Laughing 'til we cry!

I wish you could have been with us on the train the other night!  It really was hilarious!  The train was FULL...so that meant Martha and Ian were both sitting on my lap!  In order to help them stay occupied, I started singing with them.  We were singing in Spanish, and it is so funny, yet so precious to hear Martha singing away in Spanish.  Naturally Ian follows her example!  So we were singing, and the two ladies standing in front of us, got tickled at hearing Martha sing!  They giggled, which made me giggle, too!  I didn't mean too, but it just happened.  Because I started giggling, Martha stopped singing and so did Ian!  I wanted Martha and Ian to learn to keep singing - no matter what, so I kept on singing!  Well, the pair of sillies decided to start humming instead of singing!  I tickled Martha's ribs, and she started laughing, which in turn caused Ian to starting laughing!  Before I knew it, both the kids and I were laughing as hard as we could for no apparent reason!  Here we were sitting (rather uncomfortably, I might add) on a crowded train laughing until the tears started streaming down!
Proverbs 17:22 says, "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine:  but a broken spirit drieth the bones."  Our laughter was infectious!  As I sat there laughing, with tears running down my cheeks, I could hear others laughing also.  It was like a ripple effect - we started laughing and soon all those around us were laughing with us!  Matt was standing, but couldn't really see us from where he was standing.  He heard the laughter, but had no way of knowing what was so hilarious!  It was a blessing to see my children causing happiness in the lives of others.  Without realizing it, they overcame a hurdle, and soon they were back to singing instead of just humming!
As I write this, I can see those dear Peruvians in my mind - laughing with us!  What a precious memory I now have, and what a precious gift we were able to give to the people around us - the gift of joy and laughter!  It makes me think of that kid's song based on Nehemiah 8:10b - "...for the joy of the LORD is your strength."