Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - March 24, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 9^th Birthday, William Connor!

Happy 26^th Birthday, Ryan Cross!

Ethan and I didn’t have anything to do with either of the birthdays of the day, but Cassie and Michael sent a gift for Ryan and did a vid-chat with him this morning at breakfast.  We did wish William the best while at school, but that mostly just surprised him – as it does for other kids and teens that aren’t really used to talking to us at all as we run in different circles.

As for our own adventures, Tai Chi was by the river; we had fun at school with our academic adventures and band practice; and then we were home for dinner and some studying before heading to the church for the teen praise team practice.  Easter is coming up fast, so we had a longer practice with a full run-through of the sunrise service and the rest of the music we’ll be doing over the holiday weekend; so we were later than normal getting home too.  Mom and Dad were still working in the office then, so we did some work and a Magi lesson with Mom; and then we headed up to the third floor to get ready for bed and deal with the computer checks and enjoy the wind-down twin chat fun.

As I write that, ‘fun’ is not really the word to use for the world news of the day.  President Trump is talking about peace with Iran again, but we don’t believe the words when what is actually happens includes moving thousands of troops to the Middle East along with the weapons that would be needed for a ground invasion.  It doesn’t matter what their goals are; any ground offensive is insanity and an escalation that can only end badly for everyone.  Iran’s leaders are not going to see all of that incoming weaponry and personnel and believe that peace is imminent – they’ll get ready for what is coming and be ready to fight back and retaliate.  They’ve warned of this; so our leaders can’t claim that they are surprised if their actions backfire.  Okay, they’ll try to lie anyway, but nobody should believe them – just as they shouldn’t believe them now.

Ethan and I are tired; so we’re not going to rant on this anymore.  The ‘extension’ that President Trump gave Iran on Monday expires on Friday; and we expect that the next escalation will come this weekend – if not a bit sooner.  We’ll keep you posted on that even though it will be history for you whenever you’re reading this update, so stay tuned for that; and we’ll go have a nap starting right now.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - March 23, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 46^th Birthday, Hannah Draper!

My future mother-in-law’s special day is the top story of the day for us – even without doing any bonus co-ed sleepovers to get her a kid-free night!

While the birthday dinner party was the highlight of our day, we started out with Tai Chi by the river this morning even though it was cold.  It didn’t warm up all that much either – only into the low-fifties; but we had fun at school even without the outdoor time.  Ethan and I came home from school to change and get ready for the party; and then we went over to Aiden’s house and got to work helping out with the dinner prep work.  Mom and Dad were among the party guests too – and Naomi; we helped with some next-gen kids – cousins of Aiden’s; and we enjoyed the meal while staying on the sidelines for the birthday roasting during the meal.  We were on the clean-up crew too; the early evening included some video gaming for the kids; and then we all left for our homes when Nathan needed to head for bed ahead of another work day.

We got home by around nine o’clock; did some work and a Magi lesson in the office; and now we’re winding down toward nap time with the usual twin chat and computer checks.

The world news was volatile all day starting with President Trump’s claims of promising talks with Iran that sent energy prices plunging on the markets – even though Iranian leaders claimed that there were no talks happening at all.  President Trump also claimed that he postponed attacks on energy infrastructure to try and force Iran to ‘open’ the Strait of Hormuz; yet tonight there have been missile strikes on Iranian energy facilities – suggesting that those promises meant nothing.  We are not surprised; and suggest that the Iranian leaders should not trust anything they’re told or promised if they ever do actually re-start talks with America and Israel.

Lebanon is being bombed and attacked too; and we wonder how long Israel can continue to fight wars on so many fronts before they can’t do it anymore – or their international support stops.  They are responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people over the past couple of years along – along with hundreds of thousands of injuries; so we suggest that they’ve been responsible for far-more death and destruction than any terrorists have done in the entire world.

That’s been enough depressing news for tonight.  Ethan and I had a good day and we enjoyed getting to help Aiden’s Mom with making her day happy too; so we’ll take the happy thoughts into dreamland starting right now.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - March 22, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 51^st Birthday, Claire Norton!

