This Is The Day... Vel's graduation concert

All the hoo-ha and anticipation finally led up to this day. We were all so excited; changing Velouria, making sure her hair was all in place, putting on make-up for her (only to realise later that our enthusiasm was uncalled for as their teachers actually tied her hair and applied make-up all over again backstage).

After handing her over to her form teacher, we all milled into the concert hall and were all chatting and laughing, snapping our cameras and watching the Powerpoint slideshow (showcasing photos from activities that the students were involved in) over and over and over again. We were all straining our necks to see if anything was going to come out from the side of the stage.

Finally, at 5.30pm on the dot, the MC (a horrible one at that, kept getting all the names wrong) came on stage and went through the usual pleasantries. This was followed by a thank you speech from the Director of Grace House, Ms Isabel Ng, and the Head of Children Ministry of Grace AOG (can't remember her name but she was quite a character though - 'I love children and the children love me' is a line I'm going to remember for a looooong time).

Then came the graduation of the K2 kids. Their entrance could rival any banquet first dish presentation, with all the fanfare and marching. What really touched us was that Ms Isabel Ng actually prayed for the children after they were all presented their certs.

Then the concert proper began. The first item was of course with Velouria's group singing 'It's A School Day'. It was quite a mess (but a cute one) with all the kids more interested in identifying their family and friends in the audience. It was a good preview for the next few items coming up as the audience (us included) lapped it all up and clamoured for more (parents were all rushing to the front to get pictures of their kids).

There were more items in between but I think what caught everyone's attention were the Playgroup kids. These were children between the ages of 2 & 3 who were not eligible to go to N1 yet. It was a joy to see some of them running all over the stage (much to the teachers' dismay), some just froze and forgot what they were supposed to do, while others just freaked out and cried. It was a blast!

Then Velouria's group came out again. They were decked out in beach gear, with the girls in a fake hula grass skirt made from raffia and plastic flowers. This time they did a very reggae rendition of 'See The Works Of The Lord'.

But what topped it all was the finale item when ALL the kids came out and sang 'This Is The Day'. I believe this was the one that the kids trained really hard for as all of them were screaming out all the words at the top of their lungs (even for the Mandarin version!).

In the end, though we were all famished we all left smiling, satisfied that all the wait was worth it. This Is The Day indeed...