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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Winter was definitely here this morning with the low hovering around zero and a high this afternoon that barely hit thirty – which is why we stayed indoors for most of the day!  Before we get to our Sunday adventures, let’s cover the rest of our respective Saturdays.  Ethan did not have as much with Naomi last night as I had with Aiden thanks to Zack and Eli and their practical jokes and games while they were all hanging out with Naomi’s parents.  That was a last-minute change; and it was clear that Zack and Eli had been in need of letting their weird out to play last night.  Compared to that, Aiden and I had a quiet night with his family.  We had Hailey and Leah with us; they are awesome to hang out with; and they also choose to give us alone time for our co-ed sleepovers – possibly because they might need the precedent someday if the guys closer to their age stop acting as goofy as Zack and Eli!  Ethan’s sleepover wasn’t all-bad, since he did still get to cuddle with Naomi after they did go to sleep, but they also didn’t really get left alone until they gave up on having any make-out time and just went to sleep.  I will spare Ethan and not detail the play time that Aiden and I did get to have; and only not that we were much happier when we met up at church this morning!

As for today, we did our own, indoor Tai Chi workouts; breakfast with the Drapers or Seagers that was also more-fun for Aiden and me; and then Ethan and Naomi were happiest about escaping from Zack and Eli once we were all at church where the boys pretended to be little angels while whisper-bragging to their buddies about how much they managed to annoy Naomi last night.  We had fun during the first part of the service; moved on to help out with the prep work for the Easter services during Sunday school; and then Ethan and I came home with Mom and Dad for lunch before we headed to the lab or archives for the afternoon.  We used some time phasing; got a lot done; and then we came home in time to help Mom with making dinner.  Dad had spent most of the afternoon working in the office – or maybe not most of it, but we still all worked in there after dinner and the clean-up.  Ethan and I worked on charity and family business projects; there was some more time phasing; and that’s why we’ll still be sleeping before midnight.  Bath or Jacuzzi time followed the work; and now we’re winding down fast toward nap time.

Before we do that, though, Cassie and Michael have already moved from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap on their Monday morning.  They headed out very early local time for the five hour and change drive about two hundred miles north of the Capital; and they will be in that region of the country for the rest of the week until they’ll need to be back in the Capital for their next big move next Sunday.  Siem Reap and the other cities they’ll be working around are much smaller than the Capital, and the projects we’re working on there are smaller too, but there is a lot of potential in the region too; and the work they are doing is making a difference not just for the people, but for everything from research to environment and natural resources conservancy.

It would be nice if we could say the same for our world leaders and their efforts, but that would be a total lie and they are still more-interested in war and exploitation than in the greater good for all people and the planet in general.  That said, we also need to report that the secret service shot and killed another gunman trying to breach security at President Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago resort.  We are not going to get into details – there is enough of that in the news while the most-important stories get ignored; and the story there ought to be the fact that this is just another example of the unrest that is growing here at home and around the world that is leading to clashes like this one and all of the protests we’re seeing around the world.

There is so much more that we could write about, but instead of talking war; let’s comment on a political-economic story – the Supreme Court decision that went against President Trump on the tariffs that he imposed through an emergency powers act that they decided didn’t apply to the situation he used them for.  President Trump simply ignored the ruling and applied a fifteen percent tariff on all imports to get around the ruling.  For the record, that is insane, since all tariffs on imports are ultimately paid for by the consumers.  Yes, there are other factors like the importers eating some of those costs to keep their products competitive, but the new tariff is far from the only upward pressure on prices; and we’re not even getting into other monetary issues that are devaluing our currency.  While we don’t want to get into war talk, there is sidelines, related news for the Ukraine conflict.  Hungary and Slovakia had advised Ukraine that they will no longer provide electricity or diesel fuel to Ukraine if they don’t resume pipeline operations for Russian gas and oil supplies for both countries by tomorrow.  Ukraine needs those energy supplies, but do not want to allow those gas and oil deliveries; so we’ll see what their leaders choose to do – and we’ll keep you posted.

Let’s stop there.  We’ve had a long day and the last week of February is going to be busy; so we’re going to wrap this up and get some sleep starting right now.

