Waco: Adoption brings different perspective to fatherhood

A Central Texas dad with a special reason to celebrate the holiday is giving a different perspective to fatherhood.

Pete Younger and his wife Rachael are the proud parents of two children, Samuel and Owen.

“I love getting to spend time with them. It’s wonderful. Each day that we are together is a gift,” said Pete Younger.

This was the first year their youngest, 10-month-old Owen, joined in on the celebration.

“It's a miracle to be able to hold him in our arms and think about all the years that we waited for him to become part of our family,” said Younger.

After giving birth to their eldest Samuel the Youngers wanted to grow their family, but fertility challenges made their dream difficult.

The couple decided to adopt through local agency Generations Adoptions.

“We were really excited about Pete and Rachel. They're a really sweet family. They're already great parents to their son that they have biologically,” said Generations Adoptions Executive Director, Erin Wheeler.

The couple applied for a domestic adoption, but spent a year waiting to be matched.

“We love to share about our embryo program so they heard that this was one of their options, and they prayed about it and thought about it and decided to switch to our embryo program,” said Wheeler.

The embryo adoption, or snowflakes program as it is referred as, began in 2012 through a partnership with Nightlight Christian Adoptions.

Parents can adopt embryos from different genetic parents, and experience pregnancy as though it were a biological conception.

Rachael and Pete were matched within three months, and adopted five embryos.

Two of the five embryos were transferred, and nine months later Owen was born.

"This baby actually has two sets of real parents. They have genetic parents, but also just as real and just as important are his adoptive parents. So Pete and Rachael, they gave birth to him. They are legally his parents,” said Wheeler.

Pete said he feels lucky to be a dad, and that it is one of the best gifts.

“I love being a dad. It’s the best job I could have and I’ll have plenty of other jobs, but this is just more important,” he said.

The couple still has three frozen embryos remaining, and said they plan on continuing to grow their family.

“We are still thinking about those other three, and we are anxious to get to meet them too,” said Younger.