How on Earth did we get this Place?

We are really really fortunate to have been accepted to live in this apartment.  It is reasonably priced, 3 blocks from Scott's office, in the best residential part of Aachen.  It has amazing garden views on both sides of the home, and has a perfect little "prison" driveway with a gate, so my kids can't run into the street.  We are close to the University and it`s hospital, so we are in an ideal local.  The apartment is also really beautiful with a balcony and high cielings.

We looked for months and had a hard time getting accepted in an apartment.  Families with children are usually not such desireable tenants due to the noise.  All the better priced, larger apartments we found were taken so quickly that our application was probably not even considered.

So, we heard a great story from our Landlords on Sunday, which answered the question, "how did we get this apartment?"

Our Landlord was born right after WW II in the center of Germany, and as a baby, was orphaned.  He has no idea who his mother was or how she was killed.  Somehow he was taken to the priest in the area.  The priest asked the congregation for someone to take care of him.  But no one had any food.  The people were poor, hungry and the streets dark and gloomy.  No one wanted him or had any means to care for him.   But an old woman who had 4 grown children, had just lost her grown son in the war.  She longed to fill the hole in her heart from losing her son, and she offered to take him home and she raised him.  They were very hungry and very poor, but managed to survive. 

When he was about 5 years old, they recieved a package one day.  It was from a US organization named "CARE" who sent care packages.  There were not enough packages to go around, but families with small children were able to get one, so they recieved one. 

He said that he'll never forget when they opened it.  It had a little chocolate bar inside, a can of corned beef and a little can of powdered milk.  He had never tasted chocolate before.  He put his finger in his mouth and tasted the powdered milk on his finger and it tasted so sweet.  Even more than 50 years later, he said he can still remember the smell of the corned beef when they opened it.

When they needed to decide which tenants would take the apartment above them, Herr Timmer said they had 3 tenants who they were considering.  A female German doctor, a couple with one child, or us (with two children).  We were kind of the worst, right?  Anyone else would have chosen the female doctor.  She would be the quietest for sure!  But he said "We'll take the Americans, because they sent me a package when I was a little boy and I was hungry."

We feel really priviledged and grateful that they chose us.

Photos: