Sweet Summer 17: Week 1, Day 1 This week we’re in Uganda, visiting our newest graduates of Sweet Sleep’s Economic Development Program. These women have, on average, 5 children — both biological and adopted. With no opportunity for an education in their childhood, they’ve had to resort to low-paying, hard, manual labor work to simply feed their kids one meal … Read More
Going Beyond Beds – Margaret’s Story
Sweet Sleep’s ministry is evolving. Margaret’s story is the perfect example of how your gifts are expanding our mission beyond beds. Our mission statement is “Sweet Sleep exists to demonstrate God’s love and hope in Christ to the world’s orphaned and abandoned children, improving their quality of life.” Providing beds, mosquito nets and bibles to these orphans greatly improves their … Read More
This Is Not Like TV (Mary Jo Bagley)
At the end of the day, I sit here under my mosquito net in Gulu, Uganda, pondering the events if the last couple of days. I’ve seen pictures on Discovery Channel and National Geographic depicting the simplicity of the lifestyle in Uganda. Yet nothing could prepare me for the surreal experience of seeing it first hand. Special needs children hold … Read More
Beds, Smiles and High Fives (Kailey McNeal)
When we arrived at the distribution site the celebration that occurred was elating. The songs, dancing, yelling and hello handshakes were overwhelming. Seeing the colors on all of the fabrics the people were wearing was exhilarating. Seeing the children’s smiles and hearing their laughter was intoxicating and instantly created an atmosphere of excitement. However, the most exciting thing that happened … Read More
Does It Even Matter?
I might have taken on more than I anticipated, when I set out to give beds exclusively to children with special needs and disabilities. Two years ago, in a village called Unyama, my eyes were first opened to the plight of children in this region who suffer from rare diseases, physical deformities, mental handicaps, paralysis, blindness, and deafness. Their disabilities … Read More
Uganda Team Stories – Sherry
As we prepare for our upcoming trip to Uganda to minister to children with special needs, we will be sharing some of the stories of our volunteer team members who are going with us. We are so thankful for these special people and their commitment to Sweet Sleep’s mission. It’s easy to think it takes a special kind of person to go … Read More
A life-changing gift
First and foremost, we’d like to thank each and every one of you that has donated in someone’s name as part of our Give The Gift Christmas campaign. Your gifts will help create more happy endings to stories like Welsey’s. When we first met her, we saw a small girl with a quiet face and eyes full of burden. As … Read More
The Perfect Gift
Here we are, just a few shopping days left until Christmas. So how many of you are finished shopping? According to the National Retail Federation, only about 10% of you are. Congratulations if you are in that small, enviable group of Christmas shoppers! For the rest of us, we’re starting to feel the pressure of checking everyone off our lists. … Read More
A Unique Experience
Yesterday was the last of four incredible days of bed distributions in northern Uganda. In all, three staff members distributed 1,100 beds this week. It was a remarkably unique experience, unlike any other distribution we’ve ever had. Without the support of a mission team, the three of us got to touch the hands, and speak directly to every single one … Read More
Dear Parents
My kids were 1, 3, and 5 years old when I went on my first mission trip with Sweet Sleep in 2009. Since then, my entire family has grown as a result. My children learned that by being a “big boy or girl” while I was gone, they were being obedient to God’s calling for our family. And as my … Read More