Ehlana and Ethan:
Happy 1st Birthday, Aaron Landry!
Happy 27th Birthday, Paul Sparks!
Note to us – do not sign up for Halloween night babysitting in the future if that also comes with the annual fall time change! Yes, we can deal with a one-hour time adjustment, but we really didn’t get much sleep last night; and we are sure that the parents of the kids we took care of really appreciate our help with the first night of sugar overload that kept their angels bouncing off the walls until the wee hours of this morning. Don’t take that the wrong way, since we had fun with the kids – from the trick-or-treating time when we were handing out candy to the video gaming, Halloween movies, and play time we had with all of the kids that spent the night with us. Mom and Dad had fun at the pub after the trick-or-treating; got home before the time change – even after helping with designated driver duty; and were sleeping more than an hour before the babysitters in the house got started on nap time.
The kids were up early this morning despite the late night, and while that helped a bit with getting ready for church and feeding our overnight guests; it didn’t really help that it felt like it was an hour later than it was by the time we got to church and handed off the kids – so it was probably a good thing that we had Sunday school today; since we might have fallen asleep during Pastor John’s sermon. That might be an exaggeration, but we can assure you that some naps did happen during the sermon; since we heard all about those stories at lunch with Mom and Dad. Ethan and I were on our own for that meal with our parents; and then we opted to head for the lab to work-play with our books or beakers – even though it was a really nice, sunny afternoon; and many of our cousins and friends went out to play while we were working. We used time phasing to do more work; came home in time for a late dinner; did a bit of work and a Magi lesson in the office; and then we moved on to an early bath or Jacuzzi break before getting around to this journal update and the rest of our usual nightly computer checks and twin chat fun. We’re getting tired, since the lack of sleep last night, the time change, and the extra hours we’ve had thanks to the time phasing are all adding up on us; so let’s get to the travel and world news updates and then call it a night.
Cassie and Michael are starting their Monday as we’re writing this, and while we haven’t mentioned the time zone gap very much; they have been jumping time zones as they’ve crossed Africa from west to east. Adding in our fall time change; and they’ve now jumped several hours from where they started on the west coast. Along with the work and driving they’ve been doing; Cassie and Michael did a bit of sightseeing on Sunday that included visiting a wildlife sanctuary that our family business and charities help to support. Yes, that was work too, but unofficially; since they didn’t reveal the connection and wanted to get the ‘real’ look at the place without any staging for promotional or fundraising purposes. They got to see quite a few of the best-known African animals in the wild; and no, Cassie did not try to use her Magi talents to play with the big kitties or other wild animals! They’ll be continuing their work in Kenya for a few more days with a lot of that work happening around Nairobi; and then they’ll work their way north toward Somalia and Ethiopia as they head into the weekend.
On the world news front, the protests and riots in Europe have gained a lot of attention as they continue to spread; and Germany was added to the list of countries dealing with the damage being done by the mobs that are protesting bad governments and the deepening economic crises. The destruction in Ukraine continues and is far-worse, but getting less attention in the western media because ‘our’ side can’t admit just how badly the war is going for Ukraine. Over the weekend, the Russian attacks rolled on with more bridges being hit and more ships trying to haul weapons and other freight for Ukraine being targeted in the Black Sea. We’ll guess that those ships were mostly dealing with weapons; since shipping companies should be staying far away from Ukraine when the risks to their ships and cargoes are so high. Ukraine’s leaders continue to cling to their delusions of grandeur while their country literally burns; so the peace talks will still be going nowhere as long as they continue to believe that they can continue to enrich themselves at the expense of their citizens.
There isn’t much news out of the Middle East, but everyone is waiting to find out whether the hot war with Iran will resume or not this week. The odds of that happening before the midterms are going down the closer we get to Tuesday while a big loss for the Republicans might increase the risks after them; since President Trump will have nothing to lose when he can’t run for a third term. We can only wait to see what will happen and be ready to help where we can regardless of how badly our world leaders mess up our economy and world.
As for our own lives, we’ll be transitioning from Halloween and fall fun to Thanksgiving and Christmas. The football playoffs begin on Friday and our opponent with be Three Rivers; we have home team advantage at least for the first couple of rounds; and our team is going to be ready to play our best by game day. That will keep us busy along with everything else we have on the go; so we expect to have long, full days through to the end of the year. Stay tuned; since we hope that this will be another best-ever-so-far kind of holiday season!
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
