May update

  Wow I didn't realize it has almost been a month since my last post!!!!

Teething has definitely commenced. None have cut through, but all the signs are there so hopefully one makes an appearance soon. I'm perfectly fine if it doesn't for a while yet, but I'm sure Marcelyn would tell you otherwise. Her "babble" has moved on to full on sentences. It's so much fun to hear her wake up from a nap talking away to herself.....not so great at 4:00 am 😑

Anyway, the reason I'm posting is I found this picture

It seemed to need more than Just a simple share on Facebook.  The last four years have been pretty tough and I have very often wondered why we are where we are. We have been very blessed to have quiet neighbors that live next door, but I can't help but think of the parents of some and really most of the kids that we bring to church. God has placed them in my life to teach me, but God also placed me in their life to show them Jesus. He didn't place me here to have preach at them and tell them how much they need Jesus in their life. I'm here simply to show them my life with Jesus is why I'm blessed. I have learned a lot living in this neighborhood, and it's hard to believe in June it will have been 4 years. 

I have been amazed at how much of a battle it has been to stay above the stigma of living in a trailer park....although I cringe each time I see or hear someone use the phrase and want to say mobile home community, MOBILE HOME COMMUNITY. Thankfully we live in the nicest....well what used to be the nicest community in town. Two company ownership changes and three managers later things kinda go south pretty fast. My heart has changed towards the neighborhood though. Rather than simply living here to gain some equity and buying power for our next home I have learned we are here to be a light and an example. Which now can simply be done by having a nice yard. And even that is a battle....just ask my husband. 

  

Family Update January & February 2015

Well 2014 was a blur.....you can read more about it in my last post. Things have finally slowed down for us.

We have a new addition to the adventure team. 

Meet Marcelyn Rose Lofstrom

Born 1/5/15 Monday morning at 9:43 am!

Weighing in at 5lbs. 15 oz and 18.75 inches long. 

She is 6 weeks old yesterday!

She's growing entirely too fast. 

Her birth day story is nothing short of a miracle. 

It's a long one, but a good one.  I have a hard time starting the story because we made a few trips to the hospital, and several calls to the doctor's office.  Marcelyn was transverse the last several weeks of my pregnancy so I was getting sonograms the last few weeks on a weekly basis to see if she had turned to be head down for a vaginal delivery.  My doctor had scheduled a C-Section for January 12th which was 5 days before her due date....according to doctors...since she was transverse and not showing signs of turning.  My doctor had also told me to not hesitate going tot he hospital if I was having contractions because if my water were to break I would have to have an emergency surgery.  So about a week before she was born I made a trip to the hospital to find out that being dehydrated causes contractions. They gave me orders to drink a bunch and sent me home.  I would still have contractions but nothing too horrible. Fast forward to the Sunday before Marcey was born, 3:00 in the morning contractions woke me up. I had been sleeping on the couch to help keep me sleeping on my side and not on my back.  I got up and took some Benadryl which should have put me back to sleep and help tame contractions.  Instead, my contractions got worse. Over the next hour I timed contractions and they were close enough I knew I needed to get to the hospital.  5:30 I was admitted into the hospital...and of all nights it was snowing and freezing cold.  I was hoping we would get some meds to get the contractions to stop and still be able to make it to church.  Needless to say that didn't happen.  Doctors thought I had a UTI so they gave me meds for that plus lots of pain meds to help me sleep and make it through contractions. The goal for Sunday was to make it to Monday so I could have my doctor, but in the meantime I was on a liquid diet because "I could have a c-section at any time" from what the doctor said.  Monday morning comes and a new "doctor on call" comes in to check on me and nurses tell me that my doctor is in Great Bend (2 hours away)  When I went in for the first time I had been dilated to a 2.5 or 3 and was 80% effaced.  Sunday I was 100% effaced and dilated to a 4. I had stayed in the hospital because my contractions were just progressive enough to be of concern.  So 9:00 rolled around and the doctor on call came in, checked me and decided that since I had progressed it was best to have the baby that day.  God really has a sense of humor, but knows what we need.  Sunday I had a female doctor that could have delivered Marcelyn, but 1. I didn't like her and 2. I was under the impression that my doctor would be there the next day, but mostly I didn't like the doctor on call.  The doctor on call for Monday was male, but the moment he came in the room and told me I was going to be having my baby that day I was completely okay with it.  I was amazed with the amount of peace I experienced that morning.  I remember turning to Chris and saying "I highly doubt I'll have the baby until noon."  little did I know an hour later I'd be holding my little girl :)  Next an anesthesiologist walked into our room. Sporting a very thick accent and a lot of information that made me incredibly overwhelmed.  Then another guy came in telling the anesthesiologist he needs to let someone else handle my surgery....which didn't help my comfort level at all considering they would be doing a spinal tap that had the potential of killing me or paralyzing me from my chest down.  A few minutes later another anesthesiologist came in and explained things to me much better (without a thick accent) and peace flooded back into the room.  A few minutes after that I was wheeled off to the operating room.  I'm not sure I've ever been in a room that was that cold.  That's probably the most dominant memory of a feeling that I had the whole time.  Since there were still pain meds in me and I had just been numbed from my bust line down things are a little foggy. Here's what I remember: cold, lots of nice people, shivering because I was so cold and telling the anesthesiologist that I didn't want to know what was going on.  most importantly I remember rocking on the operating table thinking "this isn't normal" and just holding my breath till I heard my baby's voice.  Then I heard her cry....best sound in the world EVER!!! I cried.... I remember dry-heaving and learning that rubbing alcohol makes nausea subside almost instantly.  Then the recovery began....and that's a whole different story. 

