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

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 14^th Birthday, Aiden!

This is just a placeholder update because Ehlana and I are only here long-enough to grab overnight bags and get ready for Aiden’s birthday dinner and party.  We’ve helped with making his day awesome so far even with school and our football practice, and that included going over to his house for breakfast and having a special lunch for him too, but the rest of the story can wait because we really don’t have time to do a proper update now – and won’t be together later because Ehlana will be staying with Aiden tonight while I’ll be with Naomi after the party.

We’ll save the rest of the news from Cassie and Michael or from around the world for politics and more until tomorrow night too; so that’s all for today and we are out of here and ready to have fun with Aiden, his family, and our friends!

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

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

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

The top news story of the day for world news has been Hurricane Melissa hitting Jamaica, and while it will be days before we know the full impact; we are sure that a category-five storm with sustained winds of one-hundred and eighty-five miles per hour has been devastating.  Mom has spent most of her day doing what she can through our charities to help with everything that will be needed for recovery – though our efforts will just be a drop in a bucket for what will be needed in the coming weeks and months.  This storm is not done causing damage in the region with Cuba up next and then the path has it going from eastern Cuba toward Bermuda with hits on any islands on the line for that forecast.  There is going to be a lot of need for help; and we can only hope that the rest of the world steps up to send aid.

Compared to that, the rain we’ve had here today shouldn’t even rank being mentioned, but we did get damp off-and-on today – including during my football practice while the girls had their cheer squad practice indoors and at the lunch break and were also inside for the band practice.  Tai Chi was indoors this morning too; so we really only dealt with the rain at that practice for me and while getting between home, the school, and church for our teen praise team practice.  Sophia hosted dinner and our study session between practices and that was a lot of fun too; so we should feel at least a bit guilty – and do – over not doing much ‘real’ work at all today.  Even after we got home from the church, Mom only wanted to do a short Magi lesson with us and we did a vid-chat with Cassie and Michael during one of their work breaks.  Today was one of their time-hopping adventures to the future and back again, but as we’ve mentioned before; it really isn’t a challenge when the two islands are exactly one day apart for those time zones.  The flights between islands are fairly-short hops; so they don’t really even use up as much time as they have needed elsewhere to drive between meetings and project locations!  The only difference to normal is that they spent part of their Tuesday while it was Wednesday in and around the Samoan Capital of Apia!  They also had fun even with lots of rain, and while they would have more fun with better weather; they also learn more about the needs of the people in the region while seeing some of their challenges and how they deal with them in-person.  The weather there was also mild compared to a major hurricane, but then bad weather of all kinds has very different impacts on islands compared to what we are used to here at home.

Moving along, Mom didn’t want us to stay up late and work, so bath or Jacuzzi time followed the vid-chat and lesson; and now we’re winding down toward nap time fast.  While the hurricane story got attention today, that wasn’t to the level it would have if it had been hitting our country; and the usual blast of distracting news headlines rolled on as always.  For example, one headline meant to anger people was about a Chinese ice dance duo at a recent competition and how they are apparently being investigated for holding a stuffed plush toy missile while waiting to get their scores after one of their performances.  The teddy bear they were also holding was apparently not worthy of becoming an international incident, but since both were likely given to them by kids in the audience; the whole story is just silly anyway!  That is a good example of the daily nonsense, though, so that is why we’re mentioning it.

As for the ‘real’ news, the peace deal that supposedly ended thousands of years of fighting between Israel and the Palestinians seems to have more and more flaws as Israel continues to block aid and is still bombing and killing Palestinians every day while making up unbelievable reasons for their violations.  We are not surprised; and the rest of the world continues to do nothing to stop the madness.  Insanity reigns in Ukraine too as their country is being bombed into the Stone Age every night and their army is in deep trouble on the front lines.  Reports vary, but whatever is true, there are certainly thousands of troops caught inside two Russian cauldrons and thousands more at risk of other encirclements as the Russian army continues the drive to destroy the Ukrainian army.  ‘Our’ leaders continue to pretend otherwise, but Russia has made it clear all along that gaining land isn’t a primary goal – destroying the Ukraine army threat and protecting ethnic Russians in Ukraine are two major goals.  We do not understand why the Ukrainian leaders keep helping the Russians out with that, since this is far from the first time that Russia’s army has set up these traps for large numbers of Ukrainian troops and then closed the trap on them.  In this current case, they’ve offered the trapped troops the option to surrender, but not to escape the trap; so this could end up being yet another disaster for Ukraine.  We don’t want to get into every detail about the frontlines fighting, but do want to note that over the past three or four months that the body exchanges between Russia and Ukraine have turned much-worse for Ukraine from what had already been bad for at least the past year.  The ratio may be somewhere between thirty and fifty-to-one now and there have been some exchanges where there weren’t any Russian soldier casualties to return at all while a thousand or more Ukrainian soldiers; bodies were returned by the Russians.  We’ll note that these exchanges are only for bodies that weren’t taken home by their own soldiers; so this is just a fraction of the total fatalities happening every month.  War is ugly; and this one has already destroyed Ukraine for decades to come.

