UPDATED:::
Congratulations to the following 4 winners of a Wild Olive Tee! Winners, we will be getting in touch with you soon.
31) Kim, 82) Teish, 126) Sarah Stinnett, 174) Jessica

“Long before he laid down earth’s foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy by his love.

Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ. (What pleasure he took in planning this!)

He wanted us to enter into the celebration of his lavish gift-giving by the hand of his beloved Son.” Ephesians 1:4-6

It wasn’t a particularly comfortable chair. Wicker, I think, with a thin padding. Like a worn, loose stuffed animal, I sat in that wicker chair and explained how I wanted to adopt a child one day. I wanted to take care of a little one, a neglected one who just needed to be loved. I wanted to hold them and nurture them, and give them security and warmth. I spoke with passion about my desire to adopt.

She said I wanted to adopt myself.

She told me that I was the little girl, sad and wanting for warmth, some affection, and nurture, and that my deep desire to adopt came from a deep lack of feeling adopted, taken in, loved myself. It was a revelation. And it only made me more steadfast to want to birth a child from the heart.

Oh, but adoption is so hard, right? Horror stories abound. “Bad” kids, tough experiences, life upheaval…this is adoption. The kids are just so “messed” up.

I was pretty messed up. I would do things that other little girls don’t do, and as I got older, I became “that” teenager. But you know, down beyond the mess was a just a little girl who wanted to be loved…really loved. And deep down, that’s what we all want; it’s what we all need. Imagine if you were that little girl that was tossed aside, neglected, last on the priority list. Can you feel that for a moment? No bedtime songs, no kisses and hugs, no hot meals on a cold day. Take it further and add some shame, perhaps from abuse, perhaps from not being good enough to be loved. How desperately you want to be loved! Your heart aches for tenderness and belonging. But no one comes, because you do weird things, and you act out, and you don’t know how to be good because good didn’t get you to far in your short life.

It’s obvious: you aren’t good enough to be loved.

Oh what a lie from the enemy! And what a lie we have believed that a child must be put-together, seamless enough, in order to be adopted so that we would not be disrupted from our comfortable, already too-tired lives. What a sad, sad view of the Father’s love for us.

You see my friend, you and I, we’re just a mess…we’re uncivilized and we do bad things (at the very least, we think them). We’re selfish, and we hurt people. But we try to be good, and we try to be kind; we’re all just trying to make it through and do the best we can. It’s not enough though, we’re still not good enough in the eyes of seamless. So a wild love swoops in and bleeds for us so that we can be adopted as children of God! The Father’s heart is adoption; taking a broken heart and making it new.

We have the opportunity to be like our Father when we choose love.

Love adopts the ruffian and loves them besides themselves.

But let’s be honest, sometimes we don’t know where to start, and sometimes, the thought of adopting can be overwhelming. While my hope is that you will consider birthing a heart child, I also want to show you a way that you can be a part of the Father’s heart in regard to adoption.

Wild Olive Tees actively supports two organizations that help orphans: An Orphan’s Wish in China and Sixty Feet in Uganda. 10% of profits of Wild Olive Tees sales go to these organizations.

Even cooler Wild Olive adoption tees have been created as a means to help families fundraise for their impending adoption. Wild Olive’s goal is to partner with adoptive families to help them gain support from friends and family to offset the cost of their adoption, and in turn, help bring children home to their forever families!

So what can you do?

How about purchasing a few Christmas gifts from Wild Olive Tees this year? Their tees are super cute and comfortable; I speak from experience:

Me (with my brother) sporting a Wild Olive tee!

I wear my Wild Olive tee all the time. Seriously, the most comfortable, soft tee ever. What gal wouldn’t love one for Christmas?

Our (in)courage contributors share my crush on these tees. Wild Olive made us a special “Kind Words” tee with the verse from the Bloom (in)courage book club on it. How cool is that?

So, for me and on behalf of all the orphans who will benefit by your cuteness, will you sport a tee with me? Will you get one for a friend or family member for Christmas? You can go ahead and do that here.

And from the bottom of my heart, thank you. You are my hero.

By Sarah Mae, future heart child birther and writer at Like a Warm Cup of Coffee.

GIVEAWAY! We’re delighted to be giving away 4 Wild Olive Tees today!

Just leave us a comment sharing your favorite Wild Olive shirt before Thursday 12/8 at midnight EST- take a peek & get your verse on over here. And we’ll pick and announce winners by Friday 12/9.

FREE SHIPPING! on all Wild Olive purchases through Saturday 12/10 – just use code james127

…

Photo credit: Top two Wild Olive photos: Jessica Paige of One Willow

Leave a Comment