A Surprising Day!

 

Well when I woke up this morning little did I know I would be connecting up with family I didn't even know existed!!!

My cousin in Australia has been doing a lot of family research and was over here last year filling in bits she was unable to do online.

She also sent off for a DNA profile with My Heritage

Earlier this week she emailed me asking if I knew someone called Gail, who was a 3% match with her DNA.

Well I didn't know of anyone with that name, but we both agreed the pictures we found of her online ( she was a mayor so was easy to track down!) looked very familiar!

I managed to find her on Facebook and sent a message a day or two ago, with brief family history and wondering if we were related.

This morning she came back to me, and looking through the information I had, we discovered her granddad and my grandmother were siblings!

It appears he had lost contact with the family and his son (Gail's father) had actually been trying to trace family members very recently but without success!

As the morning unfolded and we started to exchange names of great uncles etc it became very exciting, particularly for Gail and her father.

They were quite overwhelmed and for Gail when she saw my photo, she said it was the first time she had seen pictures of someone who she looked like, other than her dad!

 

So, the morning went in a whirl of messages and picture posting!

I know my cousin in Australia is going to be in for a huge surprise when she opens her emails tomorrow morning!!

 

 

With the morning  (and part of the afternoon) spent on the family tree, there was just enough time to pop into town for one or two things....for me it was a trip to Clarks for some shoeboxes....I did feel a little guilty when I walked in to an empty store, with three assistants eager to sell me something, and all I wanted was to take something away for free!

I also felt a tad guilty when she said "that time of year again...shoebox appeal!"

The boxes are infact for family presents...our theme this year is "it must fit in a shoebox!"

 

The weather has been surprisingly lovely and I wish we had gone to the pumpkin patch today instead of the dreary day yesterday but nevermind, it would all have been a rush with this family thing going on.

 

Teen One wanted to clean her car so I suggested she took us to town at the same time, partly to help her black box score as it was a short journey.

However when we went to the jet wash there was already someone there and a car waiting, so we pulled up behind and of course switched off the engine....but then we had to turn it on again ( and switch it off ) to move it in place, then start it up again when we went to town....then when we came home...throw in an accidental stall and that makes five journeys as far as the black box is concerned!

I did suggest we push the car into place at the jet wash but Teen One thought that a little unnecessary!

Having checked her scoring just now, thankfully its all tens!!

 

So today has been a very unexpected and surprising day  indeed.