Valerie's Visit

Mr. G. left for his home town in Norway two weeks ago, and Miss Elisabeth's dear daughter came to stay and make our home a Female Only residence for 10 days.

On the wall of the hallway hang three pictures from Ecuador that I absolutely love. All three are taken with a camera which the renowned photographer Cornell Capa gave to Elisabeth to use during her stay with the Aucas. One is a close-up of Elisabeth, taken presumably by firelight or lamplight. In the background and foreground you can just make out the faces of several Quichua Indians, but between them, in focus is just Elisabeth; her intent, beautiful face (Jim once described it in his journals as a face "with all it's deep intensity of longing"), pensively gazing into space--and I imagine her to be lost in a moment of reverie while the quiet bustle of the service or gathering she is part of slips by unnoticed around her. The other two pictures have a naked little blond sprite in them. In the first she is seen from behind walking down a shallow riverbed hand-in-hand with an equally naked Auca man, his stocky dark body contrasting to her thin, white one. (Neither have even a hint of self consciousness about them; why should they? A savage and a child share an equal disregard for clothing.) He carries three 8 ft. spears in one hand. This is one of the men who killed Valerie's father when she was only 10 months old. This is the man, who when she first saw him, she asked of her mother, "Why can't he be my Daddy?" The other picture is of Valerie and the same fellow (Kimo? Dawa? I forget his name) sitting together on a tree trunk hunched in interest over a picture page of some sort. Val, with tousled white-blonde hair, and one finger pointing knowingly at the page is obviously instructing the man about whatever mysteries the picture page holds.

ALL that to say, (You probably thought that I had derailed my train of thought but I had a plan for it, mwaha!) ...When I met the little dimpled blonde girl two weeks ago she was my mother's age and rather less blonde than when she was 4. But still with the same dimples, still with her father Jim's eyes, and the beautiful face I love looking at in pictures from when she was a child. I couldn't help but just sorta stare at her face and try to morph the 4 yr. old into the grown woman she had become. She has 8 children of her own now, mostly grown, and it was a delightful two weeks that she and her mother had together. I felt blessed, and perhaps a little guilty, to be in the midst of it. Given the tenderness with which she treated her mother, the wisdom of her words, and the love for her family and her Lord... I think that my hero, Jim Elliot, would be proud of his little girl.

And now for a few photos of Nantucket, where we stayed with friends of Valerie's for two days. It was beautiful; absolutely quaint and picturesque but... does it really warrant being the most expensive vacation site in the country? I'm a bit doubtful on that one.

~The Giant Shell of Nantucket~

(Well at least that's one way to reduce sun glare.)

An evening with friends was spent watching YouTube videos and munching on popcorn. :)

Oh, the laughter! Valerie's friends are very sweet! And I love all the facial expressions.

Miss Elisabeth, Val and I. Not in that order.

I'm always entranced by sparkling water!!

A parting view of Nantucket from the ferry

Fun on the ferry- how's that for a good lookin' lady?