Dear Reader:

Well…I finally did it! My Ancestry DNA Test Kit arrived Wednesday afternoon and yesterday morning I got up and went straight to the kit to get started. (I would have done it Wednesday night but I kept munching away and you have to wait 30 minutes after eating or drinking….even chewing gum… to do the DNA test.)

It costs $99 (can get it directly from Amazon) and mine arrived in two days. The Ya’s can attest that I have been talking about wanting to  do this for a long time….probably over a year. But ten months ago…I put my money where my mouth is.

Each month I would add ten dollars to my second checking account…quite painless and this month I finally reached my goal of an extra hundred dollars to spare. I was ready to see what the past looks like….going back… back… into my ancestral home sites.

What we realize when we start tracing our ancestry is that we are all citizens of the world. Our DNA will show up in countries we might not even recognize or begin to pronounce.

It takes 6-8 weeks to hear back….but I am so excited about learning more about my family and its different cultural influences throughout hundreds of years…because all of them added their DNA to make little ole’ me. I will share the results when I get them.

I am going to add a most interesting link to the blog today. Ancestry.com is now working with an international lineage research program to enable even more information to become available.

In this five-minute clip….several young people are asked about their lineage and everyone is very proud of the country (ies) (patriotic) they think are the most dominant in their family genealogy. They are, also, asked what countries/cultures would they rather not be associated with through heredity….amazing results are delivered back to them two weeks later. (Well worth the five minutes!)

THE DNA JOURNEY

momondo – The DNA Journey from YouTube – YouTube

Like one young girl said, following the results, if everyone in the world could be privy to the information they received she felt like it would quickly break down country barriers, racist innuendos, and intolerance of other people and different cultural beliefs. We, literally, are all world citizens….connected together by humanity, genes, chromosomes, and fate.  (And love, if we would just make it so instead of hatred!)

The Ancestry.com DNA Kit is very easy to use….the whole process took me maybe 20 minutes. You have to go on-line and register your name and  number (given to you in the box) and then you “spit” awhile into a vial until you reach a certain line drawn on the tube. (I didn’t realize I am a bubble spitter…it took me a few seconds longer to fill my vial up because you can’t count bubbles as saliva.) You switch tops, the second has a solution in it that mixes with your spit….you screw it on tightly and put it in a special sealed bag inside a box with postage paid. Viola…done!

So until tomorrow….“We, truly are “One in the Spirit”…if we keep our spirit open to all our brothers and sisters.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Yesterday I went to Mt. Pleasant to watch Eva Cate perform at the finale program to their camp this past week….American Girl Doll Camp. She and “Gracie” had a ball! They had all made masks of animals ….each camper got to choose which one. When we saw Eva Cate had made an elephant mask….I thought, Eva Cate must really like elephants since she was one in the kindergarten end-of- the-year play.

It wasn’t until we got home that I asked about it… she told me she liked elephants because of the Christmas Eve story, last year, that I told at church about the mother/baby elephant stuck on the train tracks on Christmas Eve. The whole town turned out to move the rail car with them in it off the tracks in time not to be hit by the next freight train. (And because elephant starts with “E” just like her name.)

I teared up. I had no idea that Eva Cate was taking in the story that well, especially amid all the excitement of the evening. You just never know what little ones are sponging in their minds and hearts. *She received the “Little Miss Sunshine” award for having a smile on her face every day.

Eva Cate couldn’t see well enough to dance because she thought she needed to keep the mask on which required both hands to prevent it from falling off..

Like Katie Perry sang quite loudly…”She was STRONG”! Eva Cate might not have had the “eye of a tiger” but the eye of an elephant…a blind one perhaps.

Jakie kept me entertained, before we left to go see Eva Cate perform by performing himself….new dance moves for Mr. Jake!

*Upon my arrival yesterday morning… this was the first time I heard Jake calling out “Boo Boo” as I got out of the car. Don’t know how much the heart can take….love it.

*Anne and I decided that someone must have put a big invisible dome over Summerville for our lack of rain the past few weeks …until it finally happened yesterday aftrnoon. I was and am so thrilled with the rain….a break from watering…Hallelujah….what’s a little wind compared to magnificent rain. (I also have a pretty big compilation of  large pine tree limbs out by the road now…nature’s summer cleaning!) * Big Red is fine….got “Boo’s Blessings” back up on the brick and all is well.