Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - April 1, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

It is April Fool’s Day, and while we’d love to spend some time making jokes about politicians; we’ll resist the urge.  There were pranks and jokes around school and town today, but we didn’t get involved; and weren’t personally hit by any pranks.

As for the rest of our day, Tai Chi was chilly, but we exercised by the river anyway.  Breakfast was standard school day fare, but we had a fun vid-chat with Cassie and Michael; so that was pretty good too.  Our academic adventures were fun – even with the goofiness going on around us; and then our band practice was mostly about getting ready for the Memorial Day parade.  It was also short because there was a separate practice for the musicians helping out with the Easter weekend music at church.  That might sound weird to teens in other places, but it is normal here for our music teachers to help our teen praise teams with instrumental music.

Since we were busy with band after school, we went home for dinner with Mom and Dad; and then headed over to the lab for the evening.  We used time phasing to ‘make’ more time; worked for the equivalent of eight hours; and came home at a bit after eleven o’clock.  Ehlana got more done with her experiments than I did with my books, but then that was mostly because what I was working on was very technical with multiple uses; so it took time to process and then cross-reference to everywhere in the archives where the knowledge will be most-useful.  Trust me, that process is boring; and you really don’t want the details!  Ehlana, on the other hand, is always happy to get into details for her work, and if you’re interested; she has special archives for her research and experiments where you can get all of that information! ;^)

Moving along, we did a snack and chat with Mom and Dad after getting home; bath or Jacuzzi time followed; and now it is getting late as we wrap up our day with the usual computer checks and twin chat.  That’s why we aren’t going to get into a major commentary on world news – though it is certain to be a busier news day tomorrow as President Trump rolls out new tariffs.  Ehlana and I might have commentary on that story once we get some of the details, but we can tell you right now that we really wish that all world leaders would care as much about ending the wars as they pretend to care about the impact of economic policies on ‘normal’ people.  We really don’t want to get into any rants and need the sleep we still have time for tonight; so let’s stop there before we really get going on all of the stupidity going on in the world.  You will be very blessed in your ‘now’ if you have better leaders and a more-peaceful world; so we’ll hope for that for you – and for our future selves!

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - March 31, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 13^th Birthday, Brandon Green!

We had a gift for Brandon that we gave him while at school, but while he’s only a year younger than us; we don’t hang out with him very often.  That seems a bit funny to us when we do spend time with Seth and they are both friends and cousins, and Jeremy is Kaitlyn’s match, but even in a small town; it doesn’t really work to hang out with gangs of fifty to seventy-five teens and tweens.

Moving on, our day started with indoors Tai Chi thanks to it being freezing outside; and then we still went with a hot breakfast despite not actually getting cold first.  It did warm up into the fifties eventually, but we still spent most of our school day indoors; and then Ehlana and I opted for the lab or archives work-play time.  We had fun with that, but didn’t go with staying there all evening too –we came home for dinner with Mom and Dad; and then we had a work evening in the office.  Our focus for charities and the family business was for the post-earthquake needs, but we also did a bit for Cassie and Michael.  They are mostly doing rural project site visits and meetings through tomorrow; and then they’ll be in California from Wednesday through the weekend before they’ll turn around and start heading east through the southernmost States.

We worked in the office until ten o’clock with added hours in time phases; and Ehlana and I have been doing our nightly computer checks and twin chat since then.  As we move into April, tariffs are in the news as President Trump has promised to match our tariffs to whatever tariffs are placed on our exports by the rest of the world.  We’re sure that whatever ends up happening; there will be impact on world trade and economies; so we’re sure to have more need of our charities and businesses.  Mom will lead the way for dealing with the impacts; and we’ll keep you posted on at least some of the highlights.  We do want to note that the attempts to scare everyone are really dumb.  Tariffs have been around for a very long time, and even when changes happen; it takes months or even longer for the impacts to actually effect final consumers.  That is obvious when supply chains are months-long just in transport and production time; so fear should not be an issue at all.  News flash – international trade or trade of any kind is often unfair to someone!  That won’t change over the next few days regardless of tariff changes; since we’ll all just see other changes to adapt or get around the tariffs.

While most of that nonsense is getting a lot of attention; the warmongers continue to defeat any attempts at peace – though we still doubt the sincerity of those peace efforts when nothing real happens on the ground with any of the conflicts.  President Trump ran on a peace-making platform, but that apparently means something different to us; since all we’ve heard lately is closer to war-is-peace as he’s signed off on bombing Yemen; threatens to bomb Iran; and is basically continuing the same policies for Ukraine that have led to the current and horrifying state of death and destruction in Ukraine that will only get worse as the war continues.

None of that news is happy or good for the majority of people in the world, but we just can’t get stuck in those darker thoughts; so that’s all for tonight.  We’re going to get some sleep now and shoot for happy dreams; since there is hope for the future and she is out there right now taking just a bit of Light into the world and changing lives for the better along the way! ;^)

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - March 30, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 30^th Birthday, Jake Stone!

Happy 24^th Birthday, Shannon Wildes!

