Zoe is 3! How do you celebrate your kid's birthday when she's in a new country with new parents learning a new language for little more than a week? What happens to the guest list when the only friends she's ever known are over 5,000 miles away?

Thanks to a teachers' professional day, schools were closed and Jesse was able to join us on what turned out to be a beautiful Fall day. In recognition of how great he has been in the role of big brother (plus seeing how we were away for his birthday), we let him decide how we should celebrate his sister's birthday. He chose the National Zoo.

Zoe had a great time, and seemed to especially enjoy watching giant panda Tian Tian shake his butt in our faces for what seemed to be an eternity. Also capturing her interest were the golden lion tamarins, and the presence of some of the larger animal "ca-cas" adorning the exhibits. The champion? The giant land tortoise. These guys live to be up to 150 years old. I should only be so regular at 42.

We finished off the day with a small family dinner with our parents. Zoe got her first taste of birthday cake, which she proclaimed to be "de-licious," one of her first English words and one you'll want to hear her say over and over again even when her mouth is full. While she hasn't had other cakes, her all-time favorite is and always will be yellow cake with chocolate icing from the Giant. Coincidentally, that's also Mama and Papa's favorite. Go figure.

Finally, among the birthday and other greetings Zoe has received in the last week, one special birthday card managed to arrive right on schedule today (after being mailed ten days ago) from Yekaterinburg.

We thought we had met all of Zoe's wonderful caregivers (there were about a dozen working various shifts) over our numerous trips to the orphanage, but somehow hadn't met this one, Helen, until our final "pickup" visit. She showed up on her day off to give Zoe a tearful goodbye and a present.

The impression Zoe left in her heart was clear from Helen's card, and she included a note thanking us for taking such good care of her.

We only wish we could say Zoe is the well-mannered, happy child she is today as the result of what we've done for her in just two weeks together. What they manage to accomplish at the orphanage--with little more than 15¢ per day in government funding to feed and provide medication for each child--is beyond amazing. Love manages to stretch such a small amount a long way.  ¶ 11:54 PM