Hi Lisa!
This is Lisa, mommy of Andrew! We had the same problem, however my husband refused to take $$ from his parents when it was offered. I understand that and I respect it as well. To solve our delima we saved every penny, paid minimums on the credit cards, and stopped going out as much and when we did, we chose to go to places where it would run $20 for dinner as opposed to $40 and up. By the time we were in the position to take placement we were able to cover over 1/2 of the fees. What we did for the remainder was take out a home equity line of credit. The rates for other loans were 7 and up, but this was at 4% and the interest is tax deductible. The other thing to keep in mind is that when you do take placement and then file your taxes you will get 10K back from federal and some states give back as well, but I am not sure which and how much. I know ours (Alabama) does, but again no idea how much. A different route of financial assistance is your employer. There is a list of companies that donate significant funds towards adoption. Maybe yours or your husbands do this! Here is a site that contains a list of companies participating in adoption assistance in one form or another:
http://www.adoptionfriendlyworkplace.org/employers.asp.
Good luck with everything and have fun! It can and will be stressful, but the end result is incredible!!
Lisa V