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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Our holiday weekend adventures are amazing so far, but this update is coming to you early again; we don’t have a lot of time for it; and we are only going to offer a few quick highlights before we need to get going again.

We had a lot of fun last night with the next-gen kid control and welcoming our weekend guests; family dinners were held at a handful of homes; and we were at our house for that meal with those kids and our best friends.  For the record, most of the Johnson clan is here for the weekend; the Proctors are here including Jaimie and Micah; and the Rice clan is away for this holiday.  Jonathan, Savannah, and their kids are here; they are mixing this trip with an anniversary vacation; and that’s why they’re staying in our family cottage.  The Malloys are here for the weekend too; and Valerie was hanging out with us last night while Marcus opted to hang out with Zack, Eli, and the rest of the guys hanging out with them last night – and for most of today-so-far too.  Ethan and I also hosted cousins and friends for a teen night here at our house; the Carringtons and Ayres ended up with a group of guys or girls at their homes; and the various parents kept themselves entertained at various homes and cottages with many of them staying up late while enjoying those first visits of the weekend.  The teens in our house stayed up too-late; the fun included video games and movies and lots of teen chat time; and then some of us wrapped up our day with co-ed sleepovers while the rest of the teens filled most of our guest rooms.

Our Saturday started with Tai Chi by the river and a busy breakfast blast while we took turns getting ready for the day.  Most of our guests moved on to other plans for the rest of the morning, but Ethan and I were drafted for chores until lunchtime.  That work wasn’t newsworthy, but then we met up with everyone for the picnic lunch that the Ayres hosted for everyone; and then we’ve spent the afternoon to now playing with our family and friends.  The fun has included biking, canoeing, and back yard games; and now we’re getting ready for the barbeque dinner that the Carringtons are hosting and then the teen sleepover that Cassie and Michael are hosting after that.  Ethan and I need to help Mom and Dad out with getting our dinner contributions over to our aunt and uncle’s house and in-time for the prep work and cooking; so we really need to get going.

Before we do that, we want to mention the Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian school dorm.  The casualties are now around twenty killed and forty injured; and Russian retaliation is likely imminent as the Russian people express their anger over the atrocity.  There could be new actions in the Middle East, but we don’t know what is going to happen – only that President Trump is apparently missing his son’s wedding supposedly because of the Iran ‘crisis’ that just can’t wait even another day to deal with the imminent dangers that don’t exist.  We’re still looking for new reports related to Tulsi Gabbard’s announced resignation yesterday from Director of National Intelligence; since we are not convinced that the family health emergency is more than an excuse to quit or avoid being fired by President Trump.  There isn’t much doubt that all opposition to the Iran war is being eliminated from this administration; and that won’t end well for our country – or the rest of the world.

That’s all we have time for now, but stay tuned; since we expect to have a lot to write about four both our own adventures and the news from around the world.  We really need to go now; so we are out of here and back to the real world!

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

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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

The holiday weekend is here; we’re about to get started on all of the fun; and this is just a placeholder update.  Our school day was quiet and we really just wrapped up the week with some project work and ‘free’ study time.  The rain didn’t end up being as much as forecast, but the clean-up day was done anyway; and we still preferred being dry.  We’re getting better weather now; so it will be decent for our incoming weekend guests.  Ethan and I are going to help with younger kids with Naomi while Aiden is going to be busy at the bakery for a while first; and we’ll be busy with the family and friends time for the rest of the day and weekend.

Let’s save the rest of our news for the next few updates, since whatever we do tonight; we won’t be doing any major computing later.  We do want to mention just one world news story that we really hated today – a Ukrainian drone strike on a Russian school.  We are disgusted by any military leaders or soldiers that intentionally target a school dorm while teens are sleeping; there is no excuse for that kind of horrific attack; and western leaders and media are ignoring the tragedy that has left dozens of kids injured and at least four people killed.  This act is similar to the school that was hit in Iran, if not to the same extent of destruction; and it is also another example of the western hypocrisy over these incidents.  On a side note, let’s add in that several Baltic countries have had issues with Ukrainian drones crashing in their countries while they’ve been permitting them to use their airspace to get to Russia; and they are attempting to blame Russia for their own leadership stupidity.  We’re going to stop there instead of getting into a rant; so that’s all for this report.

