Ancestors - Genes - Screen Time

So how much screen time can you spend searching for match information from the AncestryDNA results?

Of course that only counts the time that I am using my phone.  I do not have a log for this computer or the computer at work.  Needless to say - the answer is A WHOLE BUNCH!!!

I have a whole new admiration for the people who develop family trees and complete ancestral research.  The activity is incredibly time consuming and the number of rabbit trails one can go down cannot even be counted.  There are also numerous websites that can help - but there are also websites that require a credit card to get serious information.  But without all of these resources I would not have learned - what I have learned!

It all began with a DNA kit.  But actually it all began in 1964.  If you have read my work - you know that I have always known I was adopted.  There is much to say on that but not really needed.  I can say that I have forever wanted to know more.  I never did anything with that desire - except in 2006 - I did request information from Hope Cottage.  I wrote about that in the very first blog post from March of 2011 - the post that explains the name of the blog ....

That part of the journey was just fine until - this past Christmas and my nephew and his mom started talking about their AncestryDNA experience and told me the kits were on sale!!!  So I ordered.  Then submitted.  Then waited.

It took forever for the results - or at least forever to me.  However results I do have.

I can see 2 distinct families (so DNA from both my birth mother and my birth father has been tested). For clarification - Kerry and I have referred to Side A and Side B.  It is so much easier than mislabeling and assuming.  Last weekend we were on a roll and I had a bunch of sticky notes everywhere (Kerry says it reminded him of the Bruce Almighty movie when he has the prayer requests from everyone ... ) and I had to come up with a better idea.

Fortunately I have lots of office supplies and stuff in my home.  The large marker board has been put to great use!!!

Later in the week - when I was absolutely driving myself nuts (and maybe Kerry too) - I wanted to find scriptures.  Scriptures I could claim and read to calm the crazy going on in my head.

This one is a card that I have placed on the board.

That verse truly says it all.  It is the verse I wrote on the marker board.  God's grace.

I have always been fascinated by ancestors and the ability to figure histories behind families.  Kerry's mother has detailed information about her family - particularly her father's family.  The Harold William Schmidt family is from Mason Texas.  I have walked pastures, visited cemeteries, read books, and listened to many conversations to learn about Kerry's family.  We have old pictures and still enjoy learning about the Schmidt family and their journeys to America.

Mason County is very much a part of our lives.  This cookbook has so many recipes from Kerry's ancestors.

So now - I have an ancestral story to tell.  I am a descendant of Burgess Witt who was born in 1764 and enlisted in the Revolutionary War in 1781.  His father was Hezekiah Witt and Burgess Witt is probably my great, great, great, great grandfather.  I am not even sure if that is exactly how that is even noted.  But the idea is the same - from Hezekiah Witt - down the generations - one can get to me!

The exact location in the lineage is still yet to be determined.  AncestryDNA indicates that I have one potential 1st/2nd cousin and one 2nd cousin that I know are in the Witt family.  There are many, many 3rd, 4th, and so on.  (as you can tell by the background of the scripture photo).  Kerry and I have spent a whole bunch of screen time looking at dates, names, relationships, etc...  And I have my list of places to visit when I make that first trip to the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee as a descendant of Hezekiah Witt.

I cannot even describe how that makes me feel.  It is the best feeling ever (for me).

I know for many being attached to a particular space isn't important.  Perhaps you have never wondered where you were from - wondered where you ancestors walked - but this 1964 girl has always wondered.  And now I have many answers.  I may not have all the answers - but I have much more than I did just one week ago!

Burgess & Elizabeth Witt's gravesites in the Burgess Witt Cemetery in Coker Creek, Monroe County, Tennessee

I so hope my birth family realizes that I am so proud to be a part of their family.  I hope that makes sense to them and they don't think I am trying to be something I am not.  I get it.  I am not a Witt.  But I am a descendant - whatever that may mean to me or anyone else.

Yet not I, but the grace of God within me.  God is so gracious and because of God I am here today.  As The Message version of that verse states "I am not about to let his grace go to waste."  

I love my birth parents - I have always been thankful for them - I never let God's grace go to waste in that part of my life.  I cannot even imagine the emotion involved with birthing and leaving a baby.  And surely God's grace has been a sustaining part of their lives too.  

I can remember playing the word search game in grade school (seriously I remember playing this with a friend).  I can remember picking a song ...

___  ___  ___  ___  ___     ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___  ___     ___  ___  ___  ___

S                                          M                                                                R

Smoky Mountain rain, it keeps on fallin'

I keep on callin' her name

Smoky Mountain rain, I'll keep on searchin'

I can't go on hurtin' this way

She's somewhere in the Smoky Mountain rain.

Such a great song .....

Ronnie Milsap Smoky Mountain Rain - YouTube

More to come - I gotta figure out that other side!!!!  I am so loving this journey!

