diff --git a/src/context.rs b/src/context.rs
index 5b3dbb3..8d167cb 100644
--- a/src/context.rs
+++ b/src/context.rs
@@ -2,12 +2,16 @@ use std::path::Path;
 
 use tera::{Map, Value};
 
+// FIXME: first processed entry in a map gets pushed to parent. see note below
 fn inner_merge<'a>(a: &mut Map<String, Value>, b: &'a Value) -> Option<Value> {
     match b {
         Value::Object(o) => {
             let mut map = Map::new();
             for (key, entry) in o.iter() {
+                println!("{key} {entry:?}");
                 let mut child_map = if a.contains_key(key) {
+                    // FIXME: this is probably the culprit. it doesn't pick up changes made during
+                    // this iteration
                     a[key]
                         .as_object()
                         .map(|m| m.to_owned())
@@ -15,6 +19,7 @@ fn inner_merge<'a>(a: &mut Map<String, Value>, b: &'a Value) -> Option<Value> {
                 } else {
                     Map::new()
                 };
+                println!("map {child_map:?}");
 
                 if let Some(value) = inner_merge(&mut child_map, entry) {
                     child_map.insert(key.into(), value);
@@ -23,6 +28,7 @@ fn inner_merge<'a>(a: &mut Map<String, Value>, b: &'a Value) -> Option<Value> {
                 map.extend(child_map);
             }
 
+            println!("final map {map:?}");
             Some(map.into())
         }
         value => Some(value.to_owned()),
@@ -40,7 +46,7 @@ impl Merge for tera::Context {
 
         if let Some(value) = inner_merge(map, &other.into_json()) {
             if let Ok(new_map) = tera::Context::from_value(value) {
-                self.extend(new_map)
+                self.extend(new_map);
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/functions.rs b/src/functions.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..f5534c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/functions.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+use std::collections::HashMap;
+use tera::{to_value, try_get_value, Map, Result, Tera, Value};
+
+pub fn values(value: &Value, _args: &HashMap<String, Value>) -> Result<Value> {
+    println!("value {value:?}");
+    let arr = try_get_value!("values", "value", Map<String, Value>, value)
+        .into_iter()
+        .map(|(_, x)| x)
+        .collect();
+
+    Ok(to_value::<Value>(arr)?)
+}
+
+pub fn register_functions(tera: &mut Tera) {
+    tera.register_filter("values", values);
+}
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index cb70c56..b4786aa 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
 pub mod config;
 pub mod context;
 mod file_path;
+pub mod functions;
 
 use config::{Config, Merge};
 use context::Context;
 use file_path::FilePath;
+use functions::register_functions;
 use roxy_core::error::Error;
 
 use roxy_markdown_parser::MarkdownParser;
@@ -80,6 +82,7 @@ fn context_from_meta_files<'a, T: AsRef<Path>>(
         let mut str = String::from_utf8(buf).map_err(handle_err)?;
         let toml: Table = toml::from_str(&mut str).map_err(handle_err)?;
 
+        println!("{:?}", &file_path.strip_root(path)?);
         context.insert(
             &file_path.strip_root(path)?,
             &tera::to_value(toml).map_err(handle_err)?,
@@ -123,6 +126,7 @@ fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
     });
 
     let mut context = context_from_meta_files(&meta, &file_path)?;
+    println!(":3 {context:?}\n");
 
     let theme = config.syntect.theme.unwrap_or(DEFAULT_THEME.to_string());
     let syntax_set = SyntaxSet::load_defaults_newlines();
@@ -156,6 +160,7 @@ fn main() -> Result<(), Box<dyn std::error::Error>> {
         }
 
         let mut tera = tera::Tera::default();
+        register_functions(&mut tera);
         let mut html = TeraParser::new(&mut tera, TeraParserOptions::default());
         html.add_context(context.to_inner());
         parser.push(&mut html);