Sweet Sleep's top 10 "Back to School-Sleep!"

In light of school starting up, Sweet Sleep thought that we could share some sleeping tips for your sweet ones that we’ve picked up from several sources on the web!  We hope that these are of help and maybe help this transition into school a more pleasant one :)--if anything, we ask that you read for something to think about.

Sweet Sleep’s top 10 ways to get your child back into their “Back to School-Sleep”:

1. “Get them up earlier in the morning so they’re more tired in the evening and get them to bed earlier in the evening,” Adron Children’s Hospital Pediatrician Dr. Cooper White said.

2.      2. Garden, “Keep darkened rooms at a cool temperature which helps the transition from wake to sleep.” (Mike Wilson, WIBC Indiana News)

3.      3. “Children having anxiety thinking about going back to school?   Childrens' books related to going back to school might be a very appropriate way to discuss the topic.” White said. (Jenn Strathman, newsnet5.com)

4.      4. Children who have been away at camp with unsteady sleeping schedules?  Ariana Birnbaum’s child would head to bed 15 minutes earlier each night until he returned to his regular bedtime. (Lauren La Rose, The Canadian Press)

5.      5. “…kids in Grades 1 through 5 should be getting at least 10 to 11 hours of sleep each night.”

1.     6.  “..touch base with teachers to see if kids are experiencing any daytime sleepiness.” (Lauren La Rose, The Canadian Press)

7.      7. “It’s best to read stories with your kids sitting up, because you want their body to associate the position of sleep with lying down.” (Mike Wilson, WIBC Indiana News)

8.     8.  “Doctor Deborah Givan with Riley Hospital for Children at IU Health says getting a bright start in the morning can help get body clock rhythm a bit more focuses."

9.     9. “.. put kids to bed when they are tired, and slowly start rolling back that time throughout the week, working towards an earlier bed time. (Mike Wilson, WIBC Indiana News)

10. “Dr. Burg says without enough sleep, kids can show signs of behavioral and learning problems.  He adds mood disorders aren’t uncommon from lack of sleep and contributes to children being late or missing school all together.” (Amaka Ubaka, News Channel 6 Omaha, NE)

As much as we hope that you can take something away from this top 10 list we’ve made, re-read number 10. Lack of sleep can cause mental and physical problems and delays.

Don’t forget that sleeping is something that we all take for granted and is something we should embrace and enjoy as many children don’t get this luxury; they don’t get a good night’s sleep, or even a bed for that matter.

What will you and your children do to help change this? Will you choose Sweet Sleep?

Why I Go

• There is nothing like seeing the faces of the children as you hand them a bed set that will change their lives. 
• There is nothing like when you hand a life saving mosquito net to a child that has HIV/Aids.  You know that it will help them live longer!  
• You see in action what Sweet Sleep is all about...being the hands & feet of Jesus to His children! 
• The Lord commands us to take care of the orphans & widows!  Because of that command and my love for children & missions, I am ready to go any time!

Alyson Walker

Thanks Alyson for sharing "Why you GO" on behalf of Sweet Sleep!

We want to hear your story! Share with us why you choose to partner with Sweet Sleep whether you pray, give, or go! "Why I Sweet Sleep" will be for the month of August!

Email your story to stephanie@sweetsleep.org!  We can't wait to hear how the Lord has used Sweet Sleep in your life!

"Why I Sweet Sleep"

 

"Why I Sweet Sleep"

1 Corinthians 12: 4-7 "Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit.  There are different ministries, but the same lord.  And there are different activities, but the same God is active in everyone and everything.  A manifestation of the Spirit is given to each person to produce what is beneficial." 12"For as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that ody, through many, are one body--so also is Christ."

Ephesians 4: 1-6 "I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, accepting one another in love, diligently keeping the unity of the Spirit with the peace that binds us.  There is on body and one Spirit just as you were called to one hope at your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all."

