Barbie & Ken Get Down & Dirty in Costa Rica
Two years ago, my son and daughter dressed as the famous Ken & Barbie for Halloween. It was perfect - oddly, they look a lot like the plastic dolls I grew up with. Fast forward two years to last week when we went on a service trip to Costa Rica and let me tell you: there was nothing doll-like in what I saw my son or daughter accomplish this past week, unless I missed the episode about Barbie pick axing her way through rock, mud, dirt, and tree branches in 12-inch rubber work boots with 95-degree beads of sweat dripping down her face. My 13-year-old, one-hundred-two-pound Orlando "Barbie," as it turns out, is less Barbie and more Xena... she was no match for the other women on the trip, including her mother. Leah was the only female to dominate the pick-ax, and she wore the labor like a seasoned pro. There are reasons this surprised me. About 6 months before this trip, Barrett, my husband, and I, sat at the dinner with table Jared and Leah, 17, and...