Let’s stop there.  President Trump was in Japan and will be in Asia for the economic summit where he’s supposed to meet with the President of China and other leaders, but we’ll save those stories for later in the week when we’ll find out more about any deals that might actually mean anything to help with reducing tensions in the world or stopping the trade war escalations.  We don’t actually believe that the ‘hawks’ in our country or Europe will allow that to happen when wars are so profitable for the billionaires, but maybe we’ll get a shock and be proved wrong!  We won’t hold our breath waiting for that to happen – just as we didn’t expect anything real to change in Israel for the Palestinians or that President Trump would actually negotiate a true peace deal with Russia at the summit that he cancelled days after announcing it.  Okay, I also can’t resist mentioning that the ‘deals’ he announced today with Japan are better for them than for us and that Japan is also about to sign a peace deal with Russia; won’t be stopping buying Russia’s natural resources; and has plans to do more trade with them in the future.  Japan’s largest trading partner is also China, not us, so the bottom line is that they will do whatever is best for their own national interest – not what we try to force them to do.

Okay, I’m done – though really getting going on a rant is very tempting!  Ehlana wants both of us to take happy thoughts with us into dreamland, though, so she might try fluffy, pink bunnies while I’ll choose Naomi to be my happiest thought! ;^)

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - October 27, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

We have had a good day, but let’s begin this update with the Cassie and Michael news of the day.  As we’ve mentioned, this week is going to be especially-interesting for them thanks to their plans and schedule that will have them crossing the international date line a few times because Samoa and the American Samoa governments chose time zones that are a day apart despite being geographically-close!  As we’re writing this update, Cassie and Michael already had their last Monday in Tonga; woke up Tuesday morning and caught a flight to the American Samoa; and have been enjoying another Monday in and around Pago Pago that is still going on for them because it is now late-afternoon now that we’re ahead of them by a handful of time zones!  We’ve also mentioned that they are going to do two trips to the Samoa Capital of Apia and a couple of the islands there; so they will spend parts of those days jumping back and forth in time.  Because that jump literally is twenty-four hours, that won’t really affect Cassie and Michael beyond getting to claim a ten-day work week, but it is funny; and we will have fun with it – especially if we can manage to talk with them from the future and past each day!  We did that today just for the fun of it with a chat before they left Tonga and then earlier this evening, but they are busy too; so those cameo moments were just blips in their day- days! ;^)

As for the rest of our own adventures, Tai Chi was by the river; we had a hot breakfast with Mom and Dad; and then we had a good and uneventful day at school with some bonus outdoor time followed by our football or cheer squad practices.  We hosted the dinner and study session with our four best friends; and we added in a group Magi lesson with Mom and a band practice to keep ready for the Halloween luncheon and school dance that we’ll be playing at on Thursday and Friday.  Thanks to using extended time phasing as part of the Magi practice, it still isn’t that late; so we will still be able to get a decent night of sleep.  With that in mind; let’s keep the world news report simple and then call it a night.

Most of our world leaders are crazy, selfish narcissists; some of them have insane visions of world domination that are more-likely to lead to destroying the world than making everyone else subservient to their rule and dictates.  That is why we have gone yet another day with no improvement for the biggest problems in the world; and the political rhetoric rolls on with more threats and seemingly never-ending new sanctions and tariffs that are messing with the global economy and angering a lot of people.

We really do want to call it a night; so that’s all for this report.  The countdown is truly on for Halloween now and the younger kids in particular are excited and having fun with bonus themed lessons and crafts and other entertainment at school and home; so we can report that there is at least one very happy place in the world – Witch Falls!  That should be the case for this particular season, but then we think that is still true for every other holiday and every day of the year! ;^)

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - October 26, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

The rest of our weekend from yesterday afternoon to now has been a lot of fun; and now we’re tired and past-ready to get some sleep; so let’s get right to all of the best news from our adventures!

