Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - June 29, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

We may be officially getting too-responsible and boring for our younger cousins to hang out with us!  Okay, that isn’t actually true, but we do have a gang of younger cousins camping with friends tonight while we’ve worked in the office with Mom and Dad after our ball practices; and didn’t want to join in on the camping fun tonight when we already have a lot going on every day this week.  For today, that started with Tai Chi by the river and breakfast with Mom and Dad; we work-played at the lab or archives for the rest of the morning through to around one o’clock; and then we came home and met up with some friends and cousins for a few play hours this afternoon.  We made a picnic lunch; headed out on our bikes; and split our time between riding the trails, swimming, and just hanging out in the shade of a tree for some quality teen chat time.  Our four best friends were with us for dinner with Mom and Dad; we moved on to those ball practices we already mentioned; and then Ethan and I were on our own when we came home.  We’ve had another triple-digit high today, so getting into the cool of the house worked for us, but Mom had us get cleaned up first before joining our parents in the office – a not-at-all subtle statement of necessity over being polite; and the work and Magi lesson that we did after the showers was definitely more-pleasant for everyone in the room! ;^)

Our work on charity and family business projects mixed in again with world news; so let’s combine the two as we wrap up this report.  The disaster response in Venezuela is getting less media attention as usual for any story cycle, but the work is really just getting started; there are hundreds of thousands of people that will need extended and ongoing basic support for months or years; and the rebuilding will definitely take years after losing hundreds of buildings in the hardest hit regions.  There are other stories that we are watching and don’t like – including the ‘boots on the ground’ reports that suggest an ongoing American military presence in the country.  That is another very bad idea from our leaders if they are planning a back door invasion; and we definitely do not need to start another war or even an unwanted occupation.  Mom and Cassie have led some new work in Europe related to the heat wave there, but we have limits on aide when the problem is so widespread and also dispersed on an individual level for the most at-risk people.  We can help with low-income medical clinics and supporting groups that work with the elderly, children, or sick; and can only wish that we could do more for all of the people that don’t have the kinds of support they need and have to try and survive on their own.  The death toll attributed to the heat is now in the thousands, and that really does bother us when most of those deaths – and injuries – are preventable.

That brings us up to the wars report; since many of those other problems could have been solved if money had been spent on population support instead of military and weapons of all kinds.  Let’s include the earthquakes disaster for that, since all of those buildings that were destroyed could have been built better if Venezuela hadn’t needed to spend so much time and money on trying to defend itself from the United States and the economic, political, and military destruction that has been imposed on them for decades.  I feel a rant coming on, but don’t want to go there; so let’s move on.  We are hearing a report out of Ukraine that we hope proves to be wrong about nuclear materials that were sent there to be weaponized – and that Russia tracked and then bombed and destroyed.  If true, that is a horrific escalation by Ukraine and their western backers; we hope there isn’t any significant radiation risks in the area; and it is truly insane for any leaders to think that adding in nuclear dirty bombs or ‘tactical’ nukes into the war mix would be a good idea or have any chance of changing the outcome for what is happening in Ukraine.  Okay, they could make things far-worse, but you know what I meant; and best-case for us would be finding out that this story is just more propaganda.

As for the Middle East, the horrors inflicted by Israel on Gaza, the West Bank, and too-many of its’ neighbors rolls on; they really believe that they can kill and bomb their way to victory and the Greater Israel project; and the rest of the world continues to let them get away with never-ending genocide and war crimes.  We aren’t going to add individual stories to highlight those horrors tonight, but they are out there – if not in our own major media outlets; and we can assure you that God does not approve of what is happening in and around Israel.  Depending on the moment or latest report, the Strait of Hormuz either is or isn’t open; Iran and America continue to exchange fire and rhetoric as peace talks falter – again; and none of our leaders seem to be seriously trying to stop the still-growing and developing economic crises that are spreading across the world.  Ethan and I are not amused by inflation, but we did laugh at serious commentary about Apple product price increases related to raw materials shortages and price hikes; since that was getting more attention today than price increases on basic groceries and supplies that will be far more costly to daily budgets for most people!  For the record, we have those price pressures here in our little town, but we also do what we can to help everyone through our family businesses and charities; and we also have advantages in a small farming community that aren’t possible in cities – especially when it comes to local food; our solar and wind farm; and our ability to work together as a community.

