This is the story of how I found five half siblings through ancestry DNA. It’s actually a really crazy story. Our dad was a traveling missionary, and each place he went, he made some bad choices with women, and— I’m messing with you. Could you tell? The girls at Dutch Bros in Pismo Beach certainly couldn’t. Love them tho. (Shoutout to Jackson and Kayla!)

I just got back from the most amazing road trip of my life with the most amazing people. And yes, we convinced many people that we were all half siblings; the craziest part being everyone we told actually believed us! In all reality though, this trip was a whirlwind, and it got pulled together really fast. The idea got brought up a couple months ago when Maika first started her Thursday morning Bible study, and the 6 of us were all for it, but it didn’t really get brought back up again until 3 days before we had planned to leave. So we booked the campground, planned our itinerary, and scrounged together all the items we needed at the very last minute.

I knew all the people who were going very vaguely from Bible study, and they were Maika’s co-workers, and she had nothing but good things to say about each of them, but I always get a little nervous to REALLY meet new people. What if they’re cooler than me? What if they don’t like One Direction? WHAT IF THEY THINK I’M LAME?? First off, they were all definitely cooler than me, but it was one of the few instances that I was actually okay with it. And they could definitely get down to some old 1D bops. Exhibit A:

As for if they thought I was lame? I can’t say. Maybe they did, maybe they didn’t. BUT what I do know is they can’t deny it was an AMAZING trip. I might do a blog post where I go more in depth about what we actually did (Or I’ll just link my Big Sur video that I’m really stoked about), but for now, I thought it’d be fun to introduce my ancestry DNA sibs. I hope you all love them as much as I do!

For the most part, at Bible study, Janson is pretty serious. Not like alllll the time, but for the most part, he would be wholly focused on what we’d be going over. So I never really saw the chaotic prankster side I occasionally heard about from others. For example, he’s the kind of person who does the thing where you tap someone’s shoulder on the opposite side of where you are to see if they look. THE WHOLE CAR RIDE HOME FROM CHICK-FIL-A (when he wasn’t angering other people in their cars by pranking them) he was doing this to me. Absolute pandemonium. I hated it. I was laughing, but I hated it. The amount of videos I acquired on this trip of Janson doing something completely wild is UP THERE: climbing trees, taking off running only to pop out of a redwood and scare us five minutes later, pretending to jump off a bridge with Maika, braiding her hair so she looks like a character in Polar Express, airdropping us random photos, his impressive rap skills, the list goes on. And while Janson was crazy in all the ways I had not yet experienced prior to us heading up north, he also had a deeper side that was shown too. Our first night there, we got some pretty bad firewood, and for the life of us, the fire would not start. Janson probably tried to get it going for something close to an hour and a half. AN HOUR AND A HALF! That’s a long time to try and do something when all the factors are working against you. He also was the one who would take a majority of our group photos, so that way no one had to be left out of the picture. He’s the guy I think we all looked to when things were not going as planned: the fire situation, when the car would get stuck, what poison oak and poison ivy looked like, etc. He’s the kind of person everyone wants to be friends with. Oh yeah, and did I mention he’s single, ladies? I mean he dropped his phone number to my cousin, so if you’re a good Christian girl looking for a good Christian boy, hit him up! (May take 5-6 business days for him to get back to you.)

Out of everyone who was on this trip, Jazzy intimidated me the most. She was cool. Her outfits were cool. Her Bible was cool (and extremely used which is really cool from a Christian standpoint.) Everything about her was COOL. And she’s one of those girls where she doesn’t even have to try really hard to be cool, she just is! So, besides the surface level things, what’s so cool about Jazzy? One of the best parts about her is that she’s the mom friend. She takes care of the people around her, she drove us the entire time without fail, and she could probably pack everything she owns into her car. She always has good things to say about people, never anything negative, and the way she could get hype to a song about a peanut is beyond me. What really surprised me about Jazzy though, was the way she was subtly funny. Upon first meeting her, I definitely didn’t see it, but she’s like this ball of sunshine that makes random noises and spits out the Hamilton soundtrack like she’s Lin Manuel Miranda himself. She was the one who decided to drive to San Francisco without telling ⅓ of our group. She was the one who started riding a bicycle with training wheels still on it, around Walmart. She was the one who upon only getting two hours of sleep, drove all of us up to Pismo Beach early the next morning without fail. And did I mention she likes to READ? Jazzy and I are a match made in Heaven. Books are our love language. I also love the way she calls everyone friend; like no one could NOT be her friend. And might I add, she had a pillow pet as her pillow for the whole trip. IF THAT’S NOT THE EPITOME OF COOL THEN I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS. She might’ve been the orphan of our ancestry DNA family, but she was definitely the heart of our trip!

