THE STORY LADY

40 years in Holland

If you've linked to this blog through http://www.davidkoblish.org/ Welcome. We wanted to set up a blog to give you a more intimate view of our lives and the music ministry God has placed us in through "Under His Wings". This is my first time blogging and it's really fun. It gives me a chance to share some of the pictures that I love taking. So I hope you come back often!



Once upon a time....a Dutch boy and a Dutch girl left Holland to settle in America.
They were my Dad's father and mother.

To celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary, David and I spent 4 wonderful days exploring this quaint, quirky, little country.

Bikes are everywhere in Holland and they have the right of way too! I would often hear the bike bells ringing...warning me to "GET OUT OF THEIR WAY".

After spending a couple of days enjoying the sights around Amsterdam...walking, sipping coffee, avoiding the bikers, shopping and eating at our favorite "Pannekoeken" restaurant (it's right next to Anne Frank's house and they know us by now!), we rented a car to search out the area and find the town where my grandfather and grandmother came from.

The little village my grandparents came from is just outside of the town of Wolvega. This is the Wolvega train depot and I wonder if this is the station where my grandparents left for the "New World"?



Sonnega (the "g" sounds like you have something stuck in your throat!) is the name of my grandparents village. Their farm is long gone now... just like they are, but it was great to see the area where they lived. I wonder what they would think if they knew that generations down the line their grandchildren and greatgrandchildren were still coming back to this homeplace trying to connect with their roots?

I searched the graveyards, looking for my great-grandfathers grave...no luck. I did come across a gravestone with the last name of "Krediet" on it. ( my maiden name)... could it possibly be a relative?

The graveyards were beautiful, but we were there around dusk which made them a little spooky too! Many of the graves were so old I couldn't make out who the stone was for. I was a little disappointed at first because I was almost certain that one particular family owned the whole cemetery. I saw their name on the top of every tombstone. I assumed their "family" name was "Rustplaats". David finally pointed out that "Rustplaats" is the Dutch word for "Resting Place" Oooops...

I noticed that the neat and tidy little paths around the cemetery were filled with white sand and shells. I remember a story about my grandmother scattering white sand around the floors in her house. This is an old Dutch tradition. Sometimes the Dutch women would make beautiful designs in the sand with the handle of their broomstick. At the end of the week, the women would sweep up the sand and scrub and clean the floors until they were spotless. Then they would sprinkle the floor once again with fresh, white sand. I picked up a few of the shells off the path to bring home as a remembrance.

While we were in Holland they were having major rains so we never went anywhere without our umbrellas. This little cemetery had been doused with rain for weeks and weeks and the ground was very soggy. As I was standing over the gravestones, the ground began to sink and all of a sudden my imagination kicked in and I could just feel an old, crooked, bony, decayed hand reaching up through the soil to grab my leg. That was enough for me...I told David...we're outta there!

We found this old church in Sonnega and I wondered if this was the church where my grandparents worshiped? The churches in Holland are so magnificent. The only problem is that no one is around and they're all locked up tight.









David loves to go through old churches wherever we are and there's nothing better than to sit in the pew in an old sanctuary and listen as David belts out a beautiful, sacred hymn. It's a touch of heaven!!!!!




There isn't an end to this story yet...or should I say "too yet". We want to go back to Holland very soon. We fell in love with our homeland. We fell in love with the people. So many of them look like me and so the connection was instant. The only thing we don't want to do is to go back until after July. After watching our money and scrimping and saving because the dollar is so bad against the euro, we found out that the airport tax to get out of the country was over $200.00 for the two of us. Many people are flying out of other airports in Belgium and Germany to get around this tax. This has impacted the Amsterdam airport. We heard that the airport is planning on doing away with the airport tax after July...so anytime after July...I highly recommend a visit to this delightful, windy and windmill filled country!


vaarwel