Let’s stop there.  It is getting late, since we did put in a few hours of work in the office plus some time phasing; and we’re tired and ready to get some sleep.  There is only one day left in June, and we would like it to be a good one; so we’re out of here and off to rest up so we can be ready for all of the fun.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - June 28, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 26^th Birthday, Joshua Parker!

Cassie and Michael helped their friend with having a special day, but we only offered best wishes while at church; and had our own adventures for the rest of our day.  The top local news is the return of summer-hot weather with a high that topped triple digits for a few hours – though not quite soon-enough to have a heat-shortened church service.  Tai Chi was by the river; Ethan and I helped with the cooking and cleaning around the food fun with Mom and Dad; and then our time at church and Sunday school included prep work for the holiday weekend service that the teens will lead next Sunday.  By the time we came home, we had plans for a bike ride to Quarry Lake, so we got changed, packed a picnic lunch and other day camp gear; and met up with a gang of family and friends for the bike ride to our favorite local campground.  Thanks to the upcoming holiday weekend, Quarry Lake has a lot of campers staying for the week on vacation and the hot weather brought out a lot of day campers; so we didn’t even try to do as much this afternoon as usual to avoid line-ups for favorite activities.  We did have fun with a lot of water play; shared some of the fun with next-gen cousins and other kids that were brought out by parents or other adults to get a little break from the heat too; and then we eventually biked home in time for dinner.  Some of our gang were going on to the Inn for one of the buffets after we got back, but Ethan and I had another quiet meal with Mom and Dad.  We traded campground stories; the teens in the house pretended not to sense how much Dad still loves quality time with Mom in a swimsuit; and we were glad that there weren’t any jokes today about Michael getting Cassie and Mom mixed up because he wasn’t there today at all while busy with Joshua’s birthday celebration and some of his nieces and nephews.  We all pitched in for the clean-up; did some work in the office that was again mostly related to disaster relief in Venezuela; and then it was bath or Jacuzzi time for at least three of us – and we’ll again pretend that we don’t know that Dad lost all ability to concentrate on his own work and went to ‘help’ Mom with her Jacuzzi break!  That is definitely too much info for their kids; so let’s wrap this up with the world news update.

Peace was definitely off this weekend, but we expect regular flip-flops on that as long as insiders can continue to front-run the markets and make hundreds of millions of dollars on the wild price fluctuations.  That’s very cynical, but there really doesn’t seem to be many leaders that care about what is actually happening around the world – whether the disasters are natural or man-made.  No, Ethan, I am not being sexist – there are no woman-made disasters because we can always find at least one man to blame things on!  He was only thinking that, but I couldn’t resist commenting too.

Moving along, there have been more exchanges of missiles and drones between Iran and the United States; the fighting in Lebanon continues; and none of this surprises us when we didn’t expect the peace deal to work at all with so many forces working to undermine and destroy it.  The Ukraine war continues to be ugly too; and there have been some terrible stories coming out about how badly the Ukrainian soldiers are being treated by their commanders – including reports of deaths in training camps; lack of basic food and supplies on the front lines; and the horrific tactics being used by the press gangs to kidnap – draft – new recruits.

While all of that is going on, most western countries have leaders and media focusing on trivial or idiotic stories to distract the masses from reality.  Okay, that isn’t totally true, since there are some serious issues getting attention too – like the heat wave in Europe and the Venezuela earthquakes, but there are all of those pointless distractions too; and we mostly mention that because we are stuck wasting a certain amount of time every day sifting through the trash to get to the truth for the news that actually matters.  A lot of people joke about having A.I. take over for reporters and politicians, but if they’d let Mom program all of those digital leaders and media personalities; we’re not totally opposed to the concept! ;^)

Okay, we are obviously getting too-tired to continue this report; so that’s all for tonight and the weekend.  We have a very busy week ahead leading up to the holiday fun; so we definitely want to rest up while we can to be ready for all of those adventures.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - June 27, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

We’ve been busy since our last update; so let’s get to the personal news of the day from where we left off yesterday afternoon.  In addition to getting our campground set up and hanging out with our family and friends; Ethan and I helped out with the work on both sides of dinner; that meal was awesome and we shared the food fun with our best friends and got a break from next-gen kid control; and then we eventually helped out with those kids while at the park and catching the co-ed ball game.  ‘Our’ Witch Falls Wild lost again – this time against Palmer’s Pride; and gave up ten runs again too – though they did earn five runs instead of four; so that was a minor improvement.  We had some next-gen kids to babysit after the game too while their parents went out to the pub, but they were all getting tired by then; and didn’t last through the first outdoor movie before falling asleep.  We watched two movies; there was teen chat time by the river after that; and co-ed sleepovers were an option because junior campers including Brianna and Faith took on the next-gen kids that stayed with us overnight.  It was past-two before we got around to some nap time; and then we were up at normal time for Tai Chi by the river this morning.