As these bible verses share, we are all a part of one body, the body of Christ.  This August campaign, “Why I Sweet Sleep” is displaying just that.  We want to gather stories from our friends and partners of Sweet Sleep who have joined together using their different gifts through praying, giving, and going.

What we ask you do to is share with us why you choose Sweet Sleep.  Why do you choose a ministry centered around providing beds for the orphaned and abandoned children of the world? What makes that stand out for you when you are choosing to pray, give, or go in honor of these sweet ones?

In order to share your story, we ask that you participate with us in this simple yet very impactful campaign.  All you  need available is a piece of cardboard or scrap paper and a dark marker.  Simply write pray, give, or go (just like in the video) onto the cardboard or paper, and then get someone to snap a photo of you holding it.  After that, write a brief paragraph of why you choose to partner with Sweet Sleep in the way you chose (pray, give, or go).  Once you’ve done those two things, just email an attachment of both to Stephanie, at Stephanie@sweetsleep.org. Then your story will be featured on our Facebook page and our blog!

We are so excited about this, and are even more excited to read your stories.  There’s something about encouraging one another in walking with Christ, and the Lord is using Sweet Sleep to do just that; building up a body of believers that are looking to serve, and in this case, serve children who are in need of a place to rest their head at night.

Thank you for being a partner of Sweet Sleep, and we pray that you would use this as an opportunity to expand His kingdom.  By sharing with others, encouragement is what will come.  Encouragement to others to get involved and be a part of something bigger than themselves and jump on board with serving the orphaned and abandoned children of the world!  Praise the Lord for that!

Share this video along with the campaign itself with friends and family and get on board and share, "Why you Sweet Sleep!"

Sweet Blessings,

The Sweet Sleep team

*like us on Facebook to see your story and keep up with what's going on at Sweet Sleep!

Awe

The last two days at My People Children Home went by too quickly. On Thursday, the beds, blankets and Bibles arrived. We then spent about three hours unloading the beds, putting them together, and then arranging them in the boys and girls dorms. It was amazing to see the faces of the children when they saw the beds in place. There was one little girl who looked in, and when she saw the beds she ran to one and said, “MINE!!!”. It’s amazing how little the people have but they are still happy.

On the last day, we threw a birthday party for the children because many of them don’t even know their own birthday. We gave them cake and toys to play with. Just seeing the grinning faces of the children struck me with awe. We didn’t give them much, but they were happy with what we gave them.

 In my opinion, we shouldn’t feel sorry for the people and children of Africa. We should feel sorry for the people and children in America. American children have more opportunities than the children of Africa, but they do not take them. Most of the time, American kids just sit on the couch and watch TV. In Africa, people take every opportunity they are given. Americans seem to expect more and are disappointed when they don’t get what they want. Americans are picky. Africans are always happy to receive something, no matter what it is.

Americans should be more like Africans. They always praise God. They are happy to go to church. Instead of “Oh, I have to go to church.” , it’s “I have he privilege to go to church.” I hope what we have said in these blogs will change people at home as much as it has changed the 16 members of this team.

Carter Gray

Want Versus Need

This whole trip has been a great experience, in that we are actually getting more blessings that the kids probably are. I realize how spoiled we are, how we have everything we need and most of what we want, yet are still complaining. They don’t even have some basic necessities of what they need, most of all a bed. I always complain about how my bed isn’t soft enough, or how I need a lighter or heavier blanket to stay cool or warmer at night. They have the ground, and that is pretty much it.

Today while putting all the beds together, I was noticing how all the children were wanting to help because they were so grateful that they got a bed. It overwhelmed me, how there is so much poverty here and how they can’t even afford a bed or a mat, and we were giving them one. Seeing them trying out and choosing their new bed, just laughing and all excited broke my heart, because if I got a new bed, I’d be like, “Oh, yea. A bed. Cool…” They were like, “YEAH!!! A BED!!! ” It broke my heart and showed me that I don’t have to have everything I want and can get by with what I’ve got.

