared their ultrasound pictures. This was the announcement of their first child.
Soon after the first announcement, Lucas and Sydney (Lowe) Brunssen, Randolph, sent a snapshot of a pregnancy test showing a positive reading with a message, second time around.
Tanya (Brunssen), Pierce, is married to Mark Huwaldt. She came over to her parents’ house one night to pick her children up from Debbie, who had been babysitting. Tanya showed her a picture with Thing One, Thing Two, Thing Three, Thing Four and Thing Question Mark. Debbie said she was completely shocked as this would be her fifth child.
A little while after hearing about three new future grandchildren, Warren and Debbie received a face-time call from their second child.
Clarissa (Brunssen) and Andrew Schumacher live in Pennsylvania. Debbie said it was later in the evening and they were together without their children, so they knew something was up. They told them they were having their third child.
Tyler and Jaci (Lubberstedt) Brunssen, Carroll, were married in November 2017. Debbie noticed on their Facebook page soon after hearing about the fourth future grandchild, Jaci had posted an article about how much having a baby cost many years ago and how much it cost today. Tyler then told his parents that, “I guess we will find out for ourselves soon.”
“Warren and I were now totally amazed and wanted to tell the world we were going to be grandparents of not one, two, three, four but FIVE babies in one year,” Debbie said.
The first grandchild was born June 7 to Nate and Andrea Gubbels. They named her Brielle Rose, weighing seven pounds, 11 ounces and measuring 21 inches long.
The second grandchild was born to Lucas and Sydney Brunssen July 1. They named her Evelyn Louise, she weighed eight pounds, six ounces and measured 20.5 inches long.
The third grandchild was born to Mark and Tanya Huwaldt July 30. They named him Elijah Mark. He weighed seven pounds, nine ounces and measured 20 inches long.
The fourth was born to Andrew and Clarissa Schumacher Aug. 23. Harrison Jacob Schumacher weighed in at eight pounds, four ounces and measured 21 inches long.
At this point, Warren and Debbie had five grandsons and five granddaughters.
Tyler and Jaci came in with the tiebreaker tipping the number of boys to six and making the grand total of 11 grandchildren.
The little boy was born Nov. 6 and named Aiden Dale Brunssen weighing in at seven pounds, 13 ounces and measuring 20 inches.
