Learn from the past When my great-great-great-grandfathers arrived in...

Learn from the past

When my great-great-great-grandfathers arrived in Saskatchewan, Canada, they had nothing but some raw, untamed land.

There were very few trees on the Great Canadian Plains, so they lived in tents until they built a house out of grass, dirt, and sticks called a soddie.

They lived in that house for seven years and had their first three children there. The whole extended family lived like that in their own soddies until they could afford to import enough wood and fixtures for a cabin.

It was cold, dirty, dark, and difficult. In the winter, the snow was 20 feet high, burying the house. Blizzards would last for up to 3 months; leaving the house during them would kill you. They built a whole civilization out of nothing.

They were tough people. They were patient people. And they were determined to not just survive but to raise their children right.

By the next generation, they were very wealthy and owned stores and farms. All because they were willing to suffer initially and build a family under harder conditions than you and I could even imagine.

Get married young, be poor if you have to, have children—figure it out. Grow and build together like our ancestors did.