(AP) — His infectious smile lights up the room from atop a shelf in Todd and Tobey Thurston's Campbell County home — the face of the couple's daily prayer to one day become blessed with a son. The husband and wife, determined to bridge the gap in distance and bring the 10-year-old to Virginia and raise him through adolescence, have launched an international adoption process that they say friends and supporters have rallied behind. The thought of helping Mahesh build a tree house and restore an old bike that will be his to ride around the neighborhood brings smiles to the couple's faces like those of kids waiting to get on a ride at a carnival. The main concern of India authorities, and a reason international adoptions overall in the United States have been decreasing in recent years, is because of child trafficking and countries tightening their controls, Patel said. The mother signed over her parental rights, so now the issue is securing the money and necessary paperwork with the Indian government, said Tobey. Patel, a church friend of the Thurstons, said the couple will have to undergo an intense "home study" process in which an agency comes in to go through an exhaustive list of background checks. Since November, the couple has raised nearly $9,000 in their quest to secure approximately $20,000 to complete the adoption. The couple dreams of helping improve his life with sustained health care to improve his arm, health nutrition and a support system waiting with arms wide open. Church friends who also have been to India and have invested into his life, including paying for a physical therapist that treated his arm, will be friendly faces celebrating his arrival, Tobey said.