The woven threads of the vintage textiles from Wilder Way Threads are an image of the Terch family weaving their family together, rug by rug. What started as stacks of rugs and pillows being sold over Instagram is now a family woven together with their newest member and daughter Eden.
Passionate about adoption, Homewood, Ala. husband and wife Jeffrey and Morgan Terch always knew they wanted to adopt and grow their family.
“Ever since I was young, I always knew that I wanted adoption to be a part of my story, and Jeffrey felt the same way,” Mogan Terch said. “When we were married there was no question that as long as God allowed, we would choose to grow our family through adoption.”
Additionally, as Christians, the couple feels compelled by Scripture to take care of orphans.
“The command is clear in Scripture for believers to care for orphans and widows. That doesn’t always come in the form of adoption, but that is one way we can be obedient to that call,” Morgan Terch said. “I believe God is so passionate about caring for widows and orphans because we see throughout the Bible that His heart is drawn in a special way to the vulnerable and broken. So, the body of Christ caring for orphans and widows is a way to tangibly express the Gospel and be the aroma of Christ in this broken world.”
Since the adoption process is expensive, around $40,000, Jeffrey and Morgan brainstormed fundraising ideas to help fund their adoption of their daughter from India. A lover of vintage textiles, Morgan decided to reach out to a supplier in Turkey, whom she had bought pillows from the year before.
“I had the idea of reaching out to him and sharing our story to see if he would be willing to sell some pillows to me in bulk at a discounted rate, so that I could resell them for our adoption process,” Terch said. “He was immediately on board and excited to help, so he sent me my first batch of Turkish pillows handmade from vintage rugs.”
In July 2020, Morgan decided to list a few of the pillows on her Instagram to sell, thinking she may just sell a few. An hour later, she sold everything. Shocked, Jeffrey and Morgan decided to launch Wilder Way Threads on Instagram to sell more rugs and pillows online. The name Wilder Way Threads came from a Bible verse in Isaiah, where it states, “I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”
Over the course of months, the couple continued to receive shipments of textiles from Turkey to sell to the Homewood community and beyond.
“I still get giddy every time we receive a shipment of new rugs,” Morgan Terch said.
After months of selling vintage textiles, the Terch family raised enough money to adopt their daughter Eden from India. In Feb. 2021, the couple boarded a plane to come back home a few weeks later as a family of three.
While it is common for the attachment process and adjustment period for an adoptive child and the family to occur over a long period of time, Jeffrey and Morgan felt as if Eden was their own flesh and blood from the start. It did not feel like babysitting for them when they first met her, but as if they were taking their own child home with them. They felt like a family from the first moment with her.
“The gravity of that moment couldn’t possibly be captured in words,” Terch said. “When we laid eyes on our daughter, Eden, it was as if our souls knew deep down she was ours, and we loved her immediately with inexpressible love. I imagine the moment felt much like it would had I birthed her from my own womb. It was surreal and hard and beautiful all wrapped into one. But we were a family, and that was what mattered.”
After witnessing how their business was a fun and provisional outlet to raise money for adoption, Jeffrey and Morgan plan to continue Wilder Way Threads to help other families finance their adoption process. They are now “adopting” another family, who Morgan calls their “Wilder Way Family”, to help raise money for their adoption of their daughter from Colombia.
“For the next four months, we are giving them 25% of all profits to put towards their adoption process,” Terch said. “We will continue to select adoptive families to receive a percentage of our proceeds to put towards their own adoption process. We love that God has provided a way for us to combine our passions for vintage textiles and adoption.”
Learn more about Wilder Way Threads and purchase their textiles at https://wilderwaythreads.weebly.com/ or @WilderWayThreads on Instagram and Facebook.