We started the Haunted Halloween Walk fun by taking care of our set-up and a mini sound check for Naomi and the Haunted Harmonies.  We followed that up by helping with the school band set-up at a separate stage further down Witch Falls Road from the staging area for the walk; and then we had time to have dinner from the food booths before we were up for our set – the first of the evening and just as the first round of walks began at dusk.  We had fun; our audience appreciated our entertainment; and we sold some of our music through the Spinners’ booth that was taking advantage of the influx of visitors to town.  We should mention that we had some showers while doing chores yesterday, but it was decent, if cool, last night; so that was good for the walk and the rest of the entertainment.  We only had a little break between our band set and playing with the school band, so we played a couple of games and had another snack; then kept the musical fun going with another round of Halloween-themed, instrumental entertainment.  We should have added the less-fun pack up time after that first set; and we did the same with the school band after a bit less than an hour of that set; and then we were able to take our turns on the walk with some of our favorite parents.  That was our entertainment highlight of the night; and then it was time for us to head home to unload our band gear and be there for the kids we were booked to babysit for part or all of the rest of the night.  We actually do have some space restrictions for doing that, so Sophia and Aaron were babysitting too – at her house – while Naomi and Aiden were with us.

The guys took care of the video gaming that started in the lounge as soon as Zack and Eli arrived while the girls hosted movies in the living room while our parents eventually headed to the pub for a couple of hours for the Halloween party going on there.  They didn’t stay late, but some of the other parents did; and we ended up keeping most of our cousins, some of their friends, and some next-gen kids for the night – and we didn’t get to sleep until the wee hours of the morning and only got a few hours of sleep.  We did go with the co-ed nap time with the only change being that we used the living room because we crashed before Zack, Eli, and a couple of the other guys.

Most of us were tired this morning, but Tai Chi was still by the river and we took care of all of the work around a major breakfast while getting everyone ready for church too.  Some of us would have appreciated a nap while at church, but we’ll also pretend that none of the parents or grandparents in the sanctuary actually did that during the sermon and while the kids and teens were busy with Sunday school!  That part of our morning was good; Ehlana and I were on our own for lunch with Mom and Dad; and then we headed to the lab for the afternoon while Dad needed to work in the office anyway.  Let’s report that some of our next-gen cousins and their friends and parents went to the Pumpkin Patch farm while we work-played in our lab or archives, and we probably could have done that too, but we’ve had a lot of fun; and needed to do the work.  Ehlana and I used some time phasing and other Magi talents to get more done today, but we headed home in time to clean up and go to the late buffet at the Inn with Mom, Dad, and a small gang of family and friends.  That was the culinary highlight of our weekend; and then we came home and didn’t do extra work in the office.  Mom did a short Magi lesson with us and we had some chat time that included a vid-chat with Cassie and Michael from their Monday in the South Pacific; and then it was bath or Jacuzzi time because we were running out of steam fast.

That brings us up to now, so let’s move on to the Cassie and Michael news of the day.  As mentioned, they are already well into their Monday in Tonga – their last day there because they are moving on to the American Samoa and Samoa leg of their trip that is going to get weird for them from a time perspective because they’ll jump ‘back’ a day in time zones and then switch back-and-forth for their appointments in Samoa.  They’ll be getting an extra Monday on their work week and have two trips into the future before returning to Pago Pago and the hotel they have booked there.  It is also forecast to be a bit warmer during the days, but they could be in for more rain every day too; so we’ll keep you posted on that – and their work and any play time they get to have during week three of their travel and work adventures.

