Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - October 14, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Cassie and Michael will be sleeping by the time we do most of our updates while they’re in Africa – or possibly up early depending on their travel plans; and that’s true tonight because they worked all day; and then drove for four or five hours tonight to their first stop on the way between the Capital cities of Libreville and Brazzaville.  They had a good day; got a lot of work done; and got rained on a bit; since they had a mixed bag of weather with rain and thunderstorms rolling through the area with sunshine and heat and humidity between each blast of rain.

Here in Witch Falls, we’re definitely getting fall weather, but Tai Chi was still outdoors this morning and the temperature was fairly-normal and only a bit cooler; so it was really the lack of any warm-up for the rest of the day that we noticed the most as we went from an afternoon high yesterday that touched one-hundred to a mid-sixties high today.  We had a few showers this afternoon and evening too, but nothing major until what we’re just starting to get now; so a few showers didn’t get in the way of our football, cheer squad, or teen praise team practices.  They all went well, and the top news is that we’ve started work on the teen Christmas musical.  That isn’t exactly the right word, but what we’ve decided to do this year is somewhere between a Christmas Cantata and a musical; since it is one continuous story instead of skits and readings and music.  Naomi and Ethan are going to have starring roles this year, but Aiden and I – and Sophia and Aaron – will be in the band; and I’ll be playing the piano.  We’re splitting that practice, since we still need to prep for the Thanksgiving service and other Christmas music; so we’re also going to need to make more time for practicing.  We don’t mention that very often in our journals, but Ethan and I do make time for music practice on our own, together, or with our best friends – it just isn’t the same when we aren’t adding in practices for Naomi and the Haunted Holidays.  We’re too-busy this fall; and didn’t accept any offers to play at dances or other events.

Aiden hosted the after-practices dinner and study session; we had fun with his family even though that was just a cameo break; and we didn’t do any extra walking after we were done at the church for the night because we didn’t want to get caught in the imminent, heavier rain.  Ethan and I had a visit with Mom and Dad in the office, but didn’t do any work or a Magi lesson; bath or Jacuzzi time followed; and now we’re just about ready to call it a night and get some sleep.

Let’s start with the Ukraine war for the world news update.  There aren’t really any changes, but the airstrikes on both sides appear to be intensifying with Ukraine targeting Russian data centers and refineries and Russia bombing everything.  At the rate they’re going, Kiev might soon be a city that people can’t live in as they are having serious issues with power and water systems; their distribution systems are being destroyed, and they may have lost more than a fifth of their train engines; which will make getting food and supplies to the city a serious challenge.  The Russian attacks on bridges will only make it tougher for Ukraine to get supplies to the frontlines, and while re-supply of weapons is the obvious problem for fighting a war; an army can’t keep fighting for very long without food and fresh water.  Russia is taking hits too, but those are pinpricks by comparison; and they have the resources to repair and they adapt their defenses very quickly.

In the Middle East, the Saudi-Yemen war gets most of the attention, and escalations continue – though Saudi support from their allies seems to be a bit slow in coming; so there doesn’t seem to be a lot of interest in putting lives and money on the line for the crown prince; and he is now facing significant risks from his own people while getting a lot of the blame for the blunders that have led to the current situation.  Just a year or two ago, Saudi Arabia was on the verge of peace with Iran and Yemen; they were looking toward BRICS and partnerships with China; and then they chose to side with the United States and Israel for the attacks on Iran and broke their ceasefire deal with the Houthis.  They are now living with the consequences; and we’ll all pay some prices for their folly.  Israel continues their march toward destroying Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria; they are trying to get President Trump to re-start the war with Iran right now; and we know that will only end badly too – whether they resume fighting now or wait to do that until next month.  We are sure that Iran and their allies are ready to retaliate – and have promised to do so.  Let’s hope that Iran doesn’t take the hint from Yemen and decide that going on the offensive is the better option than waiting and retaliating.

We want to get all of the sleep we can tonight; so that’s all for this report.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - October 13, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Cassie and Michael arrived safely in Gabon and got right to work pretty much from the moment they cleared customs at the airport.  it is warm there too – though our last hot day here was warmer as we flirted with triple digits for a little while this afternoon before dipping back into the nineties; and it is cooling down quickly from there as we’re writing this tonight.  The forecast showers held off until this evening and not until after the marching band practice; so we’ve enjoyed the last blast of summer-like weather before we head back into fall by morning.  We’re sure that Cassie and Michael are going to be very busy, but with the time change; they are currently sleeping and will be up soon to get started on their Wednesday in Libreville.  Let’s mention that Cassie and Michael have a very aggressive schedule for this trip; so they will also be doing a lot of driving between stops pretty much every day as they work their way across Central Africa for the west-to-east parts of their trip while most of the way back across the continent will be flight-hops between Capital cities back to the west coast.  We’ll have some of those stories for you as they go along, but you can read their journals and travel archives if you really want all of the details.

