HUMAN INTEREST DNA kit leads Paris woman to family she didn’t know in Houston, Texas (and a road trip of course!)

By Karon Sinning

Most people are familiar with the DNA genealogy search companies such as Ancestry.com, etc. A few years ago, I was given a 23 and Me box DNA kit and to this day I still get notifications of new DNA relatives. By far the most interesting is a fourth cousin from Texas.

Born in 1984, Lisa is the same age as my second oldest daughter. Sadly, she’s suffering from a degenerative eye condition and at some point, will lose her vision She has so far beaten the odds and we pray this continues. She joined the DNA community to see if any other “relatives” suffered from the same problem. While I do not, it has been an immense privilege getting to know her and her family over the years.

Lisa’s love and care for children is something near and dear to my heart.

For years she was a foster mom to many children Eventually adopting her youngest daughter, a couple of years ago. I was thrilled to attend her daughter’s adoption ceremony via video Such a wonderful day!

Adoption is also something that is ingrained in my family as well Along with my sister, my two youngest daughters are also adopted. Was that in our DNA?? As well and like me, Lisa has a love of writing She is a published author.

Lisa lives in Houston, Texas and while I as in Florida for an extended time, it seemed like a good idea to finally travel to Texas and give this girl (woman) a hug. That’s exactly what I did! The first thing we did was hug, in the “pick up” lane at Houston (Hobby) airport. She has a lovely friend named Tish, who drove her to meet me and then whisked me off to Lisa’s place After a brief stop to pick up tacos, which were delicious, I finally met the rest of her family!

The family includes Jayla, Casey, Caleb, Madyson and her husband Jarvis. They were all very welcoming and I immediately felt like family Not to be missed, there are also three dogs Louis, Tiny and Dutchess, along with a big fluffy white cat named Nico

Sunday morning Lisa picked me up, and yes, she can still drive We toured areas around Houston, including Pearland, where I’m staying. Then we went to look at an area where Lisa would like to live, Meridiana Beautiful homes in an area with gated communities throughout the subdivision We stopped for a lovely lunch at Saltgrass Steakhouse.

We tried to pick up some groceries while out, but since this was Super Bowl Sunday, we couldn’t get anywhere near the store. She promptly ordered everything online for pickup later that day. In keeping with her love of children, Lisa is also “grandma” to a little 5-year-old girl, Amariah…for whom we did a little shopping.