Susan was an interruption in life. In 1910, a farm needed boys. Her doting fathers attention brought jealousy and resentment from her mother and older brother. The struggle to win her mamas love drove Susan to work hard and be a good girl.

At the age of eighteen, Susan married Tom and faced a new set of difficult relationships and hard times. Faced with the Great Depression, Tom accepted the challenge of clearing fifteen acres of lodgepole pine in exchange for a free place to live. Through a subzero winter in a tent; the silent wall treatment of her husband; an abusive, threatening father-in-law; and acute poverty, Susan built her life into a strong bridge of faith. She longed for her bridge to span to the next generation. The greatest problem? Even after twelve years of marriage, there was no one in the next generation.