We are not going to cover a lot of world news tonight, but one story should have gained more attention than it has so far out of Russia – an announcement of a new cruise missile that is nuclear powered; has unlimited range; and can carry a nuclear payload while possibly being unstoppable by current air defense systems.  It apparently had a successful test that included flying around for fourteen-thousand kilometers with many direction changes and other guidance and evasion testing; and has been built to destroy ‘high-value’ targets only.  No surprise there, since we have no idea how much it costs to make a nuclear-powered missile, but that is a scary new weapon if Russia can manufacture even a handful of them!  Word from the Ukraine front lines is that there are at least ten-thousand troops caught in one or more of the Russian ‘cauldrons’ that have formed in a handful of locations; and that could be another serious problem if the Ukrainian army loses not only all of those soldiers but also all of the weapons that would be there with that many troops.  At this point, they aren’t defending anything anymore – they’re trying to survive or are fighting to the death; and both options are senseless and insane for the Ukraine leaders to let that happen again.  There are no improvements for the Palestinians in Gaza yet; they are still only getting a small fraction of what they need for basic survival; and the world leaders continue to pat themselves on the back for ‘ending the war’ between Hamas and Israel that hasn’t stopped at all.  Finally, we’ll find out in the coming week and change whether our own leaders will continue to escalate the trade wars with China and others as a trade conference starts in South Korea, but we don’t expect much or any good news; since ‘our’ demands are basically for China, India, and other countries to commit economic suicide by destroying their cheap energy partnerships with Russia.  Add in escalating rhetoric, sanctions, and more against Venezuela, Columbia, and Nicaragua; and we’re only surprised that our country has any friends left anywhere in the world.  Don’t include Argentina in that comment; since they’re getting a forty-billion dollar bailout from us that will mostly go to making certain American billionaires even richer off of bets that they made on Argentinean debt that would have been a bust without the American taxpayer-funded bailout but with now make them billions after buying all of that debt for pennies on the dollar and leaving the losses to others who didn’t have the inside scoop on that story from politically-connected best friends!  The money side of that stinks, but we should be sad for the Argentinean people that are being ruined yet again by their corrupt politicians that have again brought their country to the brink of financial ruin while selling them out to the billionaires of the world!

Okay, we really need to stop now; so that’s all for this update.  We are going to keep busy for this last week of October and through Halloween; so stay tuned to keep up with all of our not-really-scary fun and adventures! ;^)

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - October 25, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

This is another early update, but we are going to be busy for the rest of the day with the Haunted Halloween Walk, some babysitting we’ve been booked to host; and the sleepover we’ll have that might include co-ed cuddle buddies for the babysitters!  We need to cover the rest of the story from yesterday, though, so let’s get to that now.

Our game was against Meadowvale, so we started with the drive to Meadowvale – just under an hour on a school bus; and then the game was the entertainment highlight – at least for our team and fans if not so much for the Meadowvale players and their hometown fans.  After a wet day, the field was wet and we had some showers during the game; so we got wet and dirty playing the game.  We won by a score of fifty to thirteen.  The wet conditions were tougher for Meadowvale and they made more mistakes – which was why we coasted to the win with our final five scores being field goals to keep from running up the score.  We didn’t have a big turnout for our fans, and Dad opted to come home instead of stopping in for the game, but we were okay with that; since we played well and were happy to get the win while it was also one of those games you just want to get through and be done with.  Our favorite cheerleaders felt the same way; since it might be tougher for them to try and look and act cheerful while damp and uncomfortable!  The post-game action didn’t take as long as usual, and the ride home was comparatively-short, but it was still midnight by the time we got home.  Naomi and Aiden ended up being our only overnight guests because Sophia and Aaron decided to do their own thing; and it wasn’t really much longer before we moved on to the co-ed nap time because we just wanted to be warm and happy after a long, tiring day.

There was a break in the rain early this morning, so we took Tai Chi outdoors and by the river with Mom and Dad; we had a hot breakfast; and then we got to work on the fall clean-up chores at multiple homes and cottages.  That has kept us busy through to now and we’ve stopped and hit the showers because we need to get our band gear set up in time for the walk entertainment – and that’s for the school band as well as Naomi and the Haunted Harmonies.  We’ll grab dinner from the fundraiser food booths; and the rest of our story will need to wait for our next report.

Our Cassie and Michael update will be short too, since we don’t have much news from them for their Sunday-so-far.  They are getting another day with showers to go along with the warm temperature that doesn’t exactly seem tropical but is still pretty good for late-October from our perspective.  The small fluctuations from day to night are very different too – especially when that wasn’t the same for Cassie and Michael less than a week ago while in Fiji.  They continue to work; get regular breaks from the rain that allows them to have more fun even with all of the work and travel between islands; and they really love getting to do everything together!

Finally, for the world and political news report; let’s just state that nothing important has changed; our world leaders are still generally on the wrong track for what is best for the majority of the humans on this planet; and we’ll continue to do our part to fight against all of the insanity and harm that they inflict on the people of their countries that they don’t actually care about at all.  Yes, there are exceptions to that general bad assessment of our politicians, but none of them have the power to go along with knowing and advocating for doing good!

Ehlana and I do need to get going now, so that’s all for this report.  Stay tuned, since we do expect to have a lot of fun for the rest of the day – possibly even with the babysitting we’ll be doing later while some of our favorite parents go out to the pub after the Haunted Halloween Walk!

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