That workout was more fun with all of the extra exercise buddies and spectators; we rushed around after that with taking turns getting ready for the day; having breakfast and dealing with that work; and packing up our campground.  That was needed because rain and storms were in the forecast for tonight, but we had time for that too ahead of the family ballgames of the day thanks to getting most of our chores done on Thursday and Friday.  Brianna, Faith, and their Rebels team get top spot for baseball news because Brianna pitched a no-hitter against the Pizzeria Patriots while also leading the batting that earned them nine runs.  Ethan and I caught the last two innings of that game; we had a family-and-friends picnic lunch while watching the first innings of the noon game; and didn’t stay for all of Leah and Hailey’s game.  They helped their Med Center Mist team to a much-closer win – eleven-to-ten against the Sapphire Storm; so while they are winning too; their girls’ division is among the most-competitive this season.

The rest of our day has been comparatively-quiet.  We had some play time with our friends and cousins this afternoon that only had one interruption due to showers, but we decided against any sleepover plans with our best friends; so we were home on our own for dinner with Mom and Dad.  After enjoying that meal and helping with all of the work on both sides of the food; and then we did some work in the office with Mom that was mostly related to disaster support in Venezuela.  Mom didn’t let us work too long; bath or Jacuzzi time followed; and now we’re getting ready to catch up on our sleep without any of our favorite distractions.  For the record, our best friends do enjoy spending time with their own families and without us now and then, and we’re keeping that in mind right now because we are going to take them with us for that trip with Cassie and Michael!

On the world news front, there have been new exchanges of missile and drone strikes between the United States and Iran over the past day – including hits of commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz; so the ceasefire and memorandum are both looking very shaky again tonight.  The United States, Israel, and Lebanon announced another ceasefire deal, but that didn’t include Hezbollah; and they do not agree to the deal at all and are now warning that the Lebanon government will start a civil war if they keep attempting to give parts of their country away to Israel.  Let’s mention that the Lebanese government is weak and on the same side with Israel because they are bought and paid for by the United States; and they do not care at all for the majority of people in their country.  None of that looks good for imminent peace; and hatred and resentment continues to build in the entire region while most of the leaders of those countries only care about their own wealth and power.

The Ukraine war rolls on with little change as Russia dominates on the ground and in the air; and Ukraine dominates the western media and political ‘war’ with disgusting displays of brutality.  A good example of that for today was a drone strike on a Russian World War Two monument that injured twelve civilians.  Those optics ought to be horrific, but the Ukrainian military and political leaders brag about their ‘success’ while ignoring the reality that they targeted a war memorial site dedicated to lives lost in the fight against Nazi Germany.  While western media continues to re-write history; having Ukrainian neo-Nazi military target civilians while trying to destroy an anti-Nazi war memorial really is a disgrace that any soldier with even a shred of humanity should be appalled by his or her own actions.  We believe the same is true for every civilian attack that is intentional, but the hits keep coming; and we can only continue to hope that somewhere in the near instead of distant future we get some world leaders that will actually find a way to stop the insanity.

It is too tempting to get going on another rant against our leaders and biased media that pushes narrative over truth, but we are supposed to get the extra sleep now; so that’s all for tonight.  Stay tuned, since we are expecting an awesome week ahead of us as we roll toward the holiday weekend.  Ethan and I will rest up now so we can be ready for all of that fun and adventures.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - June 26, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 5^th Anniversary, Jillian and Julian!

Our adopted cousin and her husband are not here for their anniversary celebration, but they are having fun; and Dawn is helping them out with the fun – and actually spending some time with them too this weekend.  No details have been shared yet, but if we hear anything interesting; we’ll pass that along in a near-future update.

