Contentment

Here's a sweet picture - Bill ("Papa") & Willie (named after "Papa" Mueller). They were relaxing together after a tiring day last month. Life doesn't get much better!

Added Ventures' First Big Adventure!

On Tuesday, July 30th, we added a gold Chevy Venture to our 'currently owned vehicles' list! Everybody seems to think it is pretty cool, including myself! Then, around a week later, we added another one (this one was red)!

Their first big adventure was to take the family up to Canada.

The red one went around 2,600 miles and crossed Canadian/American borders about 6 times.

The gold one went around 1,250 miles and crossed Canadian/American borders 5 times (the reason this one's numbers are smaller is because it is staying up north with Val and me).

Here is a picture of them on their first major trip.

This post was brought to you by request of one of our faithful readers. :-)

~Heidi

Handing it over........

Alright. Now anything that goes on at home I may hear about, but I won't likely have the fullest version of the story, nor will I have any pictures. So I hand it over to those at home, though I could occasionally add in my two bits worth. :-) Keep coming here for further updates on the goings on at the Mueller household.

If you would like to continue to follow the goings on of Valerie and myself and are not currently receiving e-mail updates from us, please leave a comment. In your comment, please leave your name and your e-mail address. We will not post comments including your e-mail address. I will be keeping up a protected blog which will be by invitation only (your invitation will be received via the e-mail address that you leave in your comment and you will be asked to create a username and password in order to view the blog) and Valerie will be sending out e-mail updates. If you only want one or the other, you can let us know that, but you probably want them both because, being that one of us is doing each, they will be different in both content and perspective.

~Heidi

Back Home Safe and Sound

Hi All,

Just a quick note to say we have returned to the good ole USA safe and sound minus our two temporary Canadians...Valerie and Heidi are settling in and preparing for their time ahead.

I guess I will need to find time to update and add pictures now that Heidi has other things to do.

That will need to wait a couple days...but let it be said that we had a very enjoyable vacation and everyone got to do some things they had never done before.

Bill

Thursday Afternoon~Isle Aux Coudres

You've probably never heard of this place, but we had a lot of fun there. It is an island, in case you weren't sure, so we had to take a ferry over to it. That was a first for everybody in the family, I believe. Then, once we got over there, we went to a place where there are all kinds of extra-ordinary bikes. We rented two of them and spent about two hours riding along the island coast. For some of us, two hours of biking isn't very long, but everybody (except Zach and Lisa, who couldn't reach the pedals) was quite worn out at the end of that time. It doesn't help that we were all sort of tired and worn out anyway and some of us had some rather sore muscles from climbing back up the stairs at Montmorency Falls two nights before. It was extremely enjoyable anyway and was certainly the first time any of us had done it and we likely will never be able to do it again - a chance of a lifetime!

No, the pictures of me driving are not posed, they're the real thing. I got to add to my list of vehicles I've driven. Let me see, riding lawn mowers, bumper cars, and fancy, on-road bikes! Someday, probably next year, I'll add a regular vehicle to that list!

The Quebec flag.This flag is becoming quite the familiar sight nowadays!
The cool bikes!My original group. (We switched groups and seatings multiple times throughout the trip.) The other group before they left.


We stopped for a somewhat posed picture with the Saint Lawrence River in the background before we turned around to head back to the bike place.
Kimberly did get to try it as well, but she and Dad both agree she's not quite ready to be on the roads just yet.David and HB got to try their hands at driving too - but only in the parking lot.

~Heidi

Thusday Morning

Thursday morning many of the others slept in a bit, while Dad, Mom, Val, and I went out grocery shopping. By the time we got back, we weren't sure that we had that much room in our cupboards, but it ended up fitting just right.

~Heidi

Wednesday Evening Service

Joe gave the challenge from Psalm 81:10 and Jean Philippe translated it into French for those who showed up (it ended up being just him and his mother - who speaks only French - that made it out that night). They did pretty well. It was a good experience for both of them. :-)

No pictures - Sorry.



~Heidi

Monday-Wednesday~Working at the church

On Monday, the ladies helped do the regular cleaning around the church (vacuuming, bathroom cleaning, etc.), the men worked on the apartment, and the children enjoyed being with other kids their age and had lots of play time.

Here I am vacuuming, obviously. :-)

On Tuesday, the men and children continued what they had been doing on Monday, while the ladies put up a few bookshelves and loaded them. (No, we did not organize them in that time. That is something that Pastor Teachout will need to do if he wants to ever know what he has and where it's at. These books were actually all given to him when his uncle had to move and couldn't take his library with him.)

