DALLAS—Have you heard of a snowflake child?

They are embryos—fertilized eggs—frozen for later use. And just like a snowflake, each one is different.

Meet 9-month-old twins Coen and Shiloh and 4-year-old Cade, who all started as cells given for adoption by a donor through Nightlight Christian Adoptions.

“We’ve always kind of had a heart for adoption,” mother Christy Trabun said. “We adopted 7 embryos from a family who lives in Oregon.  With Cade, we transferred 3 embryos, got pregnant with him. Our second attempt, we found out that we were pregnant with Gage here, naturally.  We moved here to Dallas, had 4 remaining embryos, 2 survived the thaw, and those 2 ended up being twins, Coen and Shiloh.”

The Trabuns keep in touch with the children’s donor family, sharing pictures and other information.

“I see a lot of similarities between our oldest and their son,” she said.

In vitro has been in the news recently.  Actress Sofia Vergara and ex Nick Loeb are in a legal battle over their frozen embryos.  Vergara wants to destroy them, but Loeb doesn’t.

You’ve got some folks who don’t agree with stem cell research. But others ask, what about all the leftover embryos after IVF?

“I wouldn’t say there’s any different joy about embryo adoption than being a parent in general,” Christy said.

“Wow, what a way you get to experience pregnancy,” her husband Mike Trabun said.  “And then I like to joke, ‘hey, we can brag about how smart or cute they are ‘cause they’re not our genetic material so we’re being subjective.’”