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

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

Ehlana and Ethan:

Winter has returned for a few days; so we don’t have a lot of news for you this afternoon as we’re transitioning from a work day to a play night that will also give Mom and Dad a kid-free night.  Yes, Ethan and I are making the tough sacrifices to go and spend the night with Naomi or Aiden and their families to make that kid-free night happen for our parents, but we love them a lot; and are happy to do that for them! ;^)

Since our last update, the dinner and movie night at the Carringtons was fun; the co-ed sleepover with our four best friends that followed was great; and then we woke up to a frosty morning that kept us indoors for Tai Chi.  We had a dusting of flurries overnight too, but the ground was too-warm for it to stick anywhere for long; so it was only the cold that felt like winter today.  After Tai Chi and a hot breakfast; our friends headed out for their homes or the bakery; Mom put us to work on chores for the morning; and the outdoor work was frosty even as it warmed up to just a bit above freezing that even now as we’re writing this didn’t get to forty for the high of the day.  We finished the chores by lunchtime; had that meal with Mom and Dad; and then Ethan and I headed to the lab or archives for the afternoon.  We had our co-ed evening and sleepover plans by then, but our friends were busy this afternoon too; and none of us wanted to go biking or anything else outdoors when it felt even colder than it was today after those days with highs in the sixties and seventies!  We used some time phasing for our work-play this afternoon and got a lot done with our books or beakers; so we feel pretty good about taking the play break for the rest of the day.

Cassie and Michael are feeling good too – or they still will be when they wake up for their Sunday morning.  It is not just non-stop sunshine in Cambodia, but it is hot and sunny most of the time; and they’re getting a high for their Sunday will likely hit triple-digits for their final full day in and around the Capital.  We are more-jealous of that when it is so much colder here at home, but we’re also starting to look ahead to their return home.  That is still three weeks away, but it feels closer now that we’re down to weeks instead of months!

Ethan and I do want to have fun tonight; so we’re going to stay away from most of the world news.  We do need to mention that our military build-up in the Middle East continues to the point where war with Iran seems inevitable.  Most people don’t likely even think about all of the expenses involved just in simply moving all of those ‘assets’ from around the globe to the area; and none of our leaders seem even remotely concerned with the risks of the death and destruction they will start with these actions.  Let’s also point out that we care about that regardless of where those casualties happen.  History will not be kind to our world leaders about this entire era of neo-colonialism – just as it isn’t about all of the death and destruction the western countries brought to the rest of the world in previous centuries as they destroyed entire societies.  That is not hyperbole to us, since we can back that up with comparisons to what was done in previous centuries.  The methods are different, but the exploitation, destruction, and killing has the same results to the people that suffer under the horrific conditions.  We are absolutely-sure that the people of the countries that have been destroyed over the past twenty years do not thank us for ‘saving’ them when their lives have only gotten worse since their so-called rescues from previous ‘evil’ leaders.  Iran is, obviously, next on the hit list for conquering and exploitation; and all we can really do is watch on in sorrow and prepare our family businesses and charities to step in where possible to help with the inevitable damage that doesn’t need to happen at all.  We could have a long rant on the waste or rebuilding costs too, but need to get going; so we’re going to wrap this up now.

Stay tuned for our next report that will not include anything about what our parents will do with their kid-free night – or the best details from our co-ed sleepovers.  I should likely add in a me-only report for that sort of thing just because Cassie thinks that the archives need more of that kind of teen information for future Magi teens, but Ethan definitely doesn’t want to do that at all; and he’s blushing just from my mention of the idea!  That’s adorable, but I won’t tease him about it because he’s a guy; and that’s fairly-normal.  That now has me picturing Magi cavemen having the exact same thoughts about teen relationships as ‘modern’ Magi guys, but Ethan assures me that there are no archives pictographs to support that idea!  Okay, that’s silly-enough to end this on a happier note; so we’re out of here!

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

 

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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

We are going with an early, placeholder update this afternoon and will offer a double-update tomorrow.  We’ve had a good day at school, but it has also been indoors as the expected return to winter arrived overnight and the high for today is about twenty-five degrees lower than yesterday!  The Carringtons are hosting the family-and-friends’ dinner and movie night; and we’re going over there now to help Mom with the cooking and kid control.  Dad will be home in time for that dinner; so that’s great too; and we’re doing the update now because Ethan and I are going to host a co-ed sleepover with our best friends after the play time with our families.

It is also time for us to go now, so we’ll go and live those adventures; and be back with the report for you, future readers, sometime tomorrow.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - February 19, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 30^th Birthday, Christina Palmer!

Happy 25^th Birthday, Kris Robinson!

Christina’s birthday was the top family news of the day; and Ethan and I were involved in her party because the birthday dinner was at the Inn and the party semi-continued during game night.  We helped with next-gen kid control; and then Mom helped Miranda with winning their monthly senior’s title while Ethan and Naomi won the junior title.  We had fun with all of that; and also didn’t really end up doing much work at all today.  The cold weather didn’t arrive yet, so while we got a bit of rain this morning; it still warmed into the high-sixties; and we went with yet another biking afternoon with our friends instead of going to the lab between school and that dinner at the Inn.  We had fun with that too; and the only work we did today was our homework; a Magi lesson with Mom after we got home from the Inn; and a bit of charity work while we did a vid-chat with Cassie and Michael a little while ago.