Later that night the doctor came in and told me the rest of the story.  He started the story by asking me if I knew I had a heart shaped uterus.  I had no idea what he was talking about, but once he explained my whole pregnancy made sense. Why Marcelyn was transverse,  why my c-section was so intense and why my contractions didn't feel like normal contractions. Most nurses tell you to press on the top of your stomach between your breasts to test for a contraction. Well I didn't have a uterus there.  That's where the v of the heart was located. Here's where the miracle gets cool. When I was being rocked on the table I also remember hearing the doctor sounding winded like he was really struggling.  Apparently it was no normal c-section. When he broke my water all that delivered was her arm.  When he reached up to pull her head down he found feet. All those sonograms that I had to look at her position had been read wrong.  He then tried to flip Marcelyn to be able to get her out, but since my uterus was heart shaped he couldn't flip her. He cut one of my ab. muscles to gain more room.  That didn't work so he made a vertical incision on my uterus too.  Then Marcelyn Rose was born, but didn't cry until she got over to the warmer.  Thankfully the week before my mom had shared with me a word that she had received during worship (I had stayed home I think because the wether was bad and icey and I didn't want to risk falling on the snow and ice). I don't remember the exact word, but it was something along the lines of resting in God's peace and trusting him.  In that moment when I knew I couldn't do anything I prayed.  I knew that I was literally praying for my child's life.  She could have died and I could have died on that operating table. I don't know that for a fact, but each time I talk with a doctor that knows my story all they can say is "wow, what a delivery your daughter is a trooper" so that tells me that God protected us and orchestrated the entire morning right down to the nurses that took care of me each step of the way.  I probably had 8-10 different nurses take care of me the 5 days I was in the hospital and all of them were exactly what I needed at the time.  It was amazing.  Now that it's been six weeks I'm back to somewhat of a normal.  I've had a few set backs, but nurses and doctors have been surprised and very pleased with how quickly I've recovered.  My thoughts to myself are "I don't expect anything less from a God that heals and takes care of all my needs" 

I think my favorite thing in all of this is my daughter's name, Marcelyn Rose.  Marcelyn actually means "little warrior" which at the time I picked it out I didn't know.  I just heard the name somewhere and loved it.  My husband looked up the meaning and agreed that he liked it also.  Little did we know that she would be the little warrior she needed to be.  Even today she's a fighter and is very strong.  I'm praying her warrior traits aren't personality traits that will make her headstrong.  

