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UNPREDICTABLE PA R E N T H O O D
UNEXPECTEDLY, THE PHONE RANG. The person on the other end gushed: “Someone in my childbirth class wants her baby to be adopted by a Christian family; are you interested?”
How the Gratzels Grew a Beautiful Multi-Ethnic Family Through Adoption By Daniel Peirce, mts '22
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P A L M E R
Joe and Denise Gratzel’s journey to parenthood didn’t exactly follow a predictable path. After that phone call, life seemed to pivot in surprising ways. Earlier that year, Joe Gratzel had applied to Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. However, the life-altering joy of adopting their first child delayed Joe's admission to seminary and proved to be the first of many times that God would intervene in their plans to grow their family. Balancing new parenthood and an emotional, costly battle with infertility, Joe, MDiv '88, finally started at Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now Palmer Seminary) in the fall of 1985. Though burdened, coming home to their seminary family made Joe and Denise feel surrounded with love, care, and financial support. Very tangible gifts started arriving — literally at their dorm room door! Once they even found a bag full of money collected by everyone on their floor.