Boston Family Finally United With Adopted Children From Congo After a 3-Year Process

— -- It was a joyful scene on Wednesday when Mark and Mary Maclean were finally able to hug their son John and their daughter Julienne.

The couple officially adopted the two children from the Democratic Republic of the Congo a little over a year earlier, but John and Julienne became caught in the Congo after the country suspended issuing exit permits for internationally adopted children.

The Macleans already had three biological children, ages 16, 13 and 10, when they began the adoption process three years ago.

"We started the process in May of 2013, and we were matched with John," Mark told ABC News. "Then our daughter freaked because she realized she would be outnumbered by boys three to one, so we decided to adopt one boy and one girl, which was something we always wanted to do."

According to Mark, adopting out of the Congo proved to be a long and stressful process made more difficult when the offices that distributed exit visas in the DRC were suddenly closed by the country's president, Joseph Kabila.

Mark told ABC News that the Congolese court systems finally approved John and Julienne's adoption around February of last year, "at which point we couldn't get them an exit visa, but they were legally our children."

Mary arranged for the kids to be cared for by a foster mother and enrolled them both in school for the first times in their lives while the Macleans fought to bring them to the U.S. This week, they were finally able to get them home, thanks to the efforts of U.S. representatives who went to the country to fight for the extraction of children adopted by American families.

"About 1200 kids were in limbo, and 400 of those were destined for the U.S.," Mark said.

About a month ago, the Macleans flew to Washington, D.C., to meet with some of those representatives and other American families who were adopting.

Mark expressed his profuse gratitude to the representatives. "It was surreal to be there and to be able to thank the U.S. reps headed up by Ed Royce from California. They were phenomenal ... we're grateful for their work."

While the Macleans' story has a happy ending, "There are just a lot of American families that don't have the good news that we've got yet," Mark said.