So much going on. @_@

Despite the reason for my visit, it's been a very pleasant trip so far. Mert's memorial service was beautiful. There wasn't a dry eye in the place. I sang "How Great Thou Art" with my sisters, the first three verses with piano accompany and the fourth a capella.

Now we've all been singing together since I can remember. We'll call it 20+ years since I know Moose is in her early 20s now, and she's the baby. Our voices naturally harmonize. The biggest challenge was that my voice is no longer in the first soprano to high tenor range, so we had to sing it through several times to make sure we could still adjust and harmonize.

I didn't know many of the people at the service, and those who came up, generally were complimenting our singing. I was thankful for that, because it allowed me to thank them and move on.

Most of my time in Texas has been spent bouncing between friends and family during the day and helping Mom in the evenings. I've gotten to spend more time with some of the step-siblings which has been great, and I got to finally see Ashbet face to face, which was also great.

And Sunday evening, I think, I got Steve on skype with Mom and that was awesome. It was interesting watching Mom, because I think we share many mannerisms.

I still want to squeeze in more time with family and friends before I leave but pretty much the only day left that's free is Monday so I don't know how that's gonna go. I fly back very early Wednesday morning.

I've meant to take lots of photos but have been a little scatter-brained. I've had like three doll meetups and not taken a single photo.

There was also the birth of my youngest nephew, born to one of my stepbrothers and his wife. They gave him the middle name Merton, after Mert.

There may or may not be photos up later this week.