Here at home, our day started with Tai Chi by the river and breakfast with Mom and Dad were good; some of our teachers took advantage of the last hot day for extra outdoor time; and all of our practices went well from my cheer squad workout at lunchtime through the football and concert band practices through our evening marching band practice.  That one included doing the recording session for the Christmas ornament fundraiser; the song we picked was ‘When we’re together’ from Disney’s Frozen holiday special; and the first order will be ready by Thanksgiving.  Aaron hosted our dinner and study break between practices; his Mom opted for grilled burgers and hot dogs with cold salad sides; and we multi-tasked the studying to get everything done before we needed to be back at the school.  It was just starting to sprinkle as we left the school tonight, so we split up for our homes instead of adding in any extra walks with Silkie; and then Ethan and I did a bit of work and a Magi lesson with Mom in the office before coming upstairs for bath or Jacuzzi time.  Before we get to the world news update; I’ll add that we haven’t kept up with the post-festival action at the park; but have been advised that the work is done now; and the last of the rides have moved on to their next festival or fair destination.

Both of the top wars were getting political and media attention today.  In the Middle East, the airstrikes and fighting on the ground continues between Saudi Arabia and Yemen; more threats are being directed both ways – including from Ansar Allah with warnings against any country that joins to help Saudi Arabia and warnings to Aramco employees to evacuated company facilities because new strikes on oil infrastructure are imminent.  There are reports of some airstrike exchanges between Israel and Iran; and there are hints out there that Israel’s leaders might be attempting to provoke Iran in an attempt to resume that part of the war so they can have an excuse to cancel the elections that the current government is likely to lose if it goes ahead at the end of the month.  More ships are being attacked in the region; and the anger grows throughout the region.

For the Ukraine war, the top stories are that Ukraine is now targeting Russian data centers while they are also complaining that they are suddenly not getting advance warnings from their western ‘partners’ for incoming airstrikes from Russia.  That might be related to President Zelensky’s recent insults directed at President Trump, but it is more-likely just added theatre; since they are definitely getting help for those drone strikes on the Russian data centers.  We are sure that the new targets will just lead to worse for their own facilities and infrastructure; and we expect to read all about the next retaliations from Russia any day now.  Ukraine and European leaders are complaining about the ‘diesel deal’ with Russia, but others have been pointing out today that Europe has still bought more than three-hundred billion dollars worth of oil and gas from Russia since the war started; so it is hypocritical to complain about that much-smaller deal – if it actually even ends up happening; since Russia must have conditions for doing those exports, so if they don’t get what they want; the deal could end up going nowhere.  Finally, for Ukraine, President Trump was asked about his claim of an agreed energy ceasefire for Russia and Ukraine that both sides deny; and he declared that it was true and done because he said so and they’d better do as told.  That was a fairly-insane statement, but also makes it clear that he is living in a different reality from the rest of us if he actually believes that he has the power to make every other leader in the world bow to his whims.  Okay, that might be true for the weak and dependent countries, but it is delusional when attempting that kind of nonsense against countries like Russia and China.

We’ll only mention a bit of general world news tonight; and it is about growing unrest around the world.  The example we’ll write about is the small island nation of Mauritius, near Madagascar, where protests and riots are apparently the worst seen in nearly thirty years and entirely due to economic and social stresses related to rising prices that are much-worse for the people in a country that relies heavily on tourism and on an island that requires a lot of imports – especially for fuel and food and basic needs.  This is another canary warning for what is coming for the rest of the world if we don’t change course, and while the reactions will vary; fighting over resources is inevitable at this point and will only be mitigated if we stop all of the fighting.  That probably isn’t going to happen until things get much worse; so we’ll prepare; do what we can to help where we can; and that’s all we can do.

We can also share the love and joy in our own lives with as many people as we can, and we need to be at full-power to do that; so we’re out of here and off to nap time right now.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - October 12, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 13^th Birthday, Zack!

