Veteran's Day Assembly

For two months, Sophia's class had been practicing for their chapel.
Each child had a speaking part and it required a lot of practice to get these four year old's where they needed to be.
So chapel day was upon us and Sophia's class was going to be headlining the Veteran's Day Chapel.

As an extra special treat, my cousin Christi came to visit and so Sophia had another person in the crowd cheering her on...

All decked out in her hat, Sophia was raring and ready to go.
I wasn't sure what to expect from her because she typically shies away from having any attention focused on her.
At the beginning, she was all smiles...

The kids led us through the Pledge of Allegiance...

Sophia's teacher spoke...

There was a beautiful slideshow featuring the kids and pictures of veterans.

This was most definitely my favorite...

Then the kids began to line up to say their speaking parts.
I was nervous for Sophia because she was the first to speak...

As she approached the microphone, the situation finally hit her and she clammed up...

It was what I had been afraid of from the beginning.
After some unsuccessful persuasion, the little girl behind Sophia said her line,
"We enjoy a lot of Freedom."

The rest of the kids said their parts without a hitch.
I could tell Sophia was upset...

But she made me proud.
She didn't cry or get mad.
She made it through the end of the assembly...

I knew talking in front of a crowd was going to be hard.
I knew being the first one to speak was going to be even harder.
This is, after all, the kid who would cry when people would sing "Happy Birthday" to her because she hated the extra attention.

Chin up sweet girl.
You gave it your all and that is all we can ask for.