Cassie and Michael aren’t here for either birthday, so we helped out with delivering gifts and offering personal best wishes.  Ehlana and Naomi added in hugs and kisses; and only got teased a bit for kissing Cassie’s brother-in-law while at church!

The rest of our day has been pretty good, but it has cooled down and we’ve had rain off-and-on all day too; so we stayed indoors for most of the day.  That started with indoor Tai Chi and breakfast; the church service and Sunday school time was great; and then Ehlana and I had a quick lunch with Mom and Dad before getting a ride to the lab so that we could play there for the afternoon.  We didn’t have any special dinners or parties to go to, so we played with our books or beakers until a bit after six; Mom had dinner ready by the time we got home; and we enjoyed that meal with Mom and Dad while catching up on our afternoon adventures.  Ehlana and I took care of the clean-up, and since Dad had his work finished; we watched a movie with them before bath or Jacuzzi time.

Now that we’re clean and ready for bed, the computer checks and twin chat hasn’t taken long; and we really don’t want to write about yet another day of bad news from the world and our collective political leaders.  Even the talk of peace seems to be ending without any productive results and the warmongers appear to be winning that battle while Ukraine and the Middle East continue to be destroyed and thousands die every day.  The death toll from the earthquake in Myanmar continues to rise, and as always, it is always the poorest regions of the world that lose the most in human costs because they can’t afford to either build in safer locations or meet standards that will keep buildings from collapsing during disasters.  Mom and Cassie continue to help where they can every day, but recovery will take years; so they are also looking at new projects to help with that too.

We could go on with more stories and commentary, but prefer to stay happy; so that’s all for this report.  We’ll be moving on to April after the last day of March on Monday; so let’s hope for better as we head into spring.  Yes, we know that the true changes needed in the world are unlikely to happen anytime soon, but we aren’t going to give up that hope – especially when our side has Cassie and Michael out there now changing the world a little bit at a time everywhere they go!  It is time to get some sleep, though, so we’re out of here and off to dreamland right now.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - March 29, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

We had a lot of fun with our family and friends yesterday.  The biking and park play was great and we loved the warm weather; dinner with Mom, Dad, and our four best friends was great – and grilled with side dishes that we helped to make; and then our evening included some live music play time, movies, and lots of co-ed cuddle time.  That last part included Mom and Dad for one movie with us, but then they headed for bed while we stayed up too late and kept the fun going.  We did eventually get around to some co-ed nap time; and then we used a bit of fatigue healing this morning to help with getting back to full power.

Tai Chi was by the river and it was still fairly-warm with the low in the mid-fifties.  Our friends had their own plans for chores or other work after breakfast, so Ehlana and I were put to work on our own house and yard chores.  We kept busy with that until wrapping up and having a lat lunch; and then we headed for the lab or archives for the rest of the afternoon.  We didn’t get a lot of rain this afternoon, but there were some showers; so our work-play with books or beakers worked for us; and we had fun through until dinnertime – which tonight was pushed a bit later so that we could work longer – and Dad could get his work for the weekend done too.  Mom had everything ready by the time we got home; we had a nice chat with Mom and Dad while enjoying the meal; and then the teens in the house took care of the clean-up before we came up to the third floor for an early bath or Jacuzzi break and an early bedtime.

That brings us up to now.  We’re definitely getting rain tonight, so we’re happy to be indoors and dry – and warm; since the temperature is dipping too.  We are not going to get into world or political news tonight because we want to stay happy; and will only add that the ongoing stupidity continues with no end in sight for the carnage and destruction.  We have extra prayers for everyone dealing with the aftermath of the earthquake in Myanmar and the neighboring countries; and Mom and Cassie continue to do what they can to help through our charities and partnerships in the region.  We want to catch up on our sleep, since we have had a long day on not much sleep last night; so that’s it for this update.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - March 28, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 3^rd Birthday, James Connor!

While we didn’t have anything to do with James’ special day; he is one of the next-gen kids that will be friends with some of our cousins – or Cassie and Michael’s nieces and nephews; so he does have that connection to us and we wish him the best today.

As for our day-so-far; Tai Chi was by the river and we enjoyed the warmer start to the day; our academic adventures kept us busy until we could get started on the weekend; and we’re just getting to that now and will be meeting up with our friends for biking and park play again so that we can all enjoy another warm, sunny day.  The high is still in the mid-seventies, so that’s perfect for biking; and we’re hosting a co-ed sleepover with our four best friends; so we’ll keep the fun going for the rest of the day.

We also need to get going soon to meet up with everyone, but before we do that, we want to mention that there was a major earthquake in Myanmar that has affected a handful of countries – including the collapse of a high-rise building that had been under construction in Bangkok, Thailand.  There were dozens of construction workers on-site at the time, and from the videos taken as the building collapsed; there may not be many survivors.  We’re mentioning this because Mom has worked most of the day organizing help where needed most; and Cassie helped with translating and interpreting in addition to the work she and Michael have been doing with meetings and site visits while out on the road and continuing their journey to the west coast.

We really do need to go now, so that’s all for today.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!