Seeing things here makes me feel super selfish, because I complain about everything. I am a complainer. These people in Uganda hardly complain about anything. At home, I can just go to Sonic or Allsup’s to get a drink when I get thirsty, while they say, “Oh, I’ll just walk 5 miles to the nearest watering place and get a drink, and then carry it 5 miles back, on my head.”

The one thing that has really stuck out to me this entire trip is how grateful they are. They are just so excited and say thank you a million, million, jillion times for what you gave them even though you really didn’t give them all that much. There is so much more you could have given them, but they are like, “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much…” They are just so grateful for receiving something like that.
The biggest surprise to me has been how many people actually are living without a bed. I wasn’t expecting as much as I saw. Going into the houses we have been to, I’ve seen just how little they do have. I never knew there was that much poverty. I’ve heard about it all over place, but I never knew it was that bad. You never know until you see it.

When I go back home, I’ll probably be a lot more cautious about what I want and what I actually need. I probably won’t complain as much, and I won’t complain about Olney’s roads again, that’s for sure. I’ll learn to love what I have and be grateful for it, even though it might not be what I actually want. Not many over here in Uganda get what they actually need, much less want, unless they are the King or something. Back home, I was never one to go up to someone and say, “Hey, how are you?” I think I should do that more because whenever you say hi to a child here and ask how they are, they just light up because no one has ever really cared about them like that. I think I’ll be more friendly to people that I don’t know and take more time to talk to people and find out how they are doing.

Preparing for this trip, I thought “Oh, I’m going to Africa. No big deal…” , but now I’m like “Holy Cow. This is huge! I can do so much more than what I’m doing. When I get home, I plan on helping out more. I”m a big ol’ pack rat and I never give anything away, so I can give stuff to people who need it. I plan on tithing more with the money I get from working. I want to give money as well as clothes or whatever I have. Like the lady at the church in Uganda who didn’t have any money to give, so she put vegetables in the offering plate.

Sydney Montgomery

God is good..all the time! All the time..God is good!

Where to even begin… I will start off with a motto the kids at the children’s home say, “God is good… all the time! All the time… God is good!!!”. We are told daily by all the people we come into contact with that we are a blessing to them, but oh do they have it wrong. They have been blessing us so much and I have never felt more welcomed in a place than being here in Uganda.

The children at the home are amazing! You can tell such a difference in the demeanor of the kids compared to the kids in Gulu. These kids are so excited and happy all the time while the kids in Gulu were shy and seemed sad. They welcomed us with song and so many smiles. I have become buddies with a little boy and a little girl at the home. They have come running to me as soon as I step off the bus since the first day. They let me wrap my arms around them to just love on them for a few seconds, then it’s time to play!

The little boy’s name is Kato. He is probably about three or four years old. He is shy at first but then he just lets all of his energy out! Russell was playing with him and gave him the nickname “Giggles”, which perfectly describes Kato. He will just laugh and laugh and laugh even if there doesn’t seem to be anything to laugh at! I have known his name since the first day but today was the first day that he said mine back. It made my heart smile when he said my name today.

The little girls name is Peace. I believe she has the smile to bring World Peace! She is so kind and can speak a little bit of English. She is ten years old and worships God like nobodies business. This morning at the church service (where the Holy Spirit was overwhelmingly present) Peace was concerned about my skirt touching the dirt floor. It was so sweet and touching to know that she cares whether or not my skirt gets dirty. She gave me about ten hugs before we left today!

God has placed in my heart a passion for these Ugandan kids. They are so adorable and so lovable. I took for granted many things as a child, but it’s so awesome to know that we are giving them a little bit of what our childhood consisted of. I miss home and all of you I love, but it is going to be one of the hardest things I have ever done saying goodbye for the last time to these children. We all can only trust God and his protection over these kids and pray for them all the time.



