The Country Home we love and adore in Germany...

Some of you may have heard about Georg's families country home in Lagershausen, Germany. It is about an hour south of Hannover and a 2 1/2 hours drive from where his parent's live in Diepholz which is in North West Germany, close to Hamburg. My parent's have been there with us when we went to meet Georg's family just before we got engaged last summer.

The home is where Mama grew up as a girl and that either her grandfather (Friedrich Macke) or great-grandfather (Ernst Friedrich Gottlieb Macke) built in 1900. Their land has been in the family even longer, the lot next door is where the original home stood before a fire burnt it to the ground. This home was there in the 1800's or really even earlier The Macke line we have been able to trace back to 1598. They have since sold the land to their friends of many years who run a dairy farm which is next door. They wanted to build a home close to the farm and the Suhren's made it possible for them to do this a few years ago. I believe it was Mama's grandfather that was a wealthy trader/merchant. He owned much land in the area and when many families of the town came upon hard times he purchased their land to help them get by. He was really the only one in the situation to do so. This is a charming little village in Germany, most have never heard of and when you search it nothing really comes up, but I love it so very much. There is a beautiful church right across the street from the house, you can see in this photo.

Mama's father Otto built an addition on the home early 1980's and this is the place we stayed when we were here in 2007. The Suhren's lived in the home from the time Inge and Reiner were married in 1969 except while they were living abroad. Their oldest, my sister-in-law Anne was born here in 1970 as was, Meike, Miriam, Inga, and Holger Otto Georg. They moved to Diepholz when Georg was about 5 years old in 1986, and have rented parts of the home since then to various renters.

The home was being rented by a family when just two months before they were going to move out a fire broke out in the second story kitchen. It was quite a shock to all of us. The Suhren's had just found a new family who was going to move in right as soon as it was available, they had just shown the place to them and left to go back to Diepholz when the fire started that evening. They weren't notified until the next morning when Mama was the only one home. She only happened to be home because she wasn't feeling well. The rest of the family had gone to church. The phone connection was lost and all Mama heard was the house is burnt down. She figured it was the whole home.

Anyway, I wanted to post pictures that the town posted of the fire crew and the home as well as the original and earliest photo we have of the home. It has a facade that is covering the original traditional woodwork and brick of the home until it is restored. Georg and I both hope to see this done some day. The latest on the home is that it was an electrical cause in the second story kitchen, unfortunately the renters did not have renter's insurance and lost much in the fire and water damage. We lost a lot too. Water often does more than smoke and fire. Luckily, Insurance covers mostly all of what needs to be done. They have been working on it and it hopefully soon should be done for the family to move in August. This home just has a lot of meaning and special significance for us. It is incredible to me that they still have such a jem in the family from generations ago. It is our hope, though it may be a far out there dream to live in the home someday and restore it to it's original beauty. Then the home can be there for the family. We may seek whatever willingness and expertise any of you may have to come for Holiday in Germany to help us to do so someday! Think of it as a This Old House project or a Trading Spaces project among dear family and friends. We will provide the residence for all to stay and Georg is the best tour guide of Germany there is. I love to dream of this and hope that someday, somehow this will be possible. I know it is possible. I hope you all enjoy this story, I just find these sort of things fascinating. When I was at my dear friend Rachel and Jena's place for a get together with the gals I worked with at the Entheos expeditionary school I told of this story and already got an offer from Rachel to come help us decorate and work on the place. I am going to take her up on that! Their place is adorable thanks to her and her sweet mother Melanie and Jena and her mother.

This is what the town looks like and the original and traditional look of the home. There is also a beautiful brick underneath. The town was historically a farming area, and is surrounded by many many fields and forests. In Germany homes are not spread around anywhere, they are in a village, town setup, keeping the beauty of the area and fields.

This is the stone that dates Lagershausen back to 1141 A.D. The photo was taken when we were there in December 2007. This is a view in the Winter outside of Lagershausen with Mama, Papa and I. See how incredible and beautiful it is in the Spring and Summer just outside of the village Georg took these photos.