He hears everything, so I wasn’t surprised when he asked about the children without clean, safe places to sleep they were talking about on the radio.

Kids without beds? Being bit by bugs while you sleep?

He was genuinely bothered by what he had just heard. He remembered a time they talked about something similar at church.

I asked him if he wanted to find a way to help. He said yes.

I was thrilled because this went along with one of the family ties I have been working on for my 31 days series: serve together.

Not long after this conversation, I traveled to another part of country for a moms’ conference and learned of a company called Sweet Sleep. It was just what we had been looking for – an organization committed to providing clean, healthy places for children to rest their heads.

And now, because of a brilliant challenge dreamed up by my dear friend Amanda, I get to share more about Sweet Sleep with you today!

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Monthly Missions are all about teaching our kiddos to do the “hard things.” Serving, giving, making a difference for those who are in need. You can read more about the whole shebang over in the introduction at Amanda’s awesome-sauce blog!

Nickels for Nets

The Monthly Mission for February is Nickels for Nets, an initiative from Sweet Sleep to help stop the spread of malaria.

Did you know 1 in 5 childhood deaths are due to malaria, with 90% of those deaths happening in Africa? I had NO clue it was that rampant and it BREAKS. MY. HEART.

Mosquito nets can save lives by preventing mosquito bites in the first place. Each net costs just $8.00, or 160 nickels!

Big J decided he wants to collect enough nickels to sponsor five nets. Five nets = $40 = 800 nickels!

**Update: A sweet real-life friend has offered to help collect nickels towards our goal in another city so we are changing our blog goal to TEN NETS sponsored! WOOHOO! So excited! Thanks R & E! Doing a little happy dance!

Here’s what we’re doing:

We are reading more about malaria and mosquito nets so the boys understand how we are helping these kids. It’s all part of the “do hard things” aspect – I want them to really know what they are a part of when they step out.

Nickels for Nets flier

We made up some fliers to hand out to people at places we frequent – church, the gym, the library, etc. – so they know he is collecting all month. I included contact information and our blog address in case they wanted to donate later or check on our progress!

Big J is taking his Nickels for Nets box everywhere he goes! You can use anything to collect the money – we just happened to have the box already! I am already seeing a boldness in him as he tells people about malaria and the program. My heart swells to see him taking on this challenge with such enthusiasm!

When the month is over, we will count all of our money and make our donation through the Sweet Sleep website!

I put a little thermometer over there in the sidebar so you can see how we’re doing with the goal! I’ll be sharing updates throughout the month on Instagram, and to wrap it all up, we’ll link up a final post over at Amanda’s site!

And that’s it! Want to join us?!

All you really need to do is help your kids understand the problem of malaria and be a part of the solution by collecting nickels to buy nets! HOW you go about doing all of this is up to you! Make it fun and make it fit your family!

So who’s in?! Who will accept the Nickels for Nets mission with us?! Can’t wait to follow everyone’s progress throughout the month!

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