Anyway that's Marcelyn Rose's story.  

For more pictures of Marcelyn follow me on Instagram. @mollz2 or check out our tumblr @lofstromadventures 

I post lots of little short things there along with lots of pictures. 

I also hope to send out email updates.

Teething begins

And so it begins..... 

I'm very thankful for Tylenol and pacifiers. I'm thinking I may break out the nubby tomorrow. She's definitely cutting one tooth...possibly two 😞

In other news Marcelyn Rose is growing!!! 

Here are some pictures. 

Netflix 😊

Tummy time!! 

Being so cute is hard work ☺️

And yes that's a Minnie Mouse hooded sleeper. Complete with ears, polka-dot skirt and cute "shoes."

This is already almost a month old 😯

And that's all I have time for today. 

Until next time. 

Pictures

the picture on the right makes me giggle....she really does like that blanket that's just the type of day we had today. A good friend of mine knit it for me....and this picture only captures part of its splender. It's a keepsake for sure.

snuggles with Daddy

first day at home

e-mail campaign

Hello to those that followed the link. 

If you are looking for more pictures here are a few options

tumbler @lofstromadventures

instagram @cmlofstrom or @mollz2

a few are on facebook because I didn't know my tumblr was linked to facebook. 

Thanks for visiting our blog and I hope to get more pictures up here soon along with my promised "Marcelyn Story" of the day she was born. I have some great pictures from that day thanks to my mom-in-law and brother...they just happen to be on our laptop and not on my iPad...yet.

Anyway enjoy!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2014!
Can't believe another year has passed already.  Once again I did a horrible job of keeping this updated.   A lot has happened but nothing quite as heartbreaking as the passing of my (Molly) Grandma Dinkel.  She was 87 years old, but one of the hardest things I've been through yet.  Thankfully though nothing near as hard as I was expecting. Her passing was not sudden, but she did not linger either. She went very peacefully and as comfortably as possible.  Letting go is, from what I've learned so far, a process.  She's been gone for almost two months now and it still doesn't feel real. When we were together Christmas Day it felt like at any moment she would burst through the door and start bossing us around.  It was very weird not having her there.

Lots happened in 2014

Found out we were pregnant 4 days before mother's day so I got to tell my mom on mother's day she would be a grandma. Best day ever!!

Okay I have to tell you the story :) Mother's day is a Sunday so I could have told her at church, but knew she's hate me forever because she would have freaked...and dad would have cried. We had the family over to the house for lunch and mom opened gifts. Chris and I got her a willow tree figurien that said grandmother on it...thankfully kind of small. I wrapped it out of the box because it said it rather largely on the box on each side. Anyway the story gets a little funnier if we back up to when everyone was getting there. my brother Chris and Amanda had driven together and as they were walking in Amanda said, jokingly, "it would be really cool and funny if Chris and Molly told us they were going to have a baby hahahaha" LOL!! She called it. Mom unwrapped her gift and oooed and awwed over it, but didn't get it. I told her to read me the bottom (that said grandmother on it) she couldn't quite read it, but Amanda who was sitting right next to her read it and screamed "Are you serious??!!!" Mom finally gets it to where she can read it and just says "Really?!!" and Dad was like "What....what does it say....?" Then he called it....are you guys preagnant or something. OOOh YEAAAY....hahaha it was great. I have it on video somewhere, but promised I wouldn't share it.  I was glad we got to surprise them. it was fun. Oh then after all the rush wore off she said "I'm so glad you didn't give me a rose at church, I wouldn't have handled that well." I don't remember exactly what she said word for word, but I do remember he telling me she would have hated it.  

