This Was Before We Were Friends (China Part 2)

Before I go any further, I should probably give you a point of reference for who was with us.

Meet the FBO team. Left to right is Natalie, Me, Jenna, James, Blake, and Tori is the one in the front.

Besides Jenna being my bible study leader, none of us knew each other before meeting each other at the airport except for seeing each other from a distance at FBO. So this is our first photo together. AKA the time when we weren't really friends.

Let's be real, there was a lot of potential for this trip to be awkward.

Instead, we were incredibly blessed to become fast friends. We quickly figured out that everyone was extremely funny in his or her own way and brought something different to the trip. And just in case one of us didn't realize we were totally MFEO (made for each other), we climbed the Great Wall together, had a 10 hour train ride to bond, and regularly talked about the bathroom situation all before we got to camp.

Meet Tori. She's an occupational therapist in the making and the lightest packer I've ever met. Besides bonding over movie quotes (I knew I should have yelled "Yo Tie Dye Girl!" the first time we met) and having the same love language, Tori brought plenty of spunk to this trip. And we owe our trip to Disneyland to her since it was her idea. She was so wonderful with her two orphan boys as well as engaging with the other kids. She was always a source of encouragement and knew just when I needed a hug to get through. And she ate butter straight out of the packet on the plane ride home because she missed it so much. Just wanted everyone to know that little bit of information.

Meet Natalie. She's an English Education major, so naturally we bonded from the beginning. Our translators were roommates and stayed with our kids, so we got to spend extra time together. I would have gone absolutely crazy if it weren't for her stepping in when I needed help. Her patience with even the most difficult kids was so refreshing and I loved watching her love on them. She also has some mean vocal skills, which were put to good use karaoking with the translators one night. Not only that, but she can make the funniest noises I've ever heard (Chewbacca excited to go to Disney was my favorite). And she has the greatest poker face I've ever seen, granted this is coming from someone who wears her every emotion and thought on her face.

Meet James. He's in Health Administration but should really be majoring in Fatherhood. All of the female translators had a crush on him and our team affectionately referred to him as Dad of the Year. James likes to call women "doves" and write in his diary. Only not really. Maybe? Sometimes his humor was so dry it took us all an awkward silence and shifty eyes to catch on to his jokes. But he has such a kind heart and not only took care of his kids, but everyone else's. When my little girl developed a crush on him, he was sweet enough to sit with her at meals and tuck her into bed at night. And this all from the guy who had never changed a diaper before this week and still isn't comfortable talking about poop.

Meet Blake. The Pre-Med guy of the trip and the one who kept us all sane and relatively normal. Out of all of us loud-mouths, poor Blake didn't have a lot of chances to interject. But when he did... oh man. If nothing else we knew we were funny when we heard his giggles. And he is the most fun person to ride Disney rides with. His camp family seriously looked like a Chinese family vacation. Stinking precious. He was so good with his boys, even when one had to leave the movie theater screaming in terror at Madagascar. He not only took great care of his kids, but constantly checked on and encouraged his translator. Poor thing got violently ill while we were there, but he kept persevering like a champ. Plus, how else would we have kept tabs on James without him?

Meet Jenna. She's my Auburn mom and likes to call me special. But really, she is the reason I was even on the trip and has turned my flicker of interest in orphans into a full blown forest fire. There were moments on the trip that I looked at her and realized there was no way I would be able to navigate China without her. I am amazed that she even puts up with me, but I sure am thankful that she does! I needed her encouragement on the first day of camp when I was crying that I couldn't do it and I needed her strength when I was bawling my eyes out because I had to put my kids on the bus on the last day of camp. I'm so excited to learn under her again this year and spend time with her family.