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.