Mary's Funeral

 We got up super early this morning to drive to Oklahoma for Mary's funeral (she passed away on Saturday, 10/21 at the age of 60 from congestive heart failure). I ended up driving, b/c Frank was so tired and hadn't slept well. We got to the funeral home about an hour before the funeral so we could talk w/ family and friends.

 Grannymom & her identical twin

 Frank & his oldest brother, Lynn, w/ Grampsy looking on proudly in the background.

 Even though this isn't the greatest pic, I HAD to get one of Grannymom & Grampsy w/ all of their kids.

Mary (oldest), Johnnie (adopted & 4th child), Frank (5th child), Lyla Lynn (3rd), Lynn (2nd) & his girlfriend Angel. The only child we were missing was Ben (6th child).

 Grampsy, his sister, and his brother (Hank).

 Some neat childhood pictures of Mary.

Frank & his parents are the only active members of the church in their family, so I was asked to give the opening prayer even though I'd never had the chance to meet Mary. Frank gave a wonderful talk & shared some fun childhood memories of Mary. He also said the closing prayer.

 The services were very nice & well done. After the services, the pallbearers loaded her casket into the Hurst & we followed them out to the cemetery.

 They weren't sure if the ground was going to be soggy & muddy, so they unloaded her casket under this pavilion so Frank could dedicate it & people could say their final goodbyes.

 It was determined that the ground wasn't too muddy or wet, so we went over to the actual graveside.

 Such a touching picture (pun not intended) of Frank & Grant being pallbearers.

 They also got to help lower her casket into the ground.

 Family & friends saying their final goodbyes as the tractor fills the gave back in w/ dirt. I've never stayed around long enough at a funeral to see this part of it. Look at Marissa's cute pregnant belly!

 I had to get one more picture of the kids w/ the parents since the one at the funeral home didn't turn out that great. It was so nice to meet so many of Frank's family for the first time. They are "salt of the Earth" type people & they reminded me a lot of my uncles.

 We said our goodbyes and then the kids squished into the back of the truck.

We were all starvin' Marvin since it was way past lunch time. So, we went to a local Chinese restaurant that Frank wanted me to try for lunch. It was good, but wasn't my favorite. It was nice to spend time w/ the 3 oldest kids (we felt so bad that we didn't have time to go get Julian & Mason). We dropped Marissa off and then headed back home.

I drove the whole way back, b/c Frank was so physically & emotionally exhausted. We got home, vegged out, had dinner, and then we all went to bed super early b/c we were so worn out from getting up early & from the emotions of the day.