On Wednesday, the Teachouts left for some meetings they had in Maine. The ladies went out shopping for kitchen stuff (minus the food) and anything else we may have forgotten for Valerie and me and our apartment (and we got a mini view of Quebec city on, or rather out, of the way :-) ). While we were away, the guys got to "dig in" on re-organizing the basement from the workroom it had been to an open area where the kids can play and it can be used for classes and whatever else it may be needed for.

Some "before and after" pictures.

The main section of the basement, the workroom.

BeforeAfter

The church kitchen and temporary laundry room.

Before

After

This was where we laid out our breakfast options at the beginning of our stay, but it really is to be the schoolroom.

Before
And After


Oh, and here is a picture of all the kitchen stuff we got, all unpackaged and ready to be washed. No, we are not that messy - like ever - only when we get a bunch of new stuff that needs cleaning and we have to stop to get ready for the Wednesday evening service!

~Heidi

Tuesday Evening~Montmorency Falls

Tuesday evening, Pastor Teachout and the kids took our family to see the Montmorency Falls. These falls are actually about 90 ft taller than the Niagara Falls, but they are not as wide across, which is why they're not as well known, I'd assume. They were just beautiful, and you can get even closer to them than we did to the Niagara Falls. There is a bridge that you can walk right over top and there are lots of stairs going down really close to the base of the falls. Daddy, Zach, and Lisa went down a little bit of the way, but Joe, myself, Kim, David, and HB went almost as far down as you could go (there was a little bit more, but there was about 6 inches of water covering it). We put our wonderful Maid of the Mist souvenir ponchos back on and we still got drenched. The walk back up, however, was not nearly so nice as the walk down. It is a long way back up those stairs! It was quite a chilly night and Pastor Teachout got us all some hot chocolate, for which we were all very grateful.

Here are some photos!

You can sort of see the bridge that goes right over top.Here are some of the sights you can see looking down on it from the bridge.

One side, looking down the bigger drop of the falls.The other side, looking at the smaller drop of the falls.
I was just amazed at the difference between the almost glassy water and then, all of the sudden, it becomes this foam!




This is a picture of the stairs that we went down. We went from the pavilion/gazebo thing (toward the top of the picture) all the way down to that bigger flat spot at the very bottom and center of this picture.This was taken on our way back up.

~Heidi

Safe Arrival

I was able to talk to my family via Skype last night. Sounds like everything is going smoothly and they are having a great time on vacation! They arrived safely in Beaupre last Saturday night. On Sunday they were able to minister some in the service and they spent Monday getting the apartment finished for the girls. Sounded like today would be more of the same. Skype is great! Noelle and I are doing fine, but are definately missing family.

Sunday Night~Poutine

After the service, the Teachouts took us out for a taste of Quebec. We went to a restaurant and tried poutine. Poutine is basically fries and cheese curds with a special gravy over top. Val and I were about the only ones who really liked it, but everybody did try it. Some would eat it again, they just wouldn't ask for it; others would rather not, but they'd try to be polite.

Here is what it looks like.

~Heidi

Sunday~Services

There were three beside us and the Teachouts for Sunday school this morning. In the morning service, Daddy got to give his testimony with Pastor Teachout translating. For the evening service, I got to play a cello solo with Joe accompanying me, and Joe gave his testimony through Pastor Teachout's translating. There were six folks for the morning service, and ten for the evening service, if I'm remembering correctly.

We failed to get a picture of Dad in the morning, but got some of Heidi and Joe in the evening.

Pastor Teachout and Joe.

~Heidi

Saturday Night~We Arrived

We stopped at McDonald's for dinner on Saturday and noticed something interesting. The Canadian McDonald's all have little red maple leafs in the middle of the M on the signs and paper and cardboard products.

We arrived at the Teachout's church at about 11:00 P.M., which is where the apartment for Valerie and me is and it is also where the rest of the family stayed as well. The Teachouts live next door.

~Heidi

Saturday~The Maid of the Mist

The Maid of the Mist is a boat that takes you out to the bottom of the Falls. This picture is of us heading into the Maid of the Mist area. Many of us tried to get a picture of this. It was just interesting to see a rainbow, calm and peaceful, in the midst of all the thundering water and its motion.

Pictures really don't do it justice, but here are a few especially for those who can't and/or won't ever see the Niagara Falls in person. You just might notice a few blue ponchos. These were given partially for protection from the large amounts of water that would mist very heavily onto us and partially as souvenirs.

All the Maid of the Mist boats have both the American and Canadian flags up.

Daddy proudly displays his Maid of the Mist souvenir poncho. A picture of the wet, but delighted, bunch of us! (Beauty was not top priority for this picture, that's for sure - though those who had worn their hoods were much closer to dry than the rest of us!)

The Falls as seen from the road as we were driving away.

~Heidi