Always, May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14.

Let's Drive 55

Do you remember the Drive 55 campaign?  I am not even sure why I do or if it is even real but it seems to be rolling around in my head.

This guy turned 55 last month with one that turned 4!

K5 and K4 at her birthday celebration.

This girl left 55 this month.

Sarah & Cheryl (Sarah left 55 .... I am not quite there yet ...)

Both are 2 of my most favorite people on the planet.

We celebrated K4's birthday in our favorite place.  We have been going to Las Vegas for his birthday since 1998.

Bit ironic to notice this posting in the casinos - we have certainly found our way to the desert for a long time!

For us Vegas is also about family and hanging out with his brother and our sister in law.  We have so much fun and this year certainly did not disappoint.

Isn't this sandwich amazing from Robert Irvine's in Vegas.

Luxor - the first place we stayed!  This year we just left our donation.

Getting ready for dinner at Piero's!!!  The most amazing place - Come to find out we have pretty cool connections because we sat at the Owner's Table!  Seriously Russell made the reservations for us for K4's birthday.  We had a wonderful time and the wine & food were amazing.  It wasn't until the end of the meal that we figured out just how special we were!  

That experience at Piero's was so much fun.  I loved what the Wine Director said to us ...

How did you get in here?

I am thinking she hasn't said that very often.  I suspect that most of the time she knows the guests in the room that is set aside for Las Vegas locals.   

It did not bother me at all that she asked.  I found it absolutely hilarious and so much fun and a story I will simply never forget!!!

I wonder though - are there people that ever feel that way in our churches?  Who all gets the:

How did you get in here? question.

The homeless.

The young.

The democrat.

The republican.

The girl.

The boy.

The gay man.

The gay woman.

The transgender woman.

The transgender man.

The person who looks different than the rest in the crowd.

The wealthy.

The poor.

Do we ever wonder if our Jesus can really be the Jesus for each of them?  I honestly don't think we go that far - because we believe that we are right.  We believe that our set up is THE set up.  We believe that ultimately unless those listed above fit our mold that just maybe they really won't get in here.  And if for some crazy reason they end up in our churches - we can convert them.  We can make sure they are meeting the qualifications for OUR church.

Our preacher challenged us this week to be "Jesus all the time".  

What in the world does it mean to be "Jesus all the time"?????

Sometimes I think we forget.  

Her birthday was so much fun......

Me, Sarah, Janean, & Nancy

Sarah & Nancy live in Dallas - Janean lives in Mississippi.  And you know where I live!  We had the best time having Sarah's birthday dinner in Jacksboro!  Our food was amazing.  Sarah and I have been friends since junior high.  She was my best friend at one point in time and then for about 30 years - I vanished.

I am pretty sure I vanished in part because I quit being Jesus and life gets really - really busy.  I could have felt like I did not fit in her world - and  I am quite sure she wasn't even sure about my world at all.  Not one bit.  Even though we were the best of friends in high school - our worlds were really quite different.

Except we are really quite the same.

Both adopted.

Both loved basketball.

Both love horses (okay Sarah loves horses - I just think they are really pretty and I love the horse races)

Both have lost one parent.

Both have a deep sense of purpose.

Both love.

I am so thankful that Sarah is back in this crazy life of mine.  Or maybe I am thankful to be in Sarah's life.  Never again will I vanish.  Because if I vanish - I am the one that misses out.

We really don't have to have everything in common to love.  We don't have to completely understand the other person to just be Jesus when we are in their presence.  Why do we think we have to agree - or have to believe exactly the same thing to really be friends?  In reality how boring life would be without people who are different than me.  

The challenge is worth accepting.  

At the end of that wonderful 55th birthday trip to Las Vegas - the most amazing event occurred on the plane ride home.  If you follow me on social media you have heard me mention it several times.  

He sat beside us.  Introduced himself.  I realized pretty quickly I had little in common...

He wasn't adopted.

He did not play basketball.

He is a GM at a department store - I hate to shop.

His parents are alive.

He isn't from Texas!

But he does have a deep sense of purpose and he certainly knows how to love.  

He recognized the potential for friends (or hopefully not rude Texans) when he sat by us.  K4 told him about the lake - we talked about other unique places to see in our part of this world.  Then he asked what book I was reading.  After I shared the title ... 

Then he asked - What led up to this?  or maybe he asked How did you get here?

It has certainly been a journey for me and while I know that even the person that I was would have enjoyed meeting and talking to him on a plane years ago; the person today viewed that encounter as a divine intervention.  A moment when I believed that God was working actively in my life - the first question the preacher asked last week.

Do you believe that God is actively working in your life?

Challenge:  Talk (Be) Jesus all the time.

At the end of the journey - me & Erich - the GM from Nordstrom's

More on our 3 hour conversation on My Inhabit Grace Blog.

Always, May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14.