The funniest part of mine and Madi’s blooming friendship was the fact that we met way before we met. Months ago, I was in the Chick-fil-a drive thru, and she was taking my order, and I realized there was a spider in my car. Me being me, I was absolutely losing my mind, completely ballistic, all logic out the door trying to deal with this spider situation, and in the midst of all this chaos, I almost hit the car in front of me because I took my foot off the brake. Madi being the kindest person ever, said nothing about me being a freak. Said nothing about the crazy girl in the drive thru. Said nothing unkind while I was losing my mind. And that folks, is how Madi and I unknowingly met. Oh, the drama! Madi has the warmest presence that’s practically addicting. I would seriously spend all of my time with her if I could get an ounce of the energy she possesses to make others feel instantly comfortable around her. She’s the most trusting soul, and she’s always looking for ways to help out the ones around her. When we went to Walmart she got this string to make friendship bracelets for all of us, and then she proceeded to do my hair with it, and seriously guys, when I tell you I want her as my hair stylist forever, I mean it. My hair wrap just came out last night and I want another immediately! The thing that surprised me the most about Madi though, is the fact that she’s a really good actor. Madi is the kind of person who cannot lie to anyone, and the fact that she was our selling point for our ancestry DNA story most of the time, was insane to me. It went a little something like this:

*bicker bicker bicker*

Janson from the hood: “I will shoot you.”

Maika: “Guys, what would dad think?”

*dramatic pause*

Madi: “He left.”

*DRAMA*

Literally Oscar-award WORTHY. So, so funny. And of course, when I have kids, they will be spending a majority of their time with Madi queen. Her heart for children overwhelms me, and is something I lack insurmountably. A true icon in the midst of average folk like me!

OH BOY OH BOY! MAIKA PARKS I LOVE YOUR FACE! Maika was the only one I knew really well before we left for our trip because she’s my bestie bae, shawty bae boo thang. She literally lights up the room. Everything about her is what people should look for in a friend: she’s funny, she’ll listen to you, she’ll support you, she always tries to do what’s right, and she can literally make up songs about ANYTHING. She brought her ukelele with us, and she was the lead writer of our hit song “Chokin’ On A Peanut,” which will definitely be on Apple Music very soon. One of Maika’s best qualities though, is that she brings people together. She’s SO good at it! She loves to host breakfasts, and pumpkin carving nights in October, and movie nights, and I mean, she was the one who started the Bible study that made this trip happen. She’s a film junkie which immediately makes her 10x cooler than the average person, and SHE HAS A BLOG TOO! It’s really good and you should go read it directly after this. I could brag about Maika Parks for days on end, and feel no guilt or shame for it because she’s the best kind of person. It’s so rare to find someone who’s as balanced as she is in humor, and also in truly and deeply feeling things. I love that we can both just film random vlogs and videos together, and not be worried about what other people think because of it, and not only is she my best friend, but she’s also my Chick-fil-a plug, so that’s pretty cool too. I love you LONG TIME bestie bae.

Last but not least… Michael! If I could tell God back when He was creating me, who I wanted my creative side to emulate, it would be Michael Metzler. He’s low key, but also extremely high key, a creative genius. And I think he’ll deny that statement, but I won’t let him, because it’s true. The sass this guy possesses was unbeknownst to me. When we were driving back from San Francisco at like 3AM, he woke up, said something sassy to Jazzy, and went back to sleep shortly after. It was amazing. My favorite thing about Michael though, is how shamelessly he uses his camera. I’m a gal who loves to film things 100%, but sometimes, I get awkward about like, you know, actually pulling out my camera to record. Literally the most basic task. But I aspire to be like that one day: getting the angles, making things look cool in slo-mo, filming just because it feels wrong for me not to. When we got back home, Michael had crafted a Big Sur video himself of our trip, and it was SO SO GOOD. I watched it like 6 times, and then proceeded to stalk his entire YouTube page because like I said earlier: CREATIVE GENIUS! When we were hiking Pfeiffer National Park, this is where I truly started to see just how cool Michael really is. He hopped a fence to get INTO the waterfall. And he was stoked about it which in return made me super stoked. Him and Janson kept cracking me up because they’d keep getting these mad photo angles for each other, and I loved it because I think oftentimes a lot of guys get weird about things like that, but not them. It was seriously the best thing ever to watch. Janson would be like: “Okay Michael, tilt your head 90°— yep, that’s it! Ah man, that’s so sick! Look, it looks like the waterfall is going through your ear!” And then Michael would be like: “Wait, Janson, stay there. Go back to that, really quick… GOT IT!” Michael, I’m convinced you’re the next Steven Spielberg, and you’re an insanely talented creator.

I never expected to get as close to all of you as I did! If anything, I hope you guys read this and know that I mean every word written! I’m a strong believer that every person you meet changes your life somehow, and you’ve all definitely changed mine! I can't wait for our next Ancestry DNA trip (Oregon?)! And like my sweatshirt from Lonely Ghost says: “I LOVE YOU SAY IT BACK”

Check out our family story!
Thanks Ancestry!

I Found My Half Siblings: Meet The Family

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