Adoption finalization--bumps in the road

Guess it is time for us to share what we are now facing on our adoption journey. Below is an email that we sent out to our family and friends. We are really confused about what to do, so I am asking you all to pray for us. Here is the situation...

Well, one thing we know for sure is that nothing goes according to planned in the adoption journey! We had planned to finalize in a few weeks, however we have hit a glitch in our finalization plans. There is an issue with our original paperwork that was filed...our state will not allow us to finalize due to a box that was checked that said we would finalize in sending state. It is routine for the FL agency to check this box, because of finalization being covered in FL placement fees. However, our state absolutely will not allow them to change this. Other states do not have a problem with changing the finalization state. The FL agency has never run into this. They feel very bad about it.

We have two options now. We can re-file our paperwork through the state of FL and then our state...then hire a private attorney to represent us. This option would cost us anywhere from $800-1500 plus 4 additional weeks (if everything goes smoothly). Our other option is to go to FL to finalize. The cost of going to FL would be for our travel expenses only (hotel, rental car, meals, and airfare--about $300-400 plus airfare) All of the attorney's fees and paperwork fees were covered in our placement fee. All of the paperwork is complete and ready to go...we just have to show up.

We are humbling writing to see if anyone you know might possibly have air miles that are going unused. They could donate the miles to us in order to finalize our adoption of Hudson .

Please join us in praying that we will have very clear direction at this point in our adoption journey. We need to get this figured out very soon, so please pray. We know God has this all figured out, and we want to remain obedient to Him.

Thank you for your support!

Humbly,
Matt and Laura

We did hear that one of Matt's relatives has a ticket that we may be able to use. We praise God for this. We just want to do what the best thing is. We had wanted to have the girls at the finalization...they have been so much a part of our journey. At this point, the most certain option is to just go and get it done. All the paperwork is already completed and ready to go. The frustrating part is that I had already filed all of our papers at our courthouse. We had been issued a hearing time and date. Everything was set. The following morning is when we found this all out. (we could have saved the filing fee had we known) UGH...we're confused! We just want to get this done! Please pray for us...Thanks!