Well, Christmas is over and we are a few days closer to our travel dates. We leave on the 12th of Januarary. I just recieved some wonderful pictures of our little girl. She is such a cutie! I can not wait to see her face to face. My two sons are getting excited to travel. This will their first time traveling this far. There is so much to do before we go. Better get moving on the to do list.

We just received the best phone call from Nicole. We passed court. Emenet Elizabeth Ann Richardson is ours. I still can not believe it. I have been thinking about all the delays and situations that made up our journey to this point. I can say one thing God is faithful! We have just one more thing to over come. Our travel expenses. This seems to be the area that is a major struggle. I just keep telling myself my God is bigger than any thing. He is my provider! We will pictures of our little girl soon.

Adoption update

Well the big news is that a daughter has been assigned to us.
She is a healthy three year old girl from the Wolaita people group from southern Ethiopia. Her father died last year. She has a bother, sister and a mother. Her family is to poor to take care of her and she was placed in a children's home. That is her story as we know it. We will be travelling to Ethiopia within the next few months to pick her up. During the summer, we started working on the attic to make room for her in the house. We added a dormer. We finished the roof and outside walls with the help of several friends along with Dan Sower and his co-worker. We still have to finish the drywall and electric. We need your prayers and help! We could use help with finishing the house. Also we also need help in raising the money needed to cover the travel costs for the family and our new daughter. The tickets are about $1,800.00 each and we also need $3,000.00 for the costs in Ethiopia.

We have the following prayer requests:

1. That everything would go right with the adoption.
2. God would provide the balance of the funds needed for the adoption.
3. That we would be able to get everything ready at our house for her. Because I am currently on the road with Wycliffe Associates until November 20th.
4. God would provide cheap tickets for us to and from Ethiopia.
5. For her adjustment to the States and us along with our adjustment to her.

Country Information

Location: Ethiopia is in Eastern Africa and lies west of Somalia. Sudan is to its North and Kenya to its South.

Land Boundaries: Djibouti 349 km, Eritrea 912 km, Kenya 861 km, Somalia 1,600 km, and the Sudan 1,606 km.

Geography: Size is 1,127,127 sq km, slightly less than twice the size of Texas, US. The terrain consists of a high plateau with a central mountain range divided by the Great Rift Valley. Ethiopia is a landlocked country. The climate can be described as tropical monsoon but it varies greatly depending on the topography. Ethiopia'slowest point is at the Denakil Depression -125 m; its highest point is Ras Dejen standing at 4,620 m. Ethiopia's entire coastline along the Red Sea was lost with the de jure independence of Eritrea on 24 May 1993. The Blue Nile, the chief headstream of the Nile by water volume, rises in T'ana Hayk (Lake Tana) in northwest Ethiopia. Three major crops are believed to have originated in Ethiopia: coffee, grain sorghum, and the castor bean.

Population: Just over 73 million people live in Ethiopia. Life expectancy is around 49 years. Birth rate is on average 5.3 per woman. Literacy rate is just over 42%.

Languages: Amharic, Tigrinya, Oromigna, Guaragigna, Somali, and Arabic. Other local languages include English which is the major foreign language taught in schools.

Ethnic Groups: Oromo 40%, Amhara and Tigre 32%, Sidamo 9%, Shankella 6%, Somali 6%, Afar 4%, Gurage 2%, and other 1%

Religion: Muslim 45%-50%, Ethiopian Orthodox 35%-40%, animist 12%, and other 3%-8%.
Political History: Unique among African countries, the ancient Ethiopian monarchy maintained its freedom from colonial rule, with the exception of the 1936-41 Italian occupation during World War II. In 1974 a military junta, the Derg, deposed Emperor Haile Selaisse (who had ruled since 1930) and established a socialist state. Torn by bloody coups, uprisings, wide-scale drought, and massive refugee problems, the regime was finally toppled in 1991 by a coalition of rebel forces, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). A constitution was adopted in 1994 and Ethiopia's first multiparty elections were held in 1995. A two and a half year border war with Eritrea ended with a peace treaty on 12 December 2000. Final demarcation of the boundary is currently on hold due to Ethiopian objections to an international commission's finding requiring it to surrender sensitive territory.

Economic Overview: Ethiopia's poverty-stricken economy is based on agriculture, accounting for half of GDP, 60% of exports, and 80% of total employment. The agricultural sector suffers from frequent drought and poor cultivation practices. Coffee is critical to the Ethiopian economy with exports of some $156 million in 2002, but historically low prices have seen many farmers switching to qat to supplement income. The war with Eritrea in 1998-2000 and recurrent drought have buffeted the economy, in particular coffee production. In November 2001, Ethiopia qualified for debt relief from the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Under Ethiopia's land tenure system, the government owns all land and provides long-term leases to the tenants; the system continues to hamper growth in the industrial sector as entrepreneurs are unable to use land as collateral for loans. Drought struck again late in 2002, leading to a 2% decline in GDP in 2003. Normal weather patterns late in 2003 helped agricultural and GDP growth recover in 2004.