Halli Betts

Paradise or Paradigm

What has struck me most is the stark contrast you run into in Uganda.

You have a very beautiful, beautiful country. Watching amazing animals, like the graceful giraffe going along. Everything is so beautiful and looks like a Garden of Eden, until you get into the populated areas, be it the villages or cities. There is so much poverty. Even though there are dirt yards, dirt roads, dirt everywhere, people do their best to keep it clean. Back home, the people living like that would be absolutely miserable, but these people are all friendly. they smile and just wave back.

Everyone we’ve walked up to just wants to embrace you and shake your hand or hug. They are all so friendly, giving love and wanting love in return. It boggles the mind, the fact that you meet with the children and their response, when anyone mentions Jesus, is an “Amen”. I’ve found that the children knew more about who Christ was than I ever expected.

These kids just break my heart. They come up to you to shake your hand and then they want to hug you and hold on and want to be held. They are giving their love and wanting love so badly. And to see them smile when they get something very, very simple, it makes their day. In Gulu, the kids were not so outgoing, smiling, happy-go-lucky, but quickly warmed up to you. We’ve found so many people working an ministering to them about The Word and their needs. To me, I’ve found that there is a little more help being done than I thought, but it is obvious that it isn’t near enough.

We met a grandmother trying to take care of 15-20 children. 15 in her home, and another 5 are over living in the children’s home. She is living off nothing, really. They are really self-sufficient, raising their own foods. I may sound like a broken record, but to see the joy and happiness, and the way they play and like to love on you and receive the love is just unimaginable. I don’t think it would be happening in the US.

When I go home, I’ve got to do more. I had already decided before I came that we would continue where we could to help support. Like keeping our change jars, that’s going to be an ongoing thing. I haven’t talked with the rest of the family about it, but I want to plan to come back. There will definitely be more prayer for these people and I’m going to try to raise some financial assistance for them, but I will definitely be trying to spread the word. These pictures tell a thousand words, but you’ve really go to see it, smell it, live it. You’ve got to tell people, open up their hearts. Help out any way you can. Monetary, goods, come on over and help. For me? I plan on coming back. There is just so much going on in my mind, it is just a blur.



Kevin Gray

Lovin' on Kids

Yesterday, we went to the children’s home. We met all the children and got to play with them a little bit. I met this little girl named Catherine. She is two years old and the youngest child in the orphanage. She absolutely stole my heart! I have held her the last two days and haven’t let her go.

Today when I got there I found her in the crowd of children and went to go get her. She went right to me and we went to worship. While we were listening to Cayleigh speak she fell asleep in my arms. I loved that she felt so loved and safe that she could fall asleep. She always plays with my hair and touches my face. She looks me in the eyes with such a passion and I can definitely see the love of Jesus in her eyes. She also tries to do everything that I do. When I hum to her, she hums. When I bend down and give her a big smile she will bend down and give me an even bigger one. She looks up to me and I love that.

I just have to remember to look up to Jesus so that when little kids look up to me they will look up to Jesus. In all that I do I have to remember to do it how God wants me to because you never know when someone is watching you. I have become very protective of her and I try to keep her safe from everything and everyone she comes in contact with. When I hear her cry I run over to her and wipe her tears away. If I could keep her I would.

I was sitting in the dirt with her playing and she saw that I had dirt on my hand. She grabbed my hand and began wiping all the dirt off. I guess that was a way of her wanting to protect me. Today I felt like crying when I left her. I just want her to go with me so I know she is protected. I know that the moms there take very good care of her but I need her with me. She doesn’t really need me but I need her. I think about how much I love her and know it’s not even close to the love that Jesus has for her. I hope that she feels as much love as I do when she is in my arms.

Thank you Jesus for Catherine and for dying on the cross for her. To the people that know me; y’all just thought I loved kids before, I love them a million times more now!!!

