Comment: kids in all cultures have a variety of names for parents, which often change as the children grow older, or revert in moments of endearment or tenderness. In English "Mommy" becomes "Mom", and may progress on to "Mother" or "Ma". In the Dutch dialect of the area where I grew up, "Mommy" was "Moeke" (pronounced Moo - kuh) and "Mom" was "Moe" (pronounced Moo; rhymes with "shoe"). "Mien Moe" then, is "my mom".

For the grandchildren, she was "Oma". For the great-grandchildren she was "Oma Oma", but to us, she would always be "Moe". Moe was born in 1902. She was girl number six and they were running out of names. No problem. Her father, my Opa, still had three brothers who hadn't had anyone named for them: Hebo, Jan and Klaas. So Moe got the "beautiful" name, Hebowina, Jantina, Klasina Blokzijl. If that were not bad enough, tradition had it that we name our first daughter after my mother, and such traditions aren't broken easily, so our Ineke is also called "Hebowina". (Sorry, Ineke.)

Our grandparents, Oma and Opa Blokzijl, lived in the small village of Ten Boer, in the province of Groningen, for most of their married life. They had a small house with a very large workshop. Opa was a carpenter and, later, also an architect. We all knew that house. When we grew up, our Tante Martha (Moe's sister) and Oom Geert lived there. Opa and Oma Blokzijl had twelve children, eight girls and four boys. One child died in infancy, but the others all survived to adulthood, a rare occurrence in that era of high infant mortality.

Moe would often tell me about those childhood years. She loved her mother who was a small, sweet woman. On the other hand, our Opa was a cold, strict man. He also had a drinking problem and Moe would often tell me, with tears in her eyes, how badly he treated their mother. "Mien Moeke", my mother would call her, lovingly. She always protected her children from him, but they were still hurt by what they saw and heard.

When most of the children were grown up, they moved to another village. Because of Opa's drinking, they were very poor. Most of the children were married at that time, but not Moe. When she came home on weekends, she found a very handsome boarder living there. His name was Henk de Jong and he came from the island of Terschelling. That handsome man really liked the peppy young lady and he asked her to go out for walks with him. The relationship went well, but, after a while, Moe got a little worried. She said to her mother,"I really like that Henk de Jong, but he doesn't talk much." Her mother replied, "Nou mien wicht (now my girl), doe kenst nooit beter man kriegn (you will never get a better man)." And so they got married on May 27, 1926.

They started out in the Groninger village of Veelerveen. Kees was born there and when they moved to Vlagtwedde, Truus came along. For the first six years they called me "Zusje", little sister. At that time Pa was chosen to be deacon in the church. He had to collect the offering money with one of those bags on a very long handle. He was very nervous, especially because he knew Moe was watching him. Just when he was collecting money close to one of the rich farmers' wives, he got into deep trouble. At the end of the handle, was her fancy hat! That was the first and last time my dad was deacon. Because it was just a new church, a plaque with the names of the first consistory members is hanging in the foyer. It includes Hendrik de Jong, lest we forget Pa was a deacon.

Moe really liked living in Vlagtwedde, so when Pa told her he was transferred to Meppel for a year, her first reaction was, "You can go there but I'm staying here !" That did not go over well with Pa, and in spite of Moe's determination, to Meppel we all went.

The story of the move was something else again. We were all in the big moving truck: Pa was in the front with the driver. Tante Dine, Moe, Kees and I were in the back. When we were about halfway, Moe saw smoke coming from the floor of the truck. She crawled to the front, over boxes and furniture and pounded on the window of the cab. The driver realized something was wrong and stopped the truck. Moe saw the fire coming up through the floorboards and yelled, "Dine spring er uut. " (Dine, jump out.) Tante Dine jumped right away and by that time Moe was in the back of the truck again, and there we went. She threw us out one by one to Tante Dine and then jumped herself. Later, Moe told me that, when Pa saw we were all OK, he said to her, "Doe bist een wijf uut duuzend."(You are a wife of a thousand.)

We did not have much furniture in Meppel, I think, but that was not so important. We were safe. One important thing happened while we lived in Meppel. I learned to walk!

After a year we moved back to Vlagtwedde. Moe was so happy. She had many friends there and also she could join her beloved choir again. Moe loved to sing. When we come home from school, we had only to listen where the psalm or hymn was coming from, to know where to find Moe.

My younger brother, Herman, was born in 1931. What a big baby he was: twelve pounds!

Moe often went to the city of Groningen to see her parents, Opa and Oma Blokzijl. Oma was very sick with diabetes. She died in the summer of 1933. I remember it well, because Pa took Kees and me to Terschelling. It had never happened before that we went to Terschelling with just Pa. Moe had to stay home with Herman who was just a baby.

