I'm giddy as a school girl over this birthday present y'all, I am going to learn about me!

I was adopted at the ripe old age of 10 days old, and precious little was told to my adoptive parents about my birth parents. So even though I have known all my life about being adopted, and a ton of my adoptive family's history, I have no idea about my own history, possible medical issues, family origins, etc.

Well, God bless her, my wife Donna had a dynamite idea for a birthday present for me this year, a DNA test from 23andMe.com. Now mind you I have dropped a hint or two in the past that I wanted to do that "DNA test thingy" one of these days. Apparently, my wife is much better at picking up on those hints than I am.

In a few weeks I'm going to find out way more than you can imagine through the DNA test I am holding above. Detailed family origin, as far back as they can track it from what I understand, genetic markers for possible health issues and what to watch out for, ethnicity reports and much more. Who knows, I could be a Native-American-Afro-European-Asian-Slav... or something like that.

I believe I have some Native American blood running through my veins, but of course, no idea what the details might be. This test will reveal those details and so much more.

Another report you get from this test is the "raw data", which can be uploaded into genealogy websites like Ancestry.com, and then can supposedly be used to locate matches with possible/probable blood relatives. Mind blown!

It's funny I guess when you grow up in a family with a birth mother and father, grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc, it's easy to take for granted a little thing called family history. That history is right there in front of you either written down, in pictures, videos or simply word of mouth. When you grow up completely ignorant of family history, I wouldn't call it a "hole in my soul" or anything that dramatic, just a natural curiosity that's been growing in me the older I get. Friday, August 4, 2017, I turn or turned 55 (depending on when you're reading this), and in about four or five weeks from now I will be getting a lot of answers, I can't wait. Might even share if you're interested.

Sounds fascinating doesn't it? If you would like to give this type of service a try, there are many companies out there. The one my wife chose was 23andMe, but do your own research, some seem to be better at tracing your family tree, others better at the medical stuff. Prices seem to range from $69 - $350, the one we ordered was $199, but here's a helpful hint for you, once you find the one you're interested in, look into ordering it from Amazon, we did and saved $10 in shipping charges. Hey, ten bucks is ten bucks you know.

My kids also contributed to this birthday present as well, after all, this isn't just my history.

Thanks family, I love you too!

Let's get started cards inside the box.