The process for AncestryDNA is fairly simple. You buy the package. It is shipped to you via mail in a small cardboard box. Inside is a tube with instructions. Spit into the tube until saliva reaches the line on the tube, screw on the top with the preservatives in it and shake. Place into the prepaid shipping container provided and drop in the mail. Easy peasy.

Ok… Remember to register online at Ancestry so that they know who you are and you can get your results. That is fairly simple using the numbers printed on the materials that were sent. All the numbers should be the same.
No eating or drinking at least 30 minutes beforehand. No lipstick or lip balms. I’d avoid kissing anyone either. You don’t need their DNA on you potentially messing up the results.

They say the amount of saliva needed is fairly small. Uh huh… remember being handed the cup at the doctor’s office and told they only needed a little amount of urine, but suddenly everything you drank that day has dried up faster than the Sahara Desert in 200 degree weather? Performance anxiety. I’m imagining pickles and lemons and anything that might get my mouth to produce spit. Finally was able to fill the tiny vial up to the line and screw on the cap. Have arthritis in your hands? That cap was not as easy to screw on as one might think. I thought I might break the vial trying to do it, but it finally went on tight enough to put the preservative into the vial. Shake, insert in mailing envelope, and off to the post office. And now we wait…

Got an email that they had received my DNA. And we wait…

Got another email that they were working on testing. And we wait…

I know that they say it can be 60 days or more after THEY receive the DNA to get the results, but I was rather anxious. I had some questions that I was hoping to find answers to and well, who doesn’t like unexpected surprises? I had pretty much resigned myself to waiting when… Yay! An email that my results are back! Actually, that was a lot quicker than they said. Mine only took about 4 weeks.

So, what do the results say? Well… I wait. I’ve gotten good at that. I want my husband to be home when I look at them. I admit I am rather emotional. Excited, nervous. What if the results are nothing and I wasted money? What if there is a huge surprise? Or more than one? What if? What if? What if? Working on my tendency to over think is my project for 2016.