The Things We Do For Orphans!

Kids attending Collidescope VBS at Cross Point Church get the Sweet Sleep logo painted on their faces to remember the children they're helping in Haiti!

Well, friends, this has been quite a week!

Kids around the country have started attending VBS programs and many of these programs are featuring Sweet Sleep's Build-A-Bed Project as their missions focus - helping us provide more and more beds for the world's orphaned and abandoned children!

We're always amazed at what churches come up with to encourage their kids and students to raise funds for beds. This week folks - we've been blown away.

Kids at Cross Point Church in Nashville, Tennessee have been raising funds for beds for orphans in Haiti this week as part of their Collidescope kids event! About a hundred kids have gathered for the week to learn about Jesus. Their Children's Pastor, one of the best in the world I might add!, Suzette Sanderfer, and her team came up with some great ideas! Kids painted their fingernails "sweet sleep blue", had the Sweet Sleep logo painted on their faces, watched videos, prayed for orphans - it's been a great week.

But what happened yesterday takes the cicada cake. Cross Point's Director of Ministries, Ryan Bult, challenged the kids to bring in 15 lbs of change for beds for orphans in Haiti. If they brought in 15 lbs, he'd put a live cicada in his mouth. (If you don't live in a cicada swarmed area of the country, you might not understand - just google the little buggers - they've been attacking Nashville for weeks!) Then Ryan said - 20 lbs of change and he'd bite it. Gross. :) Get ready, friends.... Those kids brought in 35 lbs of change for Sweet Sleep and Ryan put it in his mouth, bit that thing, and ate it!!!!! Unreal.

For those of you who can stomach it.... Here is the video.

Before he ate the cicada on video, the kids were chanting at the top of their lungs "Sweet Sleep! Sweet Sleep!" and at last count the kids had raised nearly a thousand dollars for beds, bedding, life-saving mosquito nets and Bibles for orphans in Haiti.

Awesome!

Around the country, churches like Cross Point and ministers like Suzette and Ryan are doing crazy things to encourage kids to help orphans sleep sweetly. I can't wait to share more of these stories with you throughout the summer - like the woman in Las Vegas who recently challenged her kids to raise $1500 and it would be matched - and she'd shave her head. They've already exceeded their goal - so when I get the before and after pictures, I'll share them here.

Thanks Ryan, Suzette and your team at Cross Point for making this a week those kids will not soon forget. Orphaned children in Haiti will soon be sleeping sweetly because of you and your sweet kiddos.

Ahhhhh... The things we do for orphans... :)


PS - If your church is gearing up for VBS - it's not too late to sign up to make Sweet Sleep's Build-A-Bed Project part of your event! You don't have to eat a live cicada, but you can if you want to! Just e-mail jon@sweetsleep.org for information or visit www.sweetsleep.org/build-a-bed for more information and free resources to get kids fired up about helping orphans sleep sweetly. :)