Ehlana and Ethan:
Happy 82nd Birthday, Grandpa Shawn!
Happy 3rd Birthday, Lyle Landry!
We can report that the weather in Arizona is better than here at home – especially first thing this morning when it was in the low-fifties there and just one degree here around the time that we had our vid-chat with our grandparents during breakfast. It was even-warmer for Cassie and Michael in Bangladesh, but they hadn’t been there for long when we had that vid-chat; and hadn’t been able to enjoy the sun and warm yet while traveling between airport and hotel in Dhaka. Grandpa had gifts to open and had the other grandparents wintering down there with him for his birthday breakfast; so our own meal and that chat was a blast of fun with cameo moments that we each took turn with before it was time to wrap it up and move on. Lyle’s birthday was the top news for the Landry and Green clans, but other than offering our best wishes; we didn’t really get involved in the celebrations for Lyle – though Mom and Dad delivered a family gift that was mostly from Cassie and Michael.
As for our own adventures, we had fun at church and Sunday school; we had a quiet lunch with Mom and Dad; and then we went to Sophia’s for the afternoon study session that she hosted. Ethan and I did more tutoring than studying; wrapped up by around four-thirty because some of our friends were booked for dinner at the Inn – the first buffet sitting. We didn’t do that or go to the late buffet either – we had a quiet meal with Mom and Dad; took care of the clean-up; and then had some quiet time with our parents before we all opted for an early bedtime ahead of Dad’s trip to Crystal Springs. We don’t need to comment on why they thought that was a great idea – I was happy to get the early Jacuzzi time; and we’re both ready for the extra sleep ahead of another busy school week. Before we move on, though, let’s mention that tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day, and while Dad is going to the city tomorrow; the courts are closed for the day and he is doing other meetings without Anna Marie. She’ll head out later tomorrow or Tuesday to help with the court work; and they are expecting to be home early on Friday – maybe even by lunchtime.
Moving along, we’ve already mentioned that Cassie and Michael are in Bangladesh, but it is also already Monday there and they’ve gotten to work after a handful of hours of nap time. They haven’t passed along any news yet beyond the appreciation of the warm weather; and they are expecting good weather for their week in the country with lows around sixty and highs in the eighties every day. That should make the travel and work more fun – and they plan on covering a lot of ground around the country after they spend the first two days in and near the capital city. We’ll keep you posted on their adventures; and wish that we could be there too instead of writing exams for official records on material we learned as toddlers! ;^)
That brings us to the world news update for the weekend. There isn’t any good news thanks to our own national leaders. Thanks to them, Iran is bracing for new attacks from our military – and possibly from Israel too. The protests there that have been getting so much attention have quieted and that is mostly because counter-protests in support of the government became larger than the protests being supported by western countries and three-letter agencies and their proxies. The people of Venezuela are having a similar reaction to our military strikes and kidnapping their President and his wife; and there have been protests in Greenland against us too. Having thousands show up to do that is a big deal in a territory that only has around sixty thousand residents! Imagine if five percent of our population showed up for a protest in Washington! ;^)
Staying with the Greenland story, other NATO nations are not happy with President Trump’s threats against anyone that tries to stop him from taking Greenland; and getting our allies mad at us is a bad idea. Yes, the entire idea of taking Greenland is a bad idea too, but our leaders don’t seem to care about any of that – or what the people of Greenland want either. We’ve already covered all of our reason for why this is dumb; so let’s move on and wrap this up.
Ukraine is a mess and it is getting so bad for the Ukrainian people that the mayor of Kiev is asking the residents of the capital to leave if they have alternate options. It is cold in Ukraine and they don’t have power for most of every day thanks to all of the infrastructure destruction; and they can’t keep the entire city powered and heated anymore. Food supply is sure to be an option too, since without electricity; they can’t keep food frozen or cold in the stores or homes. Evacuating the largest city in the country is a bad sign of things to come in the country; and we haven’t even gotten into the problems on the front lines. Russia is making gains every day; and the Ukrainian army is having a tough time just trying to keep the soldiers they have as morale plunges and desertions escalate along with all of the soldiers being killed or seriously injured every day. We still can’t offer an opinion on when the collapse will come, but it is now inevitable; so Ukraine’s leaders should take whatever terms they can get from Russia and end this before they are forced to surrender. We don’t want to think about what will happen if their western backers try to escalate and send in their own troops; since we really don’t want to see this war spread beyond Ukraine – and it would do that if NATO got directly and overtly involved.
That’s enough for tonight. We really do want to get the sleep while we can – especially when we’ll be studying with our friends again tomorrow. We will be at full-power by then, though, and don’t need to get up early for Dad’s departure; since he’ll be able to have breakfast with us before heading to the city for his first meeting of the day. We’ll have those stories and more for you tomorrow night, but that’s all for now; so we’re out of here and off to dreamland.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