Chris and I celebrated 5 years of maraige and took a trip to San Fransisco in June.  We posted pictures of that on facebook. I'm not sure what my favorite part of the trip was. I got to go to China Town, cross the Golden Gate Bridge, ride in a cable car past Lumbard Street, touch the Pacific Ocean (which happened to be cold) and go see Redwood trees.  I got to experience my first passenger train in the US outside of an airport, and try some new sea food.  I also learned why so many people love California, it's because everything (even the most boring highway) is beautiful.  There was a house that literally had 15 different types of trees and shrubs in their front yard it was amazing.  

in July my older brother got married in Albania which is still a little of a hard subject to talk about.  Everyone downplayed it like it was going to be a small happening and it wouldn't be a big deal that we miss it....well it was fancier than most weddings are here in the the states. and I missed it. I got to see pictures and videos....but I missed a lot....it was beautiful and I missed it. They came back to the states and had a wedding in September so that made it a little easier, but just as I had suspected it wouldn't be the same....it wasn't their first. They weren't.....well you get the point. I was the maid of honor....which I found that detail out like 3 days before the wedding. I texted Visi some details and she replied "you're such a great maid of honor" lol so that's how I found out I was the maid of honor. 

at that point I was 5 months pregnant and we didn't have dresses picked out until about 4 or 5 weeks before the wedding....and I was growing each week....so anything that we bought in the store was going to have to be majorly altored. So mom made the executive discion to sew the dresses. Long story short mine ended up with a corset back because I grew 4 inches in a week and she was working on my dress a week or two before the wedding and we didn't want to have to resew my dress the night before the wedding. 

Then baby drama started. The last trimester was a roller coaster. Baby Lofstrom was transverse and riding rather high up until the last two weeks or so before she was born.  To read that whole story you can read that in the next post. 

And rather than read through this for the 100th time and not post this. I'm going to post this and just apologize for typos and spelling errors. I'm writing this while on my iPad trying out a new keyboard.  It's also kind of late....anyway it's my post about 2014 to get you up-to-date. 

Oh the life in a trailer park.... and the story of Li

It's March already!
And YES we live in a trailer park....

Not that there's anything wrong with living here, we are truly blessed to have such a nice home and to have the opportunity to own our home in such a short amount of time.  This blessing has come with lots and lots of stretching though.  It has been good for both Chris and me.
I have realized that not only are we in one of the poorest parts of our town, the people that live her are some of the most interesting....and unusual people I've encountered so far.  They view themselves as stuck.  To them there is no hope, no hope of ever having a life any better than what they have now.
Chris and I moved to this neighborhood because we were tired of renting, but weren't ready for a life long commitment of a house mortgage.  We know that we are only going to live here for a short time.  When driving through the neighborhood one can tell who has our mind set (we are only here for a season and to better our lives) and those that do not.  Those that do not....well....we will just say you can tell without much study to their home.  It is VERY easy to get caught up in the fact that this neighborhood is messed up and hopelessly headed in a downward spiral.  Thankfully there is hope....named Jesus.  God has placed us here and each day we drive through it becomes more and more apparent that He has placed us right where we are.  I regularly have to remind myself of this.

It's March already!

And YES we live in a trailer park....

Not that there's anything wrong with living here, we are truly blessed to have such a nice home and to have the opportunity to own our home in such a short amount of time.  This blessing has come with lots and lots of stretching though.  It has been good for both Chris and me. 

I have realized that not only are we in one of the poorest parts of our town, the people that live her are some of the most interesting....and unusual people I've encountered so far.  They view themselves as stuck.  To them there is no hope, no hope of ever having a life any better than what they have now.  

Chris and I moved to this neighborhood because we were tired of renting, but weren't ready for a life long commitment of a house mortgage.  We know that we are only going to live here for a short time and not for the rest of our lives like some people do.

It is VERY easy to get caught up in the fact that this neighborhood is messed up and hopelessly headed in a downward spiral. When driving through the neighborhood one can tell who has our mind set (we are only here for a season and to better our lives) and those that do not.  Those that do not....well....we will just say you can tell without much study to their home.   Thankfully there is hope....named Jesus.  God has placed us here and each day we drive through it becomes more and more apparent that He has placed us right where we are.  I regularly have to remind myself of this.  

