The Family Fly

Let me take a minute to procrastinate from all things summer project to share a little story about the life of a white girl being married to a Mexican. 

We got married in a civil ceremony on June 17. It was supposed to be for family and very close friends. Well this guys showed up... (back right corner)

I had never seen him before and after the ceremony I saw him talking to my gringa friend Caitlin. And I said to that Gabo, "um who is that man at my civil wedding?"

He replied, "Oh he's a family friend. We refer to him as the gnat cause he always just hangs around." 

During the next couple of months "la mosca" (the gnat) called the hubs wanting to be in contact with my friend Caitlin. He liked her and for some reason he thought he had a shot. Gabo always dodged the question not knowing what to do. 

A couple of nights ago, our house phone rang at 11:45pm. Gabo ran to get it thinking it might be an emergency. It was the "mosca" calling...he wanted to know about the English speaking Church and how he could go and meet other girls. Gabo spoke firmly to him that he wasn't going to help find his ideal white girl. 

Most of all, I was severely grossed out by this man mid-30's having the nerve to call Gabo looking for options for a girlfriend at MIDNIGHT! 

I think it's funny and disturbing that people think marrying someone from another culture is a dream come true and it's all roses and pretty rainbows. It's not all the time. People live in a dream world. Bi-cultural marriages are fun but they are a lot of work.

To you the "mosca": you don't know what you would even be getting yourself into. It's not a dream world. And please don't call my house that late again.

Doing the RIGHT thing

A couple of weeks ago Gabo and I went with our friends Angie and Pepe to visit some other friends in Queretaro, Mexico. We were needing a break from the city and Monday was a holiday so we decided to take advantage of it. 

We spent the afternoon in the centro with our friends and Pepe and Angie had plans to have coffee with some people. So Gabo and I were going to drive Angie's car to Applebees for a beloved American experience. :) It was more for me than for him but he is an amazing husband.

Gabo was driving, I was navigating and the next thing we know is that a cop is pulling us over. Supposedly Gabo had run a red light. We were in Angie's car with Kansas plates on a Sunday night in another city-Monday's the holiday. The cops immediately ask Gabo to step out of the car (wanting a bribe instead of giving him an infraction). I start to get nervous and freaked out. SIDENOTE--I hate how in this country you can get out of anything by paying the person off. We are not fans of that because we believe it doesn't honor God. We want to do what the system says because honoring the law means honoring God. But back to the story. The police then tell Gabo that they have to tow the car because it's foreign and he broke the law in a city that isn't his own. This is a lie...not a real law. (We called the lawyer to check) However, these men had the power to take the car meaning we would be waiting until Tuesday to get the car out cause no one works on the holiday and we would all miss work on Tuesday. So the police were forcing us essentially to either pay the bride or be stuck in Queretaro until Tuesday for a law that doesn't even exist. So we paid the bride to get out of it. 

I was so stinking angry after wards. We want to respect the law but the law enforcers make up their own rules to get what they want. 

What would you do?

Rant #1: living a 1D life instead of 3D

Caution, you could be offended. 

So I spend about 5 weeks with my family in Indiana/Michigan. It was a good time spent. Gabo and I took care of my lil' man Rylan and spent a lot of time just chilling. In those times chilling, we frequented facebook. I use facebook these days but not so long ago my friend Charity had to start a petition to get me on there. I tend to be a private person. I want to tell people things when it's my time so you can imagine when i log onto facebook and hear that someone got engaged or whatever the latest news is. Nevertheless, I know that when I sign up, I willingly participate in the craziness. 

A couple of weeks before the wedding, I decided I was going to fast until after the wedding from social networking. It was sucking my time, I was over knowing more about my friends from a computer than from their mouths. I was sick of fighting gossip. It was good. Not the first fast of this form and will not be the last. 

This summer however, Gabo and I took note of more and more comments, updates and such that made us see that people are living more in a relationship with technology than in real life. I am going to break my beef down to two parts...sharing, saying things that you would never say in 3D world and the second being the over spiritualness of Christians.

Lets start with the idea that if I write it, it isn't as scary if I say it. Actually, when it is written down for 5,000,000 people to read it, it carries a little bit more weight. If 24 year old Bobby is writing that he loves his 2 week girlfriend and she is the woman of his dreams after he just broke up with last gf 3 weeks ago, it makes his words not so trustworthy. And he looks pretty silly professing his love to everyone instead of just to her in a park or a coffee shop. I don't love that. It makes me feel like Bobby, Cindy or Jan display their feelings on facebook because they don't have the guts to say it in real life. And somehow they get some validation or some reputation by saying it to everyone. What are we trying to prove with social networking? Are we looking for purpose or worth if someone gives you a "like"? Why can't we just go back to real life? I mean, I live in a foreign country and these things help me stay connected but are we at risk from losing real relationships because we can do a couple of clicks and express all of our emotions? I don't get it. It's scary.

Secondly, let's talk about Christians on social networking. I, being a Christian, should be loving and kind and actually be more sensitive to my kind. However, I think sometimes I struggle with loving the ones that should know better. Don't get me wrong, I work in Christian ministry and we all know that social networking is THE best way to recruit students to come to events, even connecting with students that still don't believe. But more than I see us as Christians using technology to just shouting that God is great. 

Friends, Believers...listen to me. By writing "God is love. I love him because he first loved me." or "The Holy Spirit is my best friend", this is not evangelism. This doesn't pull people closer to Jesus. Actually, in my opinion, it makes you look like a religious zealot and that does not help the kingdom come. 

Please, get off your blackberry and off the laptop or the IPOD, live life with people that are in 3D. The hurting broken people that would never say it to the world of social networking. That is how we are Jesus. 

Thanks for reading.