beds for buddies!! sweet sleep makes it happen.

6 years ago my friend, Jen Gash, started an organization called Sweet Sleep (sweetsleep.org). if you’ve been following my blog for any good portion of this year you will have heard about them many times. Sweet Sleep provides beds and bedding for orphaned and abandoned children around the world they don’t just give the beds to orphans, they communicate God’s intentional creation of each child and His unconditional, unending love. They throw birthday parties, give out bibles and spread a general sense of worth, love and importance — I’ve been on 3 trips with them myself. I’ve seen it first hand and let me tell you….I most heartily approve.

cutting to the chase…

many of you will know about the northern ugandan region of Gulu. it’s kind of been made popular by great organizations like invisible children, etc. the quick run down…the LRA (lord’s resistance army) has been terrorizing the crap out of this area for years. i’m talking atrocities that you don’t even want to know about. things you can’t begin to imagine. while this area is seeing a brief time of peace, there are still hundreds of thousands of people living in displacement camps. people that have been forced out of their homes. three-quarters of those people are children living in child-headed households (and by households, i really mean teeny tiny mud huts). These children have lost their parents and their grandparents—two generations of people to protect and care for them, to tell them stories about who they are and who they could be, to teach them stories about God and how to live according to His word.

i’ve been there. i’ve seen it. i’ve met those kids. it’s the real deal, folks.

This Christmas, my friend Jen is going back to Gulu to give beds and bibles to 450 children living in huts like these:

here’s where this all comes together.

218 more children still need beds ($88 each) and we can help. here’s what is still needed, take a look and see if you think you can help make this happen:

• 218 mosquito nets. Malaria kills more people in Uganda than HIV/AIDS. Treated nets are $8 each.
• Mattresses for 218 children so they will be able to sleep up off of the ground for the first time in their lives. Mattresses are $50.
• Can you imagine not having a blanket to warm you during these chilly nights or sheets to sleep in? 218 more children still need to be able to be warm and snuggly. They can for just $30.
• Bibles are $10 each. There are 450 households for a total of $4,500.