AncestryDNA House Party

A few weeks ago, I applied to host an Ancestry.com DNA House Party. I thought it'd be so great to do the test with Hugh and see what his paternity lineage is.

We'll never know his paternal side, and due to how he was conceived, we'll never be able to tell him anything about his paternal side. Children wonder about this kind of thing, and so I thought I'd apply for the party with the hopes of being selected.

Well... I was selected! Hugh's DNA test came at the end of March and it was not the typical cheek swab that I was expecting. We had to have him fill up a container with spit!! Not an easy task with a 15 month old!!

It took about 35 minutes to get the vile filled with enough saliva! We mailed it to Ancestry.com and then a few days ago, I got an email saying that they received the sample.

So now we wait. And then on June 7th, we will announce to friends and family what the results were at the House Party! I'm eager to see what it says but not very hopeful that it'll be as specific as I'd like. 

I was looking online and reading blogs about this, and most people disagree with their findings and many said it was inaccurate. Without having anything to go on with his paternal side, we'll just have to hope that we get accurate info. We may choose to do another test later down the road, that's more specific, but for now, I'm hoping it'll give us a better idea of his ethnicity.

I want to be able to give him some information about where his roots are when he asks. I am so thankful to have an open adoption with his birth mom, and have already been asking her about her lineage and started a family tree with the information. It's interesting that Ancestry.com doesn't have an easier feature for creating a tree with an adopted child. It won't let us merge trees to create (what we like to call) an orchard.

No matter what the results are, I'm excited that we were picked and I am eager to hear anything that they were able to capture from his saliva.

Anyone want to guess what his paternal ethnicity is?

A Year of Gratitude #87

 

A Year of Gratitude #87: Keurig Vue House Party

I'm a member of House Party and I apply to host parties quite often. Some I get picked to host, and others I don't. Usually though, if I apply for two parties, I will get picked for one of the two.

I've hosted quite a few parties in the past-- Gerber, Velveeta, Philly Cream Cheese, Shutterfly, and now I'm hosting the Keurig Vue party on April 28th.

When I applied to host this one, I (as usual) had to answer a bunch of questions, one of them being, if I owened a K-Cup brewer (we do). I didn't know how the Vue was different, I just assumed it was a different name for the K-Cups.

I was wrong.

I was on Facebook this afternoon when I noticed that the House Party peeps made their selection of hosts and notified everyone who was selected. This party was different from any party that I've ever hosted. 

As soon as I checked my email, a timer popped up and it told me that I had exactly 30 minutes to log into the site, invite my people, and pick the date/times for the party. The clock was ticking away and there was something that said, "What if I don't complete the party registration in the time allotted?" The answer said that due to the popularity of this party, anyone not completing the registration in the time given, would lose their party, and another person would be selected in their place. YIKES!!

Fortunately, I was able to get my registration completed in time and I am now a host for this party!!

So I was curious about what's included in the party pack and when I looked, it said I'd be getting TWO party packs. HUH??? TWO??? I never get two... hmmmm... I read on and it said I'd get a bunch of coffee for the party (people are coming to try the different coffee flavors), some mugs, an apron, disposable cups for the party, napkins, peppermints for after drinking the coffee and then there's a separate party pack coming directly from Keurig. I'm getting the NEW Keurig Vue coffee system!!! 

This thing is AWESOME!!! It's like $250 at select Bed Bath & Beyond stores, and not on sale anywhere else until May!! I am so super duper excited!!! I can't believe we're going to get this amazing system for FREE!!!

So I am thankful and grateful for being selected as one of 1,000 people across the U.S. who will be hosting and getting this awesome new coffee brewing system!!