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

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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 13^th Birthday, Kendra Byrd!

Our top news of the day wasn’t Kendra’s birthday – though her family and friends might disagree with that!  The rest of the teens and kids in town, however, spent our school day working around town or at the park or cemetery because the forecast was calling for rain all day tomorrow; so the decision was made to move the work day ahead so that we could do everything without getting rained on all day.  Ethan got to work with Naomi and her class at the cemetery helping the Grade One class; Aiden and I were assigned to the park with the rest of our class and we helped younger kids too; and we all had fun with the work through until we were set free a bit early once the work was done.

We weren’t done with work after being set free – Mom put us to work on some early outdoor chores for the same reason; we also helped with getting Cassie and Michael’s house ready for their return – including getting Mandy home again; and we had a dinner snack fit in around the work and kept going until it was time to head to the Inn for game night.  Cassie and Michael got home while we were at the Inn; came over to see all of us there after unloading their car; and we went home with them for a visit after the gaming.  They took Sierra and Stuart home with them too and kept them for the night, so we kept them entertained too and then helped out with getting them off to sleep before we came home for the night.  Let’s add that Mom helped Miranda with winning the senior title for the games; and Ethan and Naomi won the junior title.

We didn’t do any work in the office tonight, but bath or Jacuzzi time was needed after all of the work and chores.  It is really late now; so we are going to keep the world news update short.  Nothing has changed for the major problems of the world; the daily distractions roll on or get recycled; and the rich and narcissistic try their very best to gain more riches and power.

On that note, we’ve had enough for tonight and really need to get started on our nap time now; so we’re out of here and off to dreamland as soon as we can get there.

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

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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Naomi and I decided to meet up with Ethan and Aiden for Tai Chi by the river this morning; we loved that workout; and then we split up for breakfast and to get ready for our school day.  The boys met up with us again for the walk to school; we had a quiet, uneventful day that was mostly about wrapping up some projects and the final learning modules of the school year.  Memorial Day is early this year, so we have a bit more time to get ready for final exams, but we will be starting that prep work next week after the holiday; so we are going to be busier through to the end of those exams.  Ethan and I were thinking about that when we opted for work-play at the lab or archives after school; we had a quiet dinner with Mom after that and caught up on the parts of her visit with Dad that were teen-friendly; and then we all went to the park for the co-ed ball practices.  Naomi, Aiden, Sophia, and Aaron were all there too; we took care of all of the next-gen kids that were at the park with their parents – including Bassett, Palmer, Stone, and Jacobs’ kids; and then we eventually came home again with Mom for the night.

We didn’t do any work in the office tonight or even a Magi lesson, but bath or Jacuzzi time was needed and wanted; and now Ethan and I are winding down with the usual twin chat and computing.  Cassie and Michael checked in with Mom a few times; and they had a very busy, long day.  They got up very early this morning; drove from Indianapolis to Columbia, Missouri; and then they’ve worked there for the rest of the day.  They are staying there tonight and will be working in the area again in the morning; and then they are going to drive the rest of the way home.  We’re not sure yet when they will get back, but we are happy that they will be here soon; and maybe we’ll even get to spend some time with them while also needing to share them with everyone else!

That brings us up to the world news update; and the pendulum continues to swing violently with words more than actions.  Imminent peace was again the story of the day for the Iran war without any actual diplomatic progress.  The markets responded as usual; those pricing swings are just noise and really only affect the winners and losers of those financial bets; and nothing changes for the real issues in the region.  On the Ukrainian war front, Russia is warning Baltic countries over allowing Ukrainian drones to use their airspace to attack into Russia; that is a fiction for both sides; and everyone knows that those countries are doing a lot more than just allowing the use of their airspace while pretending they aren’t directly involved in the war.  There is an obvious escalation in the war from both sides, and while Ukrainian leaders are claiming victories because of their drone strikes successes; the consequences from the Russian retaliations are devastating their country and people while ‘western’ leaders watch on and cheer for those ‘sacrifices’ for freedom.

