Let's be Honest

I got into a car accident a week ago. 

It was a mess. I mean the accident wasn't that bad but I am a foreigner in Mexico...

- in a friend's car

- with problems with insurance

- on the way to pick my husband up from the airport

- in rush hour traffic

It was a mess. 

I think what I experienced most is shame that I had an accident. If you know me well I have a complex of wanting people to not have to extend grace to me. I mean perfection is a long way off but I just want to be in a place where I am just neutral. So every time I saw the junked up car out my window, I was reminded that I screwed up. 


Luckily yesterday we took it to the place to get fixed. I told Gabo it was taking away my guilt and shame by moving it out. 


But I am not perfect. And I won't ever be and I am probably going to have more car accidents in my lifetime and I make mistakes daily. But sitting in my guilt and shame doesn't make anything better or teach me to rely on God. 


Hopefully everything works out at the mechanic and the repairs are minimal.

Lots of Celebrating

The fall and the beginning of December are shaping up to be quite the celebrating time for the Hernadez family.

We celebrated my 29th birthday on November 5, 2010

Then we celebrated Thanksgiving with about 20 friends. This was my 4th Thanksgiving here in Mexico.

Then we set up our first Christmas tree. Don't you love it?

Just a couple of days ago, we went to Cuernavaca to celebrate with Pao and Tim and their wedding. This was our first wedding since our own. It was a fun day with lots of adventures!

And today we celebrate Gabo's 35th birthday. What a blessing he is to me and to many others.

The culture of Fighting for Freedom

Lately, I have come to the stark reality of a part of the US culture that not everyone shares.

Mexicans have not fought for freedom or rights in the last 100 years. That's right in 1910 was the Revolution. We just celebrated it on November 20. Now I am not an expert on the history of Mexico but what I understand that just 100 years ago there was about 150 rich families that controlled everything and everyone in all of Mexico. Well there was a revolt and a revolution and that is how Mexico was changed from not being ruled by the rich and now supposedly it is more equal (I wouldn't bet my life on it) but at least 150 families are not controlling a country. We have "new" issues here like corruption of government and drug cartels, etc. But Mexico is only 200 years old.

Here is the crazy thing, the majority of the people in the country have no idea what it's like to fight for freedom or the defense of others.

I found this last month when a new friend asked me about the Army and the soldiers in the states. We honor the men and women that fight for our country. We miss them when they are gone and we understand what it's like to live in a world where our dads, brothers, sons may not make it home. It gives us pride but it gives us a worldview completely different from other countries.

We sing songs about it. We write stories about it. We even have shows about the lives of Army Wives. It is who we are. And I think it has made us less passive and more patriotic. Yes, there are many Americans that are in disagreement as to how much we get involved in the affairs of other countries but as a whole we are united to support our troops.

That is what makes these pictures precious to us.

Cause these people are real to us.

Think about how our lives would be different if we left this part out of our cultural makeup.