At the funeral of Oma Blokzijl, Pa was in for a big shock. Opa needed a place to live and not one of the children was willing or able to take him in. At last, Moe said, "He can come home to live with me." Pa and Opa didn't get along very well and Pa did not agree with the decision. Opa didn't drink anymore, but he was a cantankerous old man. He was very strict with Kees and me. That caused much tension in our home. we had a big workshop behind our house, and, during the day, Opa would be working there on something. But during suppertime we were in for trouble. Whenever Opa thought we were disobedient (and that was often!), he would tap his knife or fork on the side of his plate, and did that set us straight! Both of us became really afraid of him and it did not take very long before Pa put his foot down and told Moe he had to leave that same weekend. He lived with Moe's older sister, but was never very happy. When I think about i t, it makes me sad. He must have been a very lonesome man.

We were very happy to be together with just our family again. To make it even better, Pa and Moe told us, "You are going to have a new little brother or sister."

A funny thing happened one day in July. In the village was a "kermis" (something like a carnival). Moe called us in and gave both Kees and me a dime. That was a lot of money to us in those days. To top it all of, she told us, 'You take care of each other and this afternoon you may go to the "kermis" for a couple of hours. Tante Betje will bring you home.' We were stunned. We had always been warned that the "kermis" was a sinful place and that we didn't belong there. We went and had a lot of fun, sin or not. When Tante Betje brought us home, she showed us....our new little brother Sense. Where Herman was all that time, I don't know. Maybe he just slept all afternoon. (That always stayed a favorite pastime of his.) Moe told the doctor, "You could have stayed home this time. After Herman, this one was so easy. We could have saved all that money." That was our mother!

When Sense was one year old, we moved to Winschoten. There we lived for the rest of our growing- up years. Moe was always there for us. I think our teachers were a little afraid of her. If she thought one of us was being treated unfairly she would go right to the principal or even the school board. On the other hand, when we had done something bad (that was more often the case than the former), she would send us right back to apologize to the teacher.

Moe was very strict and often we were a little afraid of her. When we grew up we played outside a lot. We had many games we played with the neighbourhood kids. None of the kids were called inside until Moe came outside and with a loud voice would call out, "Kees, Truus, Herman, Sense !" In five minutes all the neighbourhood kids were gone home. The other parents didn't even try, until we were inside.

It was around that time that .Pa had a near- miss of being in an accident with a train. Pa drove a big motor bike for his work. One morning, when it was still half dark, he went through a train crossing and was almost hit by the train. To give you an idea of how close a call it was - the train clipped his tail light. Pa just kept going, but it must have really scared him. When he came home that night, he hardly said a word. Pa was never a big talker so we didn't notice anything at first, but when it went on for three weeks, Moe was beside herself with worry. Things only got worse if she asked him what was wrong. At last, she could not bear it any more and she called our minister to come over. Moe told him, "He drives me crazy." Wisely the minister asked where Pa was working. He knew very well where it was but if he wanted to get Pa talking, he had to get him alone. Pa always worked outside and when he saw the minister coming he just kept on working, without saying a word. After a long time, he finally told the minister, "I have to tell you something. Three weeks ago, I was nearly killed ." Pa told him what had happened. "So", said the minister, " Let us thank God that He saved your life." Right there in the field, they did just that. The minister asked Pa about his work. That was exactly what Pa needed, and while Pa was talking, the tension broke. When Pa came home that night, he gave us all a hug and kiss, but it still took a couple of days before he could tell us.

Our father was born on the island of Terschelling. Pa loved his family and the island. Of all his brothers and sisters, he was the only one who did not come back to live on the island. But every summer we would spend our holidays there. We liked it a lot. The best part was when Pa would take us for long walks through the dunes to the beautiful North Sea beach. There Pa would start to talk. Could he tell stories! He told about the time when he was growing up, about shipwrecks, and about the times he and Oom Tjebbe would go out with a horse and wagon, to find the flotsam that would wash up on the beach, from the wrecked ships.

Moe didn't like Terschelling as much as we did. It was very hard for "outsiders" to be accepted into the small, close-knit community on the small island. With the dialect they spoke, it was not easy for our usually talkative mother to communicate. A big exception was Tante Trijn, the wife of oom Tjebbe. Tante Trijn was a little bit of an outsider too. She came from the east side of the small island and the others in the village came from the west. Pa told us that, in the years he was growing up, the two would never mix. There would be big fights if a boy from the east part would try to go out with a girl from the west.

Tante Trijn and Oom Tjebbe lived on the family farm. We always stayed there during our holidays. Did Tante Trijn ever like that, because Moe would do all the house-work. Tante Trijn could then work outside on the farm. We fared well with that arrangement. Tante Trijn was not the greatest cook. Some summers when we were there without Moe, we had beans that had been cooked for hours on end, five times a week.

