A Burden Lifted Through Prayer- Long

I think this is the first time I've posted on the faith based support forum. I just wanted to share this, hopefully as encouragement for other families who have been or will be in this situation some day. Here goes: Exactly one week ago we finalized our adoption of our nephew, who's now our son. He's 6 years old. Just this morning for the first time, 15 months after he came back into our care, he expressed that he misses his mom and dad. I simply told him that I'm sure they miss him too. That was that. Tonight after story time and devotion time I told him that I think we should start praying for his parent's healing from their addictions. He got the biggest smile on his face. We prayed that Jesus deliver them from their addictions and that they can get better, stay better and be happier. When we were done praying, he told me that the prayer almost made him cry. I assured him that his parents love him and miss him. I also assured him that he will live with us until he's grown up and that we love him very much. I told him that if his parents can heal from their stuff, when he's older, maybe he can have a relationship with them. He almost seemed relieved to hear this. I left the door open for him in regards to his parents. He loves us very much and we are "Mom and Dad" to him. It's almost as if now that he knows that the adoption is final and he's safe with us, he feels it's finally ok to express his feelings for his parents, knowing that we won't send him back to them, knowing that he won't be removed from us again. After we prayed, you'd think that a 100 lb. weight had just been lifted from his chest. He was so incredibly happy and full of joy. I'm a little slow on the uptake but did finally realize that in order for him to heal from his past, we need to pray for his parent's healing and well being. We need to do this every night....for their sake and especially HIS.