They’re into their Friday work day, and will have a bit of sightseeing and play time mixed in with the work and site visits today and this weekend, but they are going to work every day too while in and around the Capital.  They are covering a wide-range of business from manufacturing and distribution to environmental projects and research.  They are definitely working to build multi-faceted and independent communities, and since every project like that is unique; they need to be flexible for what the local people need.

As for the world news of the day, it is pretty much the same as every day lately. Our leaders and military continue to bully the world with political, economic, and military pressure and threats; the peace talks are nothing more than theatre; and expansions of wars or starting new ones are more-likely than not.  We really don’t like seeing the suffering that our ‘western’ policies are causing in increasing everywhere from Cuba and Venezuela to Ukraine, the Middle East, and beyond.  We aren’t writing much about domestic issues, but they are out there too; and internal stresses that are social and economic are rising here at home too – if not locally too.  We don’t want to get into a rant about those issues, but our leaders are heading in the wrong direction on a lot of issues that don’t get talked about while other issues and perceived successes are hyped beyond reality.  We’ll stick with our own socio-economic model where we simply love each other; work together; and prosper together without any hate or conflict at all!

Okay, we might have fights over the last slice of Pizzeria pizza or Olde Bakery treat, but we’ve never claimed to be perfect and can’t be blamed for arguments over such important issues! ;^)

On that silly note, we are out of here; and off to dreamland right now.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - February 18, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 13^th Birthday, Casey Norton!

We want to mention that Casey had a co-ed birthday party tonight; and we’re mentioning that because some of our cousins were invited to the party too – including Zack and Leah.  Naomi kept up with that news through Samantha – Casey’s sister; and the girls have been keeping entertained with those stories even now as we’re winding down toward nap time.

As for our own adventures, Aaron’s party was co-ed too, but short; since we had a limited time between practices – and Sophia didn’t need help with the end to his birthday fun.  Ethan and I had fun with the party, our practice at the church; and our co-ed sleepover at Naomi’s home was a highlight of our day.  While we were busy, Mom did not do anything interesting with Dad while in the city with him; and we’re going to go with that fiction because we want to pretend that we don’t know the truth!

We started today out with Tai Chi in Naomi’s back yard; the weather has been good again today and we had more outdoor time at school; and then we went biking on the trails after school with our friends because it is going to start cooling down a bit over the next few days.  Mom was home in time for lunch with Aunt Leanne that she brought from the city; we had dinner with her – just the three of us; and then Ethan and I headed to the lab or archives for the evening.  We got a lot done; used time phasing to get more done; and now we’re tired and running out of steam fast.

As we’re writing this report, Cassie and Michael are into their first full work day in Cambodia.  We haven’t been writing about the details of their work very much, since their own archives records have that information already, but we do want to mention that while there are similarities with all of the countries they’ve been visiting on this trip, there are also many differences and unique challenges for them to deal with that go far-beyond different languages.  That is true for them in Cambodia, but they are welcomed and making friends with their charity and business partners; and they always have the most fun with the site visits they get to make to see favorite projects and partnerships in action!

We’re really happy to hear those stories – and with our own work here at home; since the world news just isn’t good at all.  There doesn’t seem to be anything positive happening with any of the peace talks; our leaders in the western countries continue to act as though we’re starting a new era of colonialism; and the rest of the world is seriously getting sick and tired of being the targets of bullying and exploitation.  Our recommendation for all of those leaders is that they crack a few history books; since those policies eventually never end well for anyone on both sides of those conflicts.  While the leaders meet and trade idiotic speeches in their little thought silos, Ukraine continues to be destroyed; the Middle East is waiting to become the next flashpoint for war; and our leaders are trying their very best to destroy Cuba, Venezuela, and basically the entirety of the Americas with their neo-colonialism.  All of these political and military plays are earning us new enemies and destroying another generation of people; and nobody can predict what that will mean for our collective future.

We really don’t want to keep ranting about all of this, so that’s all for this update.  We have another busy day ahead of us tomorrow, so we’ll try to get back to full-power by morning – though we’ll likely need a bit of co-healing for fatigue; since we probably won’t get there from here just with the ‘normal’ nap time.  We’ll let you know how that goes for us, but we’re out of here right now and off to dreamland soon.

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