The islanders seldom left the island, but one day, Oom Tjebbe and Tante Trijn were going to visit us. Moe picked them up from the train station in Groningen. It was the first time Oom Tjebbe had ever been on a train and when they got out of the train, at that busy station, he just stood there perplexed. Moe and Tante Trijn saw him standing there just over-awed. They were two-of-a -kind, both loving to tease, so they hid behind a wall. Poor Oom Tjebbe, turned around and when he didn't see them, yelled, "Trijn, Wine, waar bin jimme (where are you) ?" Moe told me later he was shaking and close to tears. Moe could sometimes tease without realizing how she could hurt others and us with it.

In 1943, we were in for a big surprise. Moe was pregnant. Sense, the youngest was already nine. For us, teenagers, the idea took some getting used to. But when first Jaap, and two years later, Hennie were born, did we love those two little ones! For Pa and Moe it was a blessing that they had these two. They were still quite young when we left for Canada and with Jaap and Hennie, it seemed as if they still had a second family. For us, it was hard not seeing these two grow up and they must have missed their big brothers and sister too.

Moe had some Jewish blood in her. Oma Blokzijl was half Jewish. She often showed that in her ability to wheel and deal. When we were young, the baker, the milkman, and the greengrocer (vegetable salesman) would come door to door. They all knew my mother. She always tried to bring down the prices. The greengrocer would leave our house until last and then they would start. He wanted to get rid of his stock and Moe would try to get it as cheaply as possible. We were often embarrassed when she would try to do the same in stores. One time when we were in Spain (the year Nelli's David was born) we were at a market and Moe saw a nice blanket she wanted to buy for David. It was too expensive for Moe, and there she started. Even though she couldn't speak a word of Spanish, they dickered back and forth: that much; not that much. At last Moe tried the old trick of walking away, pretending to lose interest. But then she was in for a shock. In pure, unadulterated Groninger dialect, the salesman called out, "Wolst veur niks hebb'n" (You want it for nothing). Pa who was watching the whole thing from a distance, burst out laughing. It was just so comical to watch Moe's stunned expression. In the end, Moe got her blanket.

Moe and Pa made many trips to Canada and we all have our own memories of those times. After Pa had a serious stroke in 1978, Moe came three times by herself. It was a very difficult time for her. Pa was in a nursing home and Moe tried to visit him every day.

We , children, tried to be there for them as much as possible. We have many good memories of that time and had a lot of respect for the way Moe took care of Pa. She would often sing with him. How he loved that! Pa passed away in 1982.

Moe lived in a nice home, "Zuiderflat" in the east part of Groningen. From her window she could see the church where they were married. We have so many good memories of that time. She loved to listen to music and would often sing along. The wall behind her was full of pictures of us. "Those are all my children", she would tell people who came to visit. We think about her there and we can see her sitting in front of the window, in Pa's chair.

The last years were difficult for her. Her health was not good and she would often fall. I stayed with her a few weeks every year and all the others would visit her too. But she was weary, and at night when I prayed with her, she would tell me, "Will you ask the Lord to take me Home. I am so tired." The Lord did that on February 10, 1995. He took her Home to be with her Lord and Saviour. We often picture her there, singing all the psalms and hymns she loved so much.

This is a letter Moe wrote a letter to us, which we found after she had died.

My last farewell on this earth to my beloved children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.:

The Lord has decided to take me Home. Now I go again to Pa. How shall it be to dwell there always, at the end of a long struggle; to greet the saints of old there and then to cheer and sing eternally around the throne of god. And so, Pa and I have preceded you. For how long, we don't know. Only God knows.

I am so thankful that we have children who trust in the Lord and I feel so blessed.

Despite our different natures, Pa and I had a good marriage. We learned from each other ...we learned to accept each other's differences. When evening came and we went to bed, we prayed hand in hand. Pa always prayed out loud. Yes, children, God had made it very well with us.

It was disappointing to see all our children go to Canada, but there you were able to work in the Kingdom of God to His honour. And let us not forget that, because of your departure, we could make beautiful trips to Canada.

We were thankful that Jaap came back from Canada to take care of us and to visit. So we still had grandchildren and a daughter-in-law here.

And so life flies by quickly. Beloved children, keep looking to Jesus because Jesus accepts sinners.

"Tot ziens" in heaven where a multitude of redeemed children sing before God's throne.

Every day my prayer is:

Lord we come to You,
Hear our prayer.
Forgive our sins
Cleanse our hearts

See us stand before you
Sinful and tainted
O Lord, touch us.
We want to be Yours.
Amen

I wish all of you God's indispensable blessing, and all of you, the best, good health and peace amongst each other.

Your loving mother, Oma and Oma Oma