Zack’s birthday is a top family story today, but for Ethan and me; the departures of our grandparents, Cassie, and Michael were a bigger impact – even though we weren’t up that early to see them off toward the airport – and their flight times were close enough that they left town within a half hour of each other; and they got to say a final goodbye once at the airport.  Grandma and Grandpa had the much-shorter trip to Arizona, and Cassie and Michael won’t get to Libraville, Gabon until tomorrow, but they’ve fit in some bonus fun with a stop in Washington D.C. where they had a visit with Serena and Shayne before the overnight flight to Lome, Togo.  They’ll have a hop-flight from there to Libraville; and then they’ll get started right away on their work.  We’ll have more on Cassie and Michael’s adventures as they work their way across Africa and then back again through the central region, but before we move on; let’s add that Grandma and Grandpa have family and friends joining them in Arizona today or this week – including Grandpa Duncan and Grandma Mercy and Grandpa Richard and Grandma Carrie.  They have more fun getting to enjoy the sunny south together; and we’ll be jealous once we get past these last hot days and head back into the ‘normal’ fall weather around here.

That wasn’t an issue today, since the high was in the nineties again; we had bonus outdoor time beyond our practices this afternoon and Tai Chi by the river this morning; and we loved getting to be outside when we know it really is going to feel very cold by the end of the week compared to the nineties; since we could be down to a high in the fifties by Friday if the forecast holds true.  Ethan and I definitely had fun all day; we moved on to Zack’s birthday dinner after the practices; and he’d picked Pizzeria pizza and finger food sides for that meal.  Naomi and Aiden were with us for that meal; we only helped with the clean-up; and then Ethan and I headed for the lab or archives because this will be the only day we’ll be able to work there for the rest of the week.  We used time phasing to get more work done, but that’s helped to make this a very long day; and now we’re tired and ready to get some sleep soon.  We came home at eleven o’clock; did a quick visit with Mom and Dad; and then it was Jacuzzi time for me while Ethan opted for a shower and he then took care of most of our computer checks and shared the info with me telepathically.  Now we’re winding down fast; so let’s get to the world news of the day.

The Ukraine ‘energy ceasefire’ seems to be off before it started; so that war continues with no changes other than maybe even more intensification.  In the Middle East, the biggest non-stories are happening behind the scenes as Israel continues their attacks in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, and Lebanon while the world is distracted by the fighting between Saudi Arabia and Yemen.  We still keep track, though, and know that they are doing evil as-bad or worse than anything else happening in the Middle East or Ukraine.  Ansar Allah continues to attack Saudi infrastructure; and we’re all waiting to find out how much firepower will be brought against them if Saudi Arabia gets enough help to actually stop the attacks and advances being made in Yemen.  Let’s not skip the problems with Iran; since they are still around and continuing to choose most of the ships that are or aren’t allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.  They are certainly preparing for another escalation and return to the fighting and air attacks; and we really hope that doesn’t happen; since we already have enough trouble in the world without making everything worse.

As always, we could cover a lot of other stories, but for tonight; we’re going to point out that while there are so many terrible stories out there from the wars to the natural disasters and aftermaths of earthquakes, hurricanes, and more; we see more written about distraction stories that today ranged from raiding the home of a congresswoman to market fluctuations that are just the new-normal and meaningless for most people.  We really wish that there could be nothing but happy world news stories, but ignoring the realities of the world is a recipe for disaster.

That is enough for this report, so we will stop there; call it a night; and go get some sleep while we can.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - October 11, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 4^th Birthday, Hannah Sinclair!

We weren’t really in on Hannah’s birthday fun today, and we have a lot to write about; so let’s get to the rest of our festival weekend news.

Ethan and I had a lot of fun from dinnertime on Saturday that we did with a gang of family and friends through the dance and our co-ed sleepover that really didn’t end up including Jayden and Lori for the co-ed nap time – though they had fun with the co-ed cuddle time, teen chat, and music videos that we had fun with through until we were ready to sleep.  The family dance and more rounds of thrill rides and games and snacks were all great; and it was sharing everything with our favorite people that is most-important – as always.  We haven’t specified many of the details for all of the cameo moments that go into the overall fun, but we really can’t write about everything; since that would fill books to do that all of the time.  We’ve joked about just turning our memories into videos, but nobody would have time to watch all of our memories all of the time; so that would be very impractical – not to mention very expensive if we all did that for our journals!  That would be a lot of data storage space; so we’ll stick with the written reports.

