A Little Madness Never Hurt Anyone

Lent Madness has become a 'thing' at our house - during Lent, we pause the family devotional study (whatever it might be at the time) and we do Lent Madness. The kids and I will read about the saints du jour, discuss their lives and how they act as examples in our own walks of faith, and then we decide who we like best. We follow along with the bracket and work our way with other Church members towards the eventual awarding of the Golden Halo. It's a fun way to get the kiddos thinking about how we live out our stated beliefs.

It's nice to see we're not the only ones: Lent (Madness) at Home with Teens and Tweens

The site does have some more serious resources for Lent devotionals, too, but I think Lent Madness is a fun family devotion!

Links!

• Library Land
• Western Sydney University makes etextbooks available for free to all first-year students  "To ensure our students have everything they need to make the most of their studies, this innovative initiative means every student in every first-year subject will have free and simple access to the textbooks, delivering learning benefits individually and collectively to the entire class." Hurrah!
• World Read Aloud Day "World Read Aloud Day motivates children, teens, and adults worldwide to celebrate the power of words and creates a community of readers taking action to show the world that the right to literacy belongs to all people." Whether you simply read a story to your kiddos (even those "too old" for bedtime stories), take the time to read a poem aloud to yourself, or arrange an entire class devoted to it, take some time to celebrate the right to read!
• Science, Health, & Technology
• Humans causing climate to change 170 times faster than natural forces  Meanwhile, Republicans are trying to kill the EPA. 
• International
• At least 60 killed in suicide attack at Pakistani shrine 
• U.S. News
• Republicans begin effort to gut the Endangered Species Act  "The Republicans on the committee...argued that the 1973 law to keep animal species from extinction impedes oil drilling, mining, and farming, and infringes on the rights of states and private landowners. The proposed legislation would make it harder to list animals on the endangered species list and limit legal action under the 1973 law, among other changes." Because when profit is your religion, who cares how many species go extinct? 
• ‘This is really unprecedented’: ICE detains woman seeking domestic abuse protection at Texas courthouse 
• Refugee caps ordered by Trump are resulting in job loss and charity closures
• Do voter identification laws suppress minority voting? Yes. We did the research. 
• White House Plans to Have Trump Ally Review Intelligence Agencies Craziness. 
• Trump Administration Plans New Immigration Order Next Week, Ends Legal Push in Appeals Court 
• Why Liberals Are Wrong About Trump Very insightful and much appreciated (at least, by me) political critique. One very minor quibble: There's no ingredient list or overall quantities given. 
• Donald Trump’s combative, grievance-filled press conference, annotated