I am a Database Administrator with a Bachelor of Science in Database Management and a master's in psychology. My husband and I are pastors of a small church where I am also the worship leader.

I never considered that some of my deepest yearnings in life would be explained through my findings and research on this ancestral journey. I have a friend who has a doctorate in homeopathic medicine who has studied the possibility of our DNA carrying the memories of our ancestors.

My husband and I are quite involved in our community. I am the president of the Rotary Club in our city, and he is the president of our city's Chamber of Commerce and a city commissioner.

Discovering that our ancestors were also community builders (Watertown and Germantown for me, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, Mexico for him) is exciting to both of us.

I’ve also discovered that I have ancestors who not only raised horses but owned a plantation, which may explain my desire to be near horses, and my love for large Victorian homes and farm houses with rich, dark, wood trim and thick, carved molded woodwork and baroque frames. When I lived in Nashville for a few years, I often visited the plantations to soak in the atmosphere of it all. My husband and I are finishing the renovation of an 1891 two-story farm house with a large wraparound porch. Coincidence?

However, I cannot find the explanation for the singing and the drama part of me. My first cousin (1x removed), Diane (Quick), through my Great Grandma Gail Quick (Cash) has it, too--I know because she organized us to "perform" at every family gathering. The need to sing has bubbled out of me since I was a little girl, so much that I often dreamed of performing before I really knew I could sing.

My sister reminded me that Grandma Quick was a great orator and recited poems and stories from memory a mile long, but I don't know if she liked to sing.

My dad plays the drums, and my son picked that up and plays in a band and has excelled with his abilities as a drummer, so perhaps we have other musical talent in the family of which I am unaware.

This journey is exciting. Just like my Great Grandma Quick, also a taxidermist, did with her hundreds of quilts over the years, we are piecing together a masterpiece with our contributions to this world tree.