It's a hard group of people to reach out to, we have learned so far.  I personally have learned that Chris and I are, very much, people that like to improve the environment, and our neighborhood is one that likes to maintain or what they try to think is maintaining....when in reality it's falling apart before their very eyes.  We have learned that this mentality is a poverty mentality.  To do nothing at all is maintaining.   Poverty says if the way you know how to fix it doesn't work, then it can't be fixed.   I recently came to this revelation when Hays received record amounts of snow a few weeks ago.  Our maintenance system, I'm not really sure what to call it because, well I guess I'll stop and explain.  Ok, so when we first moved here we had an actual hired and payed maintenance man that lived and worked in our neighborhood.  Now they've decided to out source this job to a company.  When we got all the snow they were supposed to plow our streets, well after being snowed in for 3 1/2 days I decided to call and see why we weren't getting our streets plowed.  Now keep in mind we are talking 18" of snow on the ground, and I drive a G-6. I talked to our manager and she said our neighborhood plow was broken down and stuck in Salina, KS.  Yes, stuck in Salina, Kansas....90 miles away.  Why our plow was an hour and half away I have no idea.  Oh and our manager said that we were going to have to wait a week before it would be back.  I though about asking her if she had talked to the City, but if she had the streets would probably be plowed.  My next call was to the city, and guess what? The streets were plowed the NEXT DAY!! What I learned from this was that our manager is probably stuck in this poverty mentality, which would be why our streets and neighborhood is the way it is.  What I can do now is either sit back and nit pick at what she is or isn't doing or I can offer her a solution.  I would have to say the first one is what I have been doing up to this point, but it was because I honestly couldn't understand how someone could be that clueless to the world around them.  I now understand that she's not only clueless. She had no idea, and probably no way of getting one because of the way she was raised.  Yes, that sounds condemning, but isn’t that what the world is?  Putting you in a place of constant failure with now hope of ever amounting to anything.  

My goal now is first and foremost to pray for her, but also find common ground to hopefully share the gospel with her.  At this point I have no clue how to do it in a way that she will accept it. 

As far as life at our house things are going well.  I'm still working at the local Christian radio station and for the lady that goes to our church; and Chris still works at Hess Services as a CNC programer.  I'm amazed to watch God continue to use us.  I will confess that every ounce of me wants to be in China, and it breaks my heart every time someone asks me when we will go next.  I do know beyond a shadow of a doubt we are exactly where God wants us.  I also know that my burning desire for China is no accident either.  God continues to show me new ways this calling can be met.  We recently have had the honor of befriending a Chinese student.  Well actually he's not the student his girl friend is.  I guess I may as well tell you his story.

The Story of Li:

Li comes from a very rich family in China and he was enjoying life.  He had studied graduated from college, but decided to live the life of a partier.  His girl friend did not like this life so several months ago she broke up with him and came to Hays to go to Fort Hays State University.  Sounds like a movie right?    Li is here on a tourist visa but is here to prove to his girlfriend that he knows how to work and is willing to do whatever it takes to win her back.  Cue Americans.  About a month ago we had a special speaker at our church and dad was at the hotel to pick him up.  Outside the hotel was a very confused and lost Chinaman.  Dad being the nice helpful American asked Li if he could help him.  Li asked if he could get a ride to F-H-S-U. Then dad called me and gave me his contact information.  (this was a Saturday).  He's now been to church every week since he's been here AND he works every afternoon at the church.  He says his relationship with his girlfriend is on the mend (of corse not in those words).  We have not met his girlfriend yet, but we can tell he still has very strong feelings and we can only pray she has some of the same feelings as well.  We have known Li for about a month now and it is amazing to see how he has fit into our family.  God really knows how to work things out for his glory, just when we all needed a little breath of fresh air he sends a young man from China.  Li plays the clarinet just like my little sister does so Li has gladly taught Amanda some very helpful tips, just when she was about to throw in the towel on band too.  I had just been going through a rough spot wondering why I wasn't in China....little did I know God would bring China to me.  Li has opened my eyes again to the huge Chinese student population at FHSU that is largely unreached.  What amazes me most is how well Li speaks English and how much he has taught us about his culture.  I'm looking forward to watching the relationship to grow and God only knows where it will lead.  

To Be Continued