HEROS

I pulled my last post off. It was nice to be able to have let it out and I appreciate the support I received from so many. It's nice to know we're not alone:) Anyhow, I just wanted to pull it off so that I didn't have to see it when I came on here. Enough with the negativity, right?! Onward, upward.

My kids have been into Shrek the past couple weeks. They asked me to download some songs from the movie onto our iPod. One such song has a very dear place in my heart. You may be familiar with it:

"Holding Out for a Hero"

the Bonnie Tyler version.

Rock out! A few years ago I was asked, along with two other women, to be in charge of a camp for our church for a little over 300 girls ages 12 to about 16. We chose the theme "HEROS". Yes, I know that it's spelled wrong. That's because it was an acronym for "Help Everyone Return to Our Savior." This drove one of the three of us nuts as she is a teacher and not spelling heroes correctly and leaving out one of the letters from the phrase for the acronym about put her over the edge-love you Sue. Anyhow, on one of the nights, each group was to prepare a skit with the theme in mind. We were hoping for funny with a meaning, you know. The girls all did great, but the grand finale was provided by us leaders along with the president of the organization and one of her counselors as our backup dancers. At the last minute we asked the cooks to join us because they were so hilarious. The cooks were our backup singers.

We had a truck deliver us in front of the stage, we had a spotlight, and of course we were in costume. The three of us main leaders were in vinyl super hero costumes that we had made, pink, orange and yellow. (Not all mixed together, each of us only wore one) The president and her counselor and the cooks had costumes, too, carefully made from left over vinyl, black garbage sacks and duct tape. They looked hot.

The Bonnie Tyler version of the song has this awesome ooh-ing and instrumental beginning that we dramatically entered the stage during. We had choreographed the whole thing and changed the words to fit our theme. It was soooo fun!! My favorite memories of camping with church throughout my life always include the skit night.

So, my kids love listening to this song because of Shrek and every time I hear it I can instantly see all of us on stage. Our awesome president had even written on her face, with marker, the word "HEROS". Except she did it looking in the mirror so it was backwards and so were the letters. I about peed my pants laughing when she came out of the bathroom to show us her ensemble. She is the coolest lady ever.

And so, before I go, I ask you:

Who is your hero? Do they help you return to our Savior, Jesus Christ? And I don't just mean at the end of life, I mean every day. Do you seek after heroes who leave you with a desire to return to our Savior with your daily thoughts and actions? I have a sign on my fridge from that camp that says "HEROS" inside the superman shape. Every time I see it I remember that camp. Some days it makes me roll my eyes because I feel guilty/annoyed that my actions are not aligned with that goal. Some days it makes me laugh and strike a pose. Every day, though, even if it's for just a second I reflect on wether or not I'm "returning" to my Savior.

And just in case you didn't quite get the visual with my written descriptions:

Click on this last picture to enlarge to see "HERO" written backwards on the face of the lady all the way to the right:)