I have always loved puzzles; the more challenging the better!  I have a Masters degree in Environmental Science as well as a second masters in Geosciences. I work as an environmental educator, but at the end of the workday, I dive into my favorite past-time: helping people search for their biological family using DNA and traditional genealogical research. 

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It all started in the fall of 2015 when I purchased a DNA kit from Ancestry for my boyfriend, Cary, as a gift. He was adopted at 5 days old and knew nothing about his family. A few days after Christmas his DNA results came in. I spent the next several days looking at his closest three matches. Within a few days, I'd tracked down his biological father's family. With his birth father found, I was now back on the hunt for his biological mother.

 

Over the next several months, I become obsessed. I felt so close many times but then realized that I really wasn’t. As I learned more about how the DNA worked and how the match predictions varied from site to site, I realized that I was going to need a few better matches before I could find his mother. Unfortunately, he has no close matches and only a couple 4th cousin matches. 

 

By now, though, I was hooked! I wanted to helped someone else. I found a woman on a group called DNA Detectives on Facebook. She was searching for her birth father, had done her DNA but had no idea what to do with it. I contacted her to help….this was my first real case as a search angel! Within a few months, I'd narrowed in on her birth father and her suspected half-sister agreed to test. I was right! It was her half sister. I'd figured out her biological father by following the DNA.

 

By early 2016, I’d helped almost half a dozen people find their families. Most of what I do seems intuitive to me. Maybe because I’m a scientist by training OR maybe because I love hard-to-solve puzzles. Maybe it's a combination of both of those things. However, what seems like common sense and logical to me, tends to be totally overwhelming to most people. I get that! We all have our strengths and this just happens to be one of mine. 

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I'm excited to help you UNCOVER YOUR ROOTS and DISCOVER YOURSELF!

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