New Wheels

Kyle was one happy little boy yesterday! After having saved up his birthday money (and us searching around trying to find a good deal), we were finally able to get a new bike for Kyle! He is all excited about having hand brakes and that it is a blue bike!! It took a little adjustment to go from his previous (very small) bike to this one...but he's good-to-go now! And Taylor is happily enjoying Kyle's old bike, as his "new" one!

Beautiful Day Pics

I was really hoping to upload these pics yesterday, but blogger was having issues!

Anyway, I was hoping to tease our northern friends a little, who are experiencing the first glimpses of cold and wintry weather, with some of our very beautiful weather (albeit very hot and humid, at times)!

This is a very tall tree in the park across from our house.

And of course, some more pics of the boys!

And Minka was also enjoying playing with boys outside!

And, it's another beautiful day again today! I think rainy season is soon to be officially over. Yay - for no more leaking ceilings, but boo - for not having rain to cool the humidity down!

[ Just a Glimpse ]

It seems as if I'm running out of ideas here on what to take pics of and post...so I decided to just post some "randomness." Hopefully that's okay!

The below scene is taken on "el Par Vial." We travel this road every time we go to church. It's a few streets over from "el centro," and we use it a lot because it moves along at a much faster pace!!

And, we've found a new spot for tacos al pastor! This place adds fried onions on the top of their meat, which makes for a different spin on the traditional taco. It's VERY good! And only 50¢ per taco! Double good!!

Mini Fall Photo Shoot

Yesterday was a beautiful day! We decided to take the kids out to the park and try to get some fall photos (although it doesn't look or feel very fall-ish here)!

And thank-you, Kara, for the matching shirts! Love them!

Parker - 18 months

Taylor - 4 years

Kyle - 6 years

And the below photo wasn't necessarily planned, but it makes me SMILE!!!

What expressions! :-)

All in a Day's Work

We periodically get stopped by police at various checkpoints. The lack of a license plate on the front of our vehicle seems to always be a red flag and it's always the first question out of their mouths!

Here's a conversation Michael had yesterday after being stopped at a federal police checkpoint.

Federal Police: Good evening! Where are you coming from?

Michael: Good evening. From Santo Domingo.

Federal Police : Why don’t you have a license plate up front?

Michael: Well, I am from Pennsylvania and in Pennsylvania we don’t have license plates on the front.

Federal Police: Ok. Go ahead and pull forward to the left for a check.

Michael: (I pull forward to the left)

Federal Police: I want to see the identification (permit) for your truck. And also your passport.

Michael: Ok. (I hand him the truck permit and also my passport)

Federal Police: (Looks at the permit) Do you realize that this is a tourist permit and that it is expired?

Michael: Yes. But I have an FM-2 visa which extends this permit for as long as my visa is good. (I hand him my present FM-2 visa)

Federal Police: Where do you live?

Michael: I live in Tapachula.

Federal Police: And what do you do?

Michael: I am a missionary. I am planting churches. We are planting a church in Tapachula and another church in Santo Domingo.

Federal Police: Oh. You are driving on an expired TOURIST permit for your truck.

Michael: But according to the Customs officials, this permit extends with my present Immigrant Visa. The agent told me it was Article VI that says it.

Federal Police: What law?

Michael: I don’t know what law. I just know that the customs agent told me it was in Article VI. Here let me show you on the back of the permit. (I read to him what it says on the back of the permit) “A vehicle of a foreign national can stay in Mexico for the same time as he has a Visa as non-immigrant or immigrant rentista. (This last one is my status.)

Federal Police: Well, you're not the owner of the truck.

Michael: No, my wife actually owns the truck. (She was the one that was there to sign the title. I happened to be in Florida at the time.) But here is her visa. (I hand him my wife’s visa.)

Federal Police: Well, your not allowed driving the truck without her being there. She has to be in the truck with you, for you to be able to drive.

Michael: Oh, really? I was the one that imported the truck at the Mexican border and she WASN’T there.

Federal Police: Really? How did you do that?

Michael: With my marriage license and a letter of power, signed and stamped by a notary. And the customs officials didn’t have any problem with it. Look, on the permit it says that Crystal Mason, my wife is the owner, but that Michael Mason, I, imported it. If I can’t drive it without her, how did I import the truck at the northern border?

Federal Police: Well, what about the plate up front? Where is it at?

Michael: As I told you before, I am from Pennsylvania. Some states such as Texas have plates up front. Others, such as Alabama and Pennsylvania do not use a license plate up front.

Federal Police: Oh, ok. Well, go on.

[ Just a Glimpse ]

This is a large monstrosity of a church that's not too far from our house. Our boys call it "the castle!" This church proclaims to be "Christian" and part of the first true church founded by Jesus Christ, and then later restored by their founder in 1926. Unfortunately, they seem to be more of a "cult-ish" type group with some pentecostal culture thrown in for good measure.

In other news, ants have invaded and are eating one of our trees out in front of our house, carrying the little pieces of leaf down their trail to our neighbors drain pipe!

[ Just a Glimpse ]

Last week, we started a mens and ladies group at our church here in Tapachula. Each group will be meeting alternatively every other Saturday.

This past Saturday was the first time for the ladies to meet. They decided to go out for some coffee and to just talk. I must confess to not understanding everything that was said, but I did understand some of it. We had a nice time together and lots of laughs were shared.

The men have named their group, Men of Integrity (Hombres de integridad). Their goal is to be more of an accountability group and to learn and encourage each other to be godly leaders in their homes.

We are excited to see how the Lord will lead these two groups! Our prayer is that we would be a godly example of Biblical living and a blessing to these new believers.

[ Just a Glimpse ]

Today we made a trip to the barber - for all FOUR of the boys in this household! This was Parker's very first haircut, and as you can see below, he was in desperate need of one - although, this Momma really liked his curls!

But alas, I would have soon been needing to make hair bows and ribbons...and that wasn't an option! =)

After.

A little different look for the little man - but cute, just the same!