Since our last update, our canoe adventure to the whirlpool was amazing – especially thanks to the sunny and hot weather!  We especially loved getting to do that with some of our favorite parents, Cassie, and Michael; and then Ethan had fun with Naomi and our parents for the rest of the day after that while I did the same with Aiden and his family.  We don’t really need to cover every detail from yesterday, but our canoeing highlights included a race that the girls won; we did some shoreline exploring around the whirlpool; and the exercise and water time was awesome – even without any swimming.  We each had home-made dinners that we helped with cooking and the clean-ups; there was some ‘live’ music fun at both homes; and then there were movies and cuddle time through to the end of our respective Saturday nights.

While Ethan and I were split up for Tai Chi this morning, Aiden and I had our workout with Cassie and Michael and Ethan and Naomi had our parents to themselves for that workout and breakfast too.  Aiden and I were with his family for that meal; we all met up at church; and the service and Sunday school were good and kept us busy for the rest of the morning.  Ethan and I were home for lunch with Mom and Dad; and then we spent the afternoon hanging out with Cassie, Michael, and some next-gen kids, cousins, and friends.  It was cooler today with the high of sixty-eight, but still mostly-sunny; and we enjoyed the quieter outdoor play time that didn’t include any extreme exercise.  We also wrapped up in time to get ready for Claire’s birthday dinner at the Inn; Ethan and I had our dates with us for that meal; and we were drafted to help out with next-gen kid control while our parents were busy with their friends for that couple of hours of food fun.

Ethan and I came home with Mom and Dad after we left the Inn; did some work and a Magi lesson in the office; and then it was bath or Jacuzzi time ahead of our return to school in the morning.  We’re ready to do that; and are happy to report that we’ve had an awesome week off even without any major travel adventures or even any day trips to the city or elsewhere!

Now we need to get through the world news update; and that isn’t nearly as good.  President Trump has set another deadline – this one already half-over for the forty-eight hours he gave Iran to ‘open the Strait of Hormuz’ or face extreme consequences.  Iran isn’t going to change their position; which is that the strait is open except to America, Israel, and their allies supporting the war in any way.  Iran also continues their retaliations hitting new targets in Israel and elsewhere; and have assured their enemies that Middle East infrastructure will not be safe if the attacks on their energy and nuclear facilities continue or other escalations are inflicted on them.  The Houthis in Yemen have also warned of closing the Red Sea passage will be closed too if the attacks on Iran and Lebanon continue; so escalation dangers are everywhere in the region.

The Ukraine war is not forgotten for the people directly involved even when it is mostly ignored in the news, but there are dangers continuing there – including risks of energy infrastructure attacks that could continue to affect world markets and prices.  Let’s also point out again that we’re more than three weeks into the Iran war now; so oil, gas, and petroleum products deliveries are going to start dropping off now as the break in the supply chain hits.  That won’t happen all at once, since transit times range from a few weeks to a month and change, but the impacts will be affecting ports first and then spread inland from there.  That might not seem like a big deal in the overall supply chain system, but the numbers are adding up fast just for that region of the world; and it will continue to grow worse every day as problems mount for both loaded ships unable to deliver to the Persian Gulf and empty ships that can’t reload or get out of the region.

Ethan and I do not want to get into another economic rant tonight, since that isn’t as-important as the need to stop the death and destruction across the Middle East and Ukraine.  There is a lot of pressure being applied to get other countries to join the fight against Iran; and we’ll hope that doesn’t get worse than it already is; since there are risks that countries could offer more support to Iran and lead to even more-dangerous escalations.