Staci Morgan

Amazing Faith

Today (Friday, July 27th) was our first day at My People’s Childrens Home, about 50 miles outside of Kampala, Uganda. The first thing that really impressed me was the spirituality and faith of the kids. They’ve been praying for us for months to show up, and when we drove up this little lane they were so excited that God had answered their prayers. And shortly after we got there, a lady came walking up with a young man that obviously was sick.

He had sores on him and part of his ears were missing. She had faith and wanted us to pray for him. And it just reminded me of the passage in the Bible when the lady eased through the crowd and touched Jesus’ garment and He turned and asked “Who touched me? Your faith has made you well.” And we got the opportunity to pray for this man, and after we were through his countenance was just…, his whole face was just different.

The presence of the Holy Spirit was awesome there today, because the pastor, the staff, and the ones who are taking care of the kids there are very spiritual and these kids seem to be happier than any we’ve seen yet, because of their faith.

I feel that spiritually, their prayers have been answered and will have a lot more faith in God because He has delivered something that they’ve prayed special for, so hard on for so long, and God delivered. These kids are literally sleeping on hard ground and concrete. They will now be off the ground and have their own bed, some place that they can call THEIRS. They have nothing, and having something they can call “THEIRS” will help them physically, spiritually and emotionally. They can look back and say that these people from America came over and God used them to answer our prayers, and that can lead them to being ministers themselves or be like Josephine, with Sweet Sleep. Someone who has a passion to help these kids that are orphans or living on the street.

It was really neat today when we planted two trees today to commentate Sweet Sleep and our church. They will have a memory from those trees that they can eat from as they bear fruit. I think they can use the trees as well as their spiritual walk to bear fruit and be a witness themselves. We are bearing fruit by coming over here and doing this. We bear fruit at home. And when the young kids come back some day and look at that tree, they can remember that God was faithful. To me, that was the most important thing, to build their trust in God even more.

Lonnie Wales

An Answer to Someone's Prayers

Driving back into Kampala after a 15 hour drive from Gulu was an experience. It was after dark and one van was without lights due to previous mechanical difficulties. The traffic was bumper to bumper for several hours. As we waited, several small children came to our window of the van begging. One of the children could not even reach the window and appeared no older than 3-4 years old. The following day we drove to My People’s Children’s Home, where many of the children like we saw that night have been taken off the street and provided love and shelter.

As we drove up, we were greeted with singing and dancing. We were shown the two buildings that Samaritan’s Purse built for dormitories for 65 children. The school building can only be described by a Texan as a rustic stable. The church, or common area, is a large tent. Inside each of the two buildings designed as dorms was an area approximately 25′ X 25′ that is the sleeping area for the approximate 65 children. One for the boys and one for girls. Currently, there are two mattresses for the girls and three mattresses for the boys. Everyone pretty much sleeps on the floor. The girls 16 years of age or older live in a separate building.

We were taken to an area under several trees that they called their Prayer Altar. Pastor Grace told us how thankful he was for Sweet Sleep, and how our coming was an answer to their prayers. Pastor Grace shared his vision and be able to provide them a place for love and shelter.

What a wonderful day it was, spending time with these children playing and singing. The children were so happy and excited to have us there. I met Very, who was 9 and spoke very good English. Very introduced me to her friends, Betty, Emma, Billy, Jackie, Rose, Paul, and many others. We played variations of jump rope with corn stalks tied together.

The important thing for me today was not only spending time with these beautiful children but realizing God truly sent our team to answer someone’s prayer. My Children’s Home staff members have been praying for these children and are committed to providing them love. Several times, Pastor Grace stated, “We have been praying for you and you are an answer to our prayers.”

Uganda is a beautiful country with generous loving people. Inspite of what they have been through in the past or currently suffering, they remain full of hope in God and trust him completely. I’ve said from the beginning that God was sending our team to Uganda in answer to someone’s prayers. I found out who many of them were today.

Debbie Key