After months of anxious waiting, a Dunedin family has been reunited with their adoptive Congolese son.

Posters and balloons at Tampa International Airport welcomed home 10-month-old Cruz, who came to the United States with his adoptive mother, Andrea Stewart, from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Stewart's husband, Chris, was anxious for the plane carrying his wife and son to land. Cruz's new sisters were just as excited.

"I've never see him and I want to see him soon, and I want to love him," sister Avery Stewart said.

"Minutes seem like hours," Chris Stewart said. "They ask me every time, what time is it what time is it, and it’s only 30 minutes later."

It was a reunion the family wasn't sure would happen. The Stewarts adopted Cruz, who suffers from serious medical conditions, but before they could fly him to the U.S., the Congolese government put adoptions on hold.

It took months of persistence and help from U.S. Rep. David Jolly to bring Cruz home. Jolly spoke with the U.S. Ambassador to the Congo, asking for a medical release.  The efforts paid off, and the Stewarts were recently issued an exit permit to bring Cruz home.

“It took some effort," Jolly said. "At one point about three weeks ago I called the ambassador and said, 'Well listen, Congress adjourns on Dec. 11, and if Cruz isn’t home on Dec. 11, I’m on a plane Dec. 12 to the Congo, and I’ll come sit in the lobby with Chris and Andrea until we get Cruz home.' ”

When Andrea Stewart and Crus got off the plane, family members were in tears.

“I don’t think that I really truly every felt confident that this was going to happen," she said. "I thought we’d be living in Congo come January. I’m shocked, I’m amazed, I’m humbled, I’m overwhelmed.  It’s just wonderful.”