Let’s stop there.  Ethan and I need to get some sleep and be ready for school in the morning; so we’ll do that and keep you posted on all of the latest at home and around the world as we get back to ‘normal’ school and work week adventures.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - March 21, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

The last weekday of our spring break was amazing!  We had a blast with our friends and cousins on our biking adventure to Quarry Lake, and while we won’t cover every detail; let’s mention some highlights.  We took two trailers with us – one for Silkie and Lady; and the other for two next-gen kids.  We agreed to take two of them with us to the campground; met up with Cassie, Michael, and some parents there for lunch and some of the play time; and then we switched out those kids and dogs for four other kids for the return trip.  The biking took a bit longer for some of us with the trailers, but we didn’t ask anyone to stay with us for the slower pace; and only had our best friends, Brianna, and Faith with us for all of the ride time.  The Quarry Lake play time included playground time and some beach play, but the water was too-cold for swimming; and we couldn’t do any of the activities like the rock walls or zip lines.  The picnic lunch was good; and then Cassie and Michael took most of the remnants home with them so we didn’t need to haul that gear home too.

There was still time to play once we got back to town, but we also helped with kid control at the Carringtons while some of our favorite adults took care of the dinner prep work and grilling.  Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne had a large gang of family and friends join in on that meal, and while some of us were outdoors – mostly the kids and teens, the ground was too-soft for tables and chairs; so most of the diners ate indoors.  We helped with the post-dinner clean-up; and then our evening entertainment included a visit to the park playground; some of the guys played video games led by Zack and Eli; we watched a movie; and then Naomi hosted the co-ed sleepover with three of her best friends while Sophia and Aaron had their own plans for last night.

We eventually got some sleep; and then we ended up doing our Tai Chi workout by the river and with the Carringtons.  Breakfast with the Seagers was fun – even with all of the work we did for the cooking and clean-up while her parents enjoyed supervising our efforts.  Ethan and I have been busy with our chores since then; and now we’re getting cleaned up and ready for a canoe trip to the whirlpool.  Yes, the water is still very cold, but it is also sunny and the high will be around eighty-eight!  This update is happening now because Ethan and I will be split up after the canoe adventure for the rest of the day.  He’s going to host Naomi here; and I’ll be with Aiden and his family for the night.  The rest of our story for today can wait for our weekend and spring break wrap-up tomorrow night.

While we get started on the play parts of our day; we’ll leave you with just a bit of world news.  Israeli and American forces continue attacks on Iran’s nuclear and energy facilities along with many other targets; and Iran continues to retaliate while keeping shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz limited.  Rumors of using ground troops continue as more resources are being sent to the area; and history seems to be repeating as we collectively stand on the edge of another never-ending war.  Our world leaders should be ashamed over destroying yet another country; and they should all hope that payback doesn’t come directly to their own countries – whether they’ve been directly involved in these wars or complicit by association.

It’s time for us to go now; so that’s all for this report.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - March 20, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 23^rd Birthday, Scott Faulkner!

We don’t have much news from our day-so-far because it is still just getting started; and this is just going to be a placeholder update because we’re going to be busy for the rest of the day.  It is going to be sunny with a high in the mid-eighties; so we’ve decided on a bike ride to Quarry Lake with cousins and friends; and then we’ll be having another co-ed sleepover after the family-and-friends’ dinner and play night that is going to be at the Ayres’ home this week.  Enjoying the great weather and fun with our favorite people is going to be awesome; so we’re good with taking the day off from any major work or computing beyond helping with some kid control when needed; so let’s wrap this up.

The news we do have for today is from the rest of our Thursday.  Ethan and I had fun with Mom and our best friends at dinner and through the evening.  In addition to an awesome pasta and sides meal; we had a blast with a group Magi lesson – not literally; we had some ‘live’ music play time; the guys did a bit of video gaming while the girls had some chat time with Mom in the living room; and then we wrapped up the day with movies, teen chat, and quality co-ed cuddle time before getting around to the co-ed naps in the lounge.  Tai Chi was by the river this morning; the teens took care of all work around the hot pancakes and bacon breakfast; and now we’re split up while getting ready for our biking adventure.  Ethan and I need to get back to that work – including packing our picnic lunch and the rest of the gear we’ll need.  Stay tuned for our next update; and we’ll share all of the adventure stories from the rest of what will hopefully be an amazing spring break day!

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