'Modern Family' Search: Extreme Diversity Runs Through the Velasco Clan
Members from one Los Angeles family come from about every continent.
Feb. 16, 2011— -- Meet one clan that covers just about every continent.
They are the Velascos from Los Angeles, and their recipe for happiness is having their whole melting pot of a family drop in for Sunday dinner.
"My mom is Chinese, my brother-in-law is African-American, my husband is white Hawaiian. And my other brother-in-law is Filipino," said Valerie Artis.
Every week, it's quite the smorgasbord.
"And we celebrate together it doesn't matter what color we are or who we are," said Artis' aunt, Rebecca Lopez. "It's because we are family."
"My family is a total melting pot," said Artis. "I love being part of our family with all the different cultures because we learn so much from each other."
Artis wrote into "Good Morning America" about her big extended modern family.
"GMA" has been conducting a search for real-life modern families -- families whose lives may mirror those of the sitcom's characters.
Jesus Velasco, the family patriarch, came to America 100 years ago from Mexico. Velasco is Rebecca's grandfather and Valerie's great grandfather.
Four generations later, here is his family.
And like little Manny Delgado on the show whose roots are Colombian, the Velasco's celebrate their heritage and culture.. But again...you'll need a seating chart.
"Sometimes I have to list all the ethnicities in my head in order to make sure that I represent them at the dinner table," said Lopez. "I've learned a lot of Chinese dishes from my sister in law Jim Fun. I've learned how to do stir fry. I've learned how to cook chicken and fish the Chinese way which is very different from what I'm used to doing."
Their weekly dinner is a celebration of who they all are - there are Chinese dumplings, special Filipino rice, sushi and of course who could forget the sweet Hawaiian bread.
This real modern family is technically modern too.
Technology brings long distance hugs and kisses and even dinner.
On Sunday, Valerie Artis' sister and niece were also at the table, skyped in from North Carolina.
In our search across America for real modern families, there were hundreds of entries that celebrated diversity.
Families of many nationalities, ethnicity and color, told "GMA" about the new modern American family - one big beautiful mosaic.
"Intermarrying 30 years ago was unheard of," said Lopez. "and my nieces and nephews and my own children have married because they have fallen in love with the person not because of their religion or race."
The Velasco clan see a little of themselves in all three families on modern family.
"With 'Modern Family,' they come together at the end of the day. They could fight and bicker and they still love each other at the end of the day and that's like us," said Artis. "I'm just proud of every single one of my sisters and my brother in laws. "We're the new America basically and it's not just us I know that there's lot of other families out there like us."