Big brother

I love this picture. My dad took it when he was visiting us in Alabama. This is the day after Tritan got baptized. He is in his new white shirt, holding his new scriptures, the first one out the door, ready to go to church. The other two boys are right behind him, watching to see what Tritan will do, and ready to follow.

I love this picture because without a word, it shows Tritan's quiet strength, his resolve to do what is right, and to be an example even when he is all alone. Yet as he looks back, he sees his siblings right behind him, following and supporting him.

This weekend Tritan's homework was to create a cereal box that was all about astronauts. They had to come up with a cereal and then make bullet points on the back summarizing facts about the astronaut, and educational games to play while eating your cereal. Like I said, this school district is very creative. Tritan worked on it diligently all weekend long. At the end of the weekend, Tritan's masterpiece was complete, but I also noticed two other "cereal boxes" on the table.

Athena and Apollo thought Tritan's homework looked like so much fun, they decided to make their own cereal boxes. Why would they do their own version of someone else's homework? OK the idea itself is pretty neat, but it's also because Tritan just does his homework, without whining or a whole lot of nagging. He tries his best, and he always puts his own little spin on it--so it looks more like fun than homework.

This weekend was also the Primary program, where the kids sing and have speaking parts. I remember how excited I was when Tritan was finally old enough to participate. It seemed like it took forever for him to go from birth to Sunbeams. Now, he's 12, and too old to participate. It seems like time flew from Sunbeams to YM. But he gave his first sacrament talk a couple of weeks ago and he passes the sacrament every Sunday. I see him up there at the sacrament table, still a little nervous even after all these weeks, still a little unsure. I see him squirm in his seat during testimony meeting, wanting to go up, but not wanting to, too--and how the "wanting to" part of him almost always wins out. And then I see the rest of the kids singing and saying their parts for the Primary program. Athena wrote out her one minute talk, and said parts for kids that were absent. Paris sings expressively and Apollo stretches up tall so we can see him and tries so hard to follow along. Each of them is different. Each of them puts their own spin on their big brother's example. But there is no doubt in my mind that they are watching his quiet example, watching to see what he will do, and ready to follow.