He's Been Waiting for This Day

Pardon the blurry shot--we had the
flash turned off.

...and so have I.

Little Brother has wanted to be an altar server for oh, so long.  He was a toddler when Big Brother began altar-serving, and even though TheDad sat with him waaaaaaaaaay in the back of the church and I was up front with the musicians, I'd hear Little Brother at Consecration time:  "Big Brother's ringing the bells!"

At the end of Mass, the altar servers would process to the back of the church, where Father would leave the procession and the servers would turn the corner and go down the side aisle to the front, leave the cross in the sacristy and then proceed to put away the altar linens.  It wasn't long before Little Brother joined that parade, and the "Hat Lady" would allow him to put the finger towels into the laundry hamper in the sacristy.  She had her eye on him; no, not just the eye that watched over the altar servers and made sure they served reverently, but the one that paid attention to children in church who seemed to have more than the usual spark of interest.

Middle Sister has been serving for several years now--so many years that she's just about outgrown the longest altar-server robe the church has.  And Little Brother has wanted to serve.  He asked, at the beginning of this school year, only to be told that he should wait until fourth grade.  Well, third grade is over and this morning he came running down the stairs to see if he can be an altar server now.

"You can ask Father about that when we get to church," I told him, making no promises.

When we arrived, we saw that the pastor was not assigned to our Mass today--instead, it was the assistant, who thought it would be just fine if Little Brother served.  So Middle Sister helped him find a robe in the right size and showed him all the ropes, including how to carry the cross in the entrance procession.  He did quite well for his first day, and after the closing prayer Father H announced to everyone that it was Little Brother's first day as an altar server.

He's eager to do it again.  I'm grateful that Father H did not brush him off but instead encouraged and allowed him to serve.  And how cool is it that he got his "on the job training" from Middle Sister?

I think the "Hat Lady" would be proud.  I know I am.