As always, there are other stories happening around the world that don’t get the same attention as the wars and politics, but we keep track; and know that the stresses we’ve mentioned regularly continue to spread and grow; and we can only continue to hope for better for everyone while keeping our expectations low.

That’s enough for tonight.  We only have one school day left for actual studies before the annual Memorial Day weekend work day around town, but we are going to be busier as we get ready for the weekend; and need to get the sleep while we can.  Stay tuned; since we are looking forward to the first holiday weekend of the summer and hope that it will be amazing for all of our favorite people!

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

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

 

Ehlana and Aiden + Naomi and Ethan:

Happy 4^th Birthday, Luke Norton!

Happy 8^th Anniversary, Mitch and Lynn Bassett!

We can report that the top local celebrations of the day have been happy for everyone involved, but we didn’t join in on any of that fun while busy with school and our usual Tuesday music practices.  Ethan and I heard some of the details from Cassie and Michael via messages; since they were in Indianapolis today and missed out on the fun for their cousins and nephew too – along with a report from Sophia and Aaron because they were briefly at the anniversary dinner between practices.  That was a bit of a repeat for them after doing that last Tuesday too for Jacob and Miranda’s anniversary dinner, but they had fun again and had better food than we did for our dinner break.

Mom headed to Crystal Springs this morning, so we opted for ordering Pizzeria pizza for our dinner with Naomi and Aiden; and ate that meal by the river behind the pizzeria; and watched some of the baseball and play fun at the park from a distance that many of our cousins and aunts and uncles were at – including their own Pizzeria pizza picnic dinner that went along with the baseball.  Our academic play time was good – though not all of our classmates would agree; since we had a serious science test along with the rest of our studies and project work.  The school band practice was all about getting ready for the Memorial Day parade, and then after that pizza food break; we switched to the final practice for the teen praise team program we’ll be sharing with the congregation on Sunday.  All of the teens involved in that program attending the practice; and we took the extra time for a full rehearsal including the skits and readings along with the music.

That doesn’t quite bring us up to now, but I was messing around a bit with the grouping of the names at the start of this update.  Naomi and I decided that we were way overdue for some girls-only time; so I’m with her tonight while Ethan is staying with Aiden tonight while Mom is with Dad in the city.  The boys did walk us home from the church and there were good night hugs and kisses, but then Naomi and I had fun with her Mom with mini-makeovers and girl chat time before moving on to hanging out in Naomi’s room and listening to music while doing a vid-chat with the boys while we all caught up on the world news and entertainment stories of the day.

Before we get to that news; we want to mention that Cassie and Michael have had a busy day in Indianapolis, and while they had a charity event too; most of their work was transportation and logistics-related thanks to the city being an important regional hub that is particularly-important for some of our agricultural interests that are expanding through BMR labs products.  Their personal highlights of the day were the time they spent with Darryl and Wendy Watts.  Their college friends are thriving in the big city; they went out to dinner and checked out a favorite club that features a variety of music ranging from jazz and blues to pop and country cover bands.  They are still doing that as we’re writing this report; so we’ve only had a few messages exchanged while they’re busy.

That brings us to the world news of the day.  That won’t take long tonight because nothing important has changed.  We are keeping eyes and ears on the Russian president’s visit to China – especially when first looks suggest that President Putin is being treated much-better than President Trump was last week.  Nobody should be surprised by that, since our leaders treat China like enemies while Russia and China are building best-ever relations.  We always remember that politics can be fleeting, and the current partnerships can flip easily, but we also don’t see that happening in the near-future; since everyone understands that lines are being drawn between western neo-colonial countries and powers against, well, the rest of the world.

Let’s stop there.  Ethan and Aiden aren’t in a hurry to wrap up and resume their guy talk, but Naomi and I still want to hang out together for a while before we get around to the nap time; so that’s all for this report.

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