ROTFL (Are those the right letters?)

In the midst of the "work" that we did while in China, we definitely had lots of time for laughter. Anita and I are lucky that Rowland didn't leave us in China or at least lock us out of the apartment on several occasions - and no alcohol was even involved! We laughed more over those eleven days than I remember laughing in a long time. I doubt seriously that China will grant Anita and me visas at the same time!!

Anita and I in One of Our Constant Photo Op Poses

We definitely were not laughing at the Chinese people, and most of the time, we weren't laughing at the other people in the group. We just laughed at each other, making stupid jokes on a continual basis.

Anita in Her Quite Fashionable Hat at the Great Wall

Since Rowland, Carson, Anita, and I were staying in a small apartment, often Galen and Shaun would come over to hang out as well. The bathroom was RIGHT THERE so that everyone watching TV or talking in the den could hear the person in the bathroom tinkling. Although there was a fan, the odor from turning on the fan made it something we preferred not to use - even to drown out the noise.

One afternoon, we were all hanging out, and one of us (we'll call her "Anita") had to go tinkle. She made a joke, asking me to create a diversion so that all of the men in the den wouldn't hear her. Being the amazing friend that I am, I jumped into the middle of the den and in my best cheerleader voice, asked all of the guys to join me in "If You're Happy and You Know It." Now, the truly hysterical part, you will have to picture in your mind. Galen, Shaun, Carson, and sometimes Rowland sang along with me and even did the hand motions. I kept having to encourage them as they would begin to drag at the end of each verse. They hung in there, though, finally completing the song as I jumped up and down with my hands in the air "Woo Hoo-ing" them! As I was standing my the bathroom door, I could hear Anita falling off the toilet in laughter! Finally, Rowland said in a less than enthusiastic voice, "That was so that we wouldn't hear her using the bathroom, right?" So I'm 43 going on 16, and Anita's 39 going on 17, but those men DID participate, so how old does that make them??????

The Guys Trying to Get As Far Away from Us As Possible

Another hysterical thing that happened was one evening when I was hanging out with one of the unnamed people in the group. We were sitting on a bench in the courtyard when all of a sudden, I felt the bench move and looked underneath it, expecting to see an animal that was underneath. The person sitting with me was falling off the bench in laughter when I came up from under the bench. Turns out, the "animal" under the bench was actually a silent, non-smelling toot that rumbled the bench! Now, anyone who knows me will tell you that I don't laugh at fart or burp jokes, and I don't approve of discussing bodily functions, but I laughed until I cried and haven't stopped yet!

One of the funniest and yet un-funniest things that happened was while we were at the orphanage in the volunteer housing. Anita and I had a room to ourselves with two full-size beds. As we went to get into bed, I saw a HUGE albino lizard (or gecco or salamander or maybe even a shark) climbing on the wall above my bed. It quickly skirted behind the air conditioning unit on the wall. Now, I'm not afraid of a little lizard, and water bugs are just a common household occurrence in Arkansas, but I don't know anything about lizard-looking animals in China. Do they bite? Will their venom kill you while you sleep? Do they leap? As Anita got out her camera waiting for the perfect photo opp, I went in and awakened two of the Chinese girls who were staying in the next room.

One of the sweet girls was just as afraid as me while the other decided that Anita and I were hallucinating. She shoved paper behind the air unit, tapped on it, and shone the camera light behind it. Her determination is that we had imagined the creature. She kept saying in her very best English, "Are you SURE? Are you absolutely SURE you saw something? Are you definitely SURE?" After a while, I began to doubt that we were even in China and decided that the whole thing was one big hallucination. She did reassure us that IF there were an albino lizard in our room, and she was certain that there wasn't, it wouldn't hurt us. She explained that China was full of these harmless creatures and left us for her own bedroom. Anita and I looked at each other, and before a word was spoken, knew that it was going to be a "spooning" night for us in her bed across the room from the imaginary lizard!

Our Chinese Friends Trying to Help While Anita Takes Pictures Under the Unit to Try to Find the Lizard

Although there were SO many funny times, one of my favorites was that each morning Carson and Rowland would get up at 4:30 a.m., and Carson would sit in the den of the tiny apartment playing the guitar. Poor Anita was awakened EVERY morning at 4:30 to the theme from "The Office" being played by my precious son. He even learned a couple of new tunes that he tried out on her early in the morning, but she never seemed to like his repertoire! Finally, one day while Rowland and I were napping, she determined that she was going to keep Carson awake so that he'd sleep at night. Each time he tried to fall asleep, she'd wake him up again. Over and over, she'd awaken him until she eventually quit trying. Sure enough, he was up at 4:30 the next morning. Sad thing is that Ms. Anita seems to have a problem with forgiveness and is still plotting her revenge on Mr. Carson!!

Carson Practicing His Morning Wake-Up Song While Watching the Office

One thing that I was definitely reminded of while in China is that God is a God of laughter!! And I'm pretty sure that He was laughing along with us - or more likely, AT us!!

Rowland "Riding" an Exercise Saddle

The McDonald's Delivery Guy

Silly Americans at Hard Rock Cafe, Beijing