~and so who am I anyways?~

And so this is me.  Kansas farm kid.  Teacher.  Wife and mother.  Daughter, sister, cousin, aunt, and grandmother.  A friend and a child of God above.  But I've always wondered.  Just who am I anyways?

For my birthday this year, Mike ordered an online DNA kit from a quite reputable company and later on today I will provide my 1/2 teaspoon of saliva and mail it off.  When the results come back in a couple of months, it will be quite interesting to see just what I am made of and how many cousins I have out there in this big yet ever shrinking world of ours.  I'm excited to learn more about myself and to pass that information down to my own three children.

I already know a great deal about my family history.  I am a combination of Scott and Brown blood, with both families providing a part of who the little baby girl born 62 years ago was to become.  My mother's side of the house came from London, England and northern Germany.  My father's people came from Scotland.  On mom's side, I have traced my lineage back to the 1700's when my great-great grandfather was a soldier in the war for independence from Great Britain.  I'm a daughter of the American Revolution and proud of that heritage.  (As a side note here, my mom's side of the family is spread way out in years.  Great-great grandfather Burch married my grandmother when he was in his mid-70's and she was only in her late 20's.  He lived long enough to become the father of my great-grandmother.)  The Browns were Quakers who lived in the heart of London, England.  They brought their family and their faith with them to America in the 1800's.  In recent few months I have learned much more about my father's family members and the results are pretty interesting to me.  I feel like I know a lot but the truth is that the more you learn, the more you realize that you truly know very little.

One of my goals to accomplish before I die is to be able to provide my children and their children an idea of our family heritage.  I hope to document as much as possible both in online research as well that the photographs that my mom passed on to me many years ago.  At the age of 62 now, I'm happy with where life has taken me but have the desire to find out so much more.  In the end, wouldn't it be great to answer the question?

Just who am I, anyways?