That got a bit off-track, so some of our personal highlights from those cameo moments included fun with the next-gen kids; our grandparents; and Cassie and Michael.  We haven’t mentioned it yet, but Grandma and Grandpa head for Arizona tomorrow too; and we definitely didn’t get to spend enough time with them while busy with everything else we have on the go.  We do, by the way, see them fairly-often, but those are mostly cameo moments around town or home; so they don’t get mentioned in our journals very often right now.  After our co-ed sleepover; we woke up at normal time for Tai Chi by the river; Lori didn’t join us, but was awake and enjoyed the show from the sunroom with Jayden; and then we had a hot breakfast that the teens helped to cook and clean up after while taking turns getting ready for church.  Jayden and Lori went along with the rest of us when we needed to be at the park for the service set-up; and we can report that Lori both appreciated our music and has musical talent too; since she played along with us a bit during set-up and warm-ups.  Jayden loves music, but isn’t really interested in learning to play an instruments and only sings for fun; since he is more-focused on his art talent that will help him a lot with his future plans to be an Architect like his Dad.  Since we’re writing about Jayden, let’s again mention that he also isn’t interested in high school sports teams, but is a decent athlete; and plays some court sports and golf and swimming and more – just not on any teams.

While we helped with the music for the service, the teens didn’t do a full holiday service with skits and more; so Pastor John led more of the service and his message was a mix of harvest thanksgiving and celebrating our blessings.  We moved on from there to some midway play time; lunch was not a sit-down event and we snacked while we played and shared more cameo moments with family and friends.  Ethan and Naomi took one turn at the fundraiser booth; Aiden and I took a different time slot; and we had some next-gen kid time when not all together – including helping Cassie and Michael with the nieces and nephews they’ve entertained a lot this weekend before they’ll be gone for around six weeks.  The weekend guests at cottages or elsewhere headed home by late afternoon – unless they stayed for the early buffet, but we came home and helped Mom and Dad with cooking a family dinner that was mostly for Cassie and Michael and Grandma and Grandpa before they head out tomorrow.  Since they’ll be gone, we multi-tasked an early birthday celebration for Zack; and we mostly did that with the kids and teens in the sunroom while the adults were mostly in the dining room to have room for everyone.  That meal was a highlight for all of us; the clean-up was not as much fun; and we didn’t have a lot of help for that; since most of the dinner guests headed home soon-after the meal.  Cassie and Michael needed to get their next-gen kids to their homes – including a drive out to the Norton farms.  Grandma and Grandpa headed home to finish packing for their trip and get to bed early; and after the clean-up; Ethan, Silkie, and I walked Naomi and Aiden to their homes for a last blast of fun with them before we moved on to bath or Jacuzzi time.  Mom didn’t want to do any family business work or a Magi lesson with us tonight, and while the fun level will drop a bit for us next week; we’re still going to be busy – and busier; since we’ll be adding in help to take care of Cassie and Michael’s house while they’re away.  That’ll be true for Grandma and Grandpa’s house, but that isn’t much work for us by comparison; and they don’t have the added help needed for pets.  The clean-up time was needed by then; and we’ve been doing a longer computer check tonight to go along with all of the twin chat that has included a weekend recap and plans for the coming week.

Western leaders and media are focused on President Trump’s latest claims of an ‘energy ceasefire’ for Ukraine on top of the previous ‘diesel deal’ he’s claimed to have made with Russia.  We’ll predict that this is another nothingburger, since Ukrainian leaders are claiming that no such deal has been made; and European leaders are continuing to back Ukraine while denouncing any American deals with Russia.  That news might move market prices for a while – we’ll see, but we think that the bigger story from the top two wars is the Ansar Allah missile attacks on Riyadh’s international airport that have now targeted two of the passenger terminals with at least twelve people killed and hundreds wounded.  That will only lead to more escalations in that part of the Middle East war; and the people in the region will continue to suffer more and more for however long it takes for the leaders to figure out that they are only destroying their own futures – as well as the futures for everyone in their countries.  More tankers are being hit in the Strait of Hormuz over the weekend; and claims from American leaders about total control of the strait are obviously nonsense and flat-out lies.

While the wars continue to get top headlines, there have also been a lot of natural disasters over the weekend too.  We’ve mentioned the Hurricane that hit Florida and the remnants of that storm continue to dump rain on the eastern States; the Panama earthquake and aftershocks have been worse; and now we can add major flash floods to the mix in Chile and Nepal.  In Chile, rivers of mud blasted through a suburb of the Capital, Santiago; and the videos coming out are wild as cars, trucks, and buses were shoved down the streets in torrents of water and mud that blasted down out of the Andes mountains with little advance warning.  They are heading into spring in Chile, so we really hope that won’t be a first of worse to come over the next month or two as the usual spring melt in the mountains begins.  The last thing Nepal needs is more flash flooding, but even with winter on the way; they are apparently still in danger of more glacier collapse and rock slides and flash floods; and the devastation for the locals will only make winter much harder for them.  Mom will be looking to send more help that way, but even with our resources; we still have limits.

That is far from all of the news of the weekend, but we’ve thought about all of that enough for tonight and really want to get a good night of sleep; so we’re going to wrap this up and get to the nap time right now.

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