Here at home, Ethan and I have had another chores day; we finished up all of our usual weekend work; and even had a bit of time for some biking and a swim break.  That pretty much also brings us up to now; and we’re currently getting ready for a camping night with our friends and cousins.  We’re hosting that again tonight; our tents are already set up; and we have a small gang of kids and teens out by the river setting up their tents and gear too.  In addition to packing out camping gear; Ethan is rounding up the projector and a hard drive for our outdoor movies plan, and since we don’t usually offer any details about that; we use a tripod for the projector along with the white screen against the side of the storage barn; the movies or shows can be pulled from hard drives or our streaming subscriptions; and we have multiple options for audio from the built-in speaker to linked outdoor speakers.  That little blast of data seems a bit irrelevant compared to the serious problems in the world, but we want our journal to be about our normal daily lives – and Ethan does not want to write about things like fashion or teen gossip! ;^)

While that has me thinking about an entire series writing about current fashion in a small town compared to big cities or Hollywood, we need to get going soon; so let’s wrap this up with a quick world news report.  The aftermath of the earthquakes in Venezuela continues to draw attention from around the world, and we are glad to see the outpouring of support for actual needs for the people.  Search and rescue teams; mobile hospitals, and basic aide are arriving in the country; and we hope that will continue for the months and years that it will take to recover from that disaster.  Let’s also mention that there are leaders trying to take advantage of the situation, and we are sure that there will be profiteers gaining power; we can only be disgusted by everyone that takes advantage of the most-vulnerable people.

The Middle East tensions continue; the peace talks are going in circles; and the supposedly-open Strait of Hormuz is not open to everyone and there have been ships turned back and fired on for attempting to pass without permission from Iran.  Attacks continue in Lebanon; and trust remains near-zero.  We don’t like anything we’re seeing out of Ukraine either, and while changes on the front lines seem small and slow; everyone needs to remember that the human costs are catastrophic regardless of how much physical land control changes; and the destruction across Ukraine – and in Russia too – is compounding and the cost to rebuild will continue to rise for both cost and how long it will take to recover from the war whenever it does end.  We really want to see that war come to an end, but there aren’t even any negotiations going on; and there are very few leaders even offering solutions to peace that both sides would accept.

Finally, before we get back to our own adventures; the heat wave in Europe is going to break in some areas over the next few days, and that is good news for everyone that will get a break from the extreme heat, but we also hope that we won’t just see those problems moving into other areas of Europe.  I also want to mention that we can’t always relate to heat-related problems in other countries and regions of the world; since we live in an area where both extreme heat and extreme cold are annual norms; so our homes and businesses are built for both too.  In the United Kingdom, for example, their homes are usually built to retain heat; so that feature compounds the problems caused by a heat wave.

Okay, we really need to get back to the fun with our family and friends; so that’s all for this report.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - June 25, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 1^st Birthday, Geordie Johnson!

We weren’t really involved in Geordie’s special day at all today beyond the family gifts that were sent to him; and we’ve mostly worked all day without any major play time.  Our little corner of the world is getting rained on tonight and that weather moved into the area late this afternoon.  Tai Chi could still be by the river this morning; Ethan and I worked at the lab or archives for the morning; and then we worked on chores at multiple homes until we needed to wrap it up when the first bands of rain were imminent.  That early end to our chores plans allowed us to help Mom with making dinner; we shared that meal with Dad when he got home from work; and then we all went to work in the office after dealing with the post-dinner clean-up.

While Dad got busy with his usual homework; Ethan and I worked with Mom on charity operations directed at Venezuela and the emergency needs in Caracas and other parts of the country affected by the twin earthquakes that hit them yesterday.  The destruction has been extensive, and while we have limits for search and rescue; we can definitely get supplies and support there for the survivors.  Some time phasing allowed us to get more done tonight, but we needed hours of ‘normal’ time too while working with charity partners in Central and South America – and with Cassie and Michael; so it is getting late as we’re wrapping up our day now.

That’s why we aren’t going to offer any other world or war news tonight.  There isn’t really any significant news from either of the top wars anyway and most of the media stories are more about theatre than substance; so we’ll take a break from all of that daily idiocy – or at least give our future journal readers a break from another report about how badly our world is being governed by the rich and powerful leaders who care nothing for the majority of the ‘regular’ people.  We don’t want to get into a rant either; so that’s all for this update.  Ethan and I are moving on to nap time starting right now.

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