Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - February 17, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 15^th Birthday, Aaron!

Today is also Shrove Tuesday; so we multi-tasked Olde Bakery Paczkis with Aaron’s birthday fun at school today!  That’s going to be the trend of the day, since we’re going to multi-task his dinner party with the school band practice that just ended; we know that meal is going to include pancakes, bacon, and other ‘fat’ foods; and then we’ll still have our teen praise team practice after dinner.  We’ll have more fun after that too, but Sophia will be Aaron’s only overnight guest while Naomi is going to host Ethan, Aiden, and me because Mom is in Crystal Springs with Dad for the night.  For the record, she did not go there today exclusively to take Olde Bakery Paczkis to Dad and Anna Marie, but that was a bonus for them – and for the Malloys; since she took a box to them too.

We can cover the rest of our news of the day tomorrow night, but before we move on to that dinner party; we should mention that Aaron got his driver’s license today and joins Naomi and their classmates in that club.  Cassie and Michael will be starting their final day in Thailand soon; and then they’ll be moving on to Cambodia – starting in the Capital city, Phnom Penh.  Finally, let’s also mention that the warm weather continues today with the high near-seventy – though we’ve only managed to have a bit of outdoor fun while busy with school and band.

Okay, we need to run now; so that’s all for this update.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - February 16, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

We were up early to see Dad and Anna Marie off to Crystal Springs; eventually followed that up with Tai Chi by the river for three that was chilly, but welcomed; and then we had a hot breakfast before heading off to school for the day.  Thanks to the continuing warm-up that meant a high of sixty-eight this afternoon, we had some bonus outdoor time at school; and then we opted to bike the trails with our friends between last class and dinner with Mom.  Ethan and I wanted to work at the lab or archives too, so we did that after dinner and the clean-up; we used some time phasing to get more done; and stayed until around ten-thirty before coming home again for bath or Jacuzzi time.  Before we move on, the topic of time phasing and tween and teen years came up briefly tonight in relation to Cassie’s notes and warnings about too much time phasing and the effects on aging and growth during puberty; so let’s add our two cents worth to that discussion and research.  Yes, Cassie was and is right about what she discovered through her own observations and tests, but she also didn’t really look into how much control she could take over those changes while we have been doing that.  No, we can’t actually change how much time is ticking on our biological clocks, but we have a fair bit of control over any aging effects; so we are all more-likely to have future issues with looking too-young instead of getting prematurely-old!  Yes, Naomi and I will be billionaires for sure if I can figure out how to bottle that and help everyone in the world to live longer while also looking young! ;^)

That thought has me a bit distracted, but while I’m also thinking about Cassie and Michael, they are already starting their last Tuesday in Thailand; the scenery around Hat Yai is spectacular, so while they are working long, challenging days; they are having a lot of fun along the way with cameo sightseeing moments to enjoy the natural and historic wonders of southern Thailand!  On that note, let’s also add that Ethan helps Cassie and Michael with archives histories of the places they are visiting; and we have a lot of historic records from the Magi that lived in all of Asia.

Moving along, we’ve needed some time to cover all of the news of the day and deal with some family business and charity work since getting cleaned up and ready for bed, so it is getting late; and we need to wrap this up and get some sleep.  That extra time wasn’t because there was good news to catch up on – we just got into the weeds a bit for some of the stories we found interesting.  We don’t get many of those stories from the mainstream western media sources, but there are other options if you choose to look for them, and while all information also requires using discernment and parsing out the falsehoods; there are lies being dumped out there on both sides of every conflict.  The stories we focused on tonight were all about the people on the ground in Ukraine and Iran.  They don’t want war; they are not evil; and they wish as much as we do that our world leaders would start caring more about them than they care about fighting over power and resources.  There are some stories that we don’t know what to make of – like news about President Trump’s peace council putting together an international force of soldiers to police Gaza and the Palestinians.  That won’t make any difference to the Palestinians if all they end up getting is new overlords in charge of their genocide.  We certainly don’t hear anything about the future of Gaza that includes safety and prosperity for the Palestinians; and life isn’t much better for the Palestinians in the West Bank as Israel continues to steal chunks of that land too.  There isn’t a lot of news coming out of Ukraine, but that’s likely bad news; since western media and leaders do not want to admit how badly the war is going for ‘our’ side.  There is still news trickling out from the Munich security conference, and we can’t help but be disgusted by the attitudes of the leaders there as they have no care for the civilians and soldiers on both sides.  The hyperbole is expected, but the outright lies don’t help anyone; and bad decisions are being made by leaders that either believe the lies or knowingly ignore the truth.  What we didn’t hear really anything about making peace from that conference; and that doesn’t bode well for our near future if all of our leaders are determined to make war regardless of the costs.

That’s enough for tonight – though we could go on endlessly as we don’t even touch on any of the smaller conflicts around the world.  We were up early, though, and the time phasing added hours to our day; so that’s all for tonight.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - February 15, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 6^th Anniversary, Brock and Karla Benton!

We offered our best wishes to the Bentons while at church this morning, but didn’t have any other involvement in their special day – though we did hear that Cassie and Michael had a short vid-chat with them at breakfast our time.  While we’re thinking about them, Cassie and Michael have flown from Chiang Mai to the southern Thailand city of Hat Yai – their final stop in Thailand.  We are not happy to see rain in their daily forecast, but then that is likely only going to be short afternoon bursts; and the rest of the day will be decent and the highs will stay in the nineties!  They are not going to have much time for sightseeing in and around Hat Yai; they’ve already started their Monday work as we’re writing this; and they have full days booked through until they move on to Cambodia on Wednesday night.

Here at home, our adventures in babysitting were busy and challenging and not at all romantic, but all of the parents appreciated our efforts – especially the parents that also got to have kid-free nights for Valentine’s Day.  The Pizzeria pizza dinner was a hit with the kids and tweens; the entertainment included video gaming on the third floor and movies in the living room and games in the sunroom; we all stayed up too-late – even the next-gen kids; and then nap time ranged from the little-kid max of around seven hours to the parents and babysitters minimum that was closer to three hours!  Technically, there was some co-ed nap time too, but that included a next-gen kid for that lucky couple; so we aren’t counting that as holiday-romantic!

We still got up for Tai Chi and even went out by the river this morning because it was above freezing – though the ‘we’ didn’t include Mom and Dad.  They didn’t end up sleeping in much; and were already working on the semi-major breakfast for all of the kids and teens in the house by the time we got back indoors again.  We helped with that work; getting the kids up and ready for church; and the clean-up after we had everyone fed.  We managed to get ready for church too; and then we had a good rest of the morning with the service and Sunday school that included helping with crafting for the primary classes while they created slightly-belated gifts for their parents or other loved ones.

The weather was awesome again today with the high topping out in the sixties, so after having lunch with Mom and Dad; Ethan and I went biking with some friends and cousins for most of the afternoon while Dad was busy working and getting ready for his week in Crystal Springs anyway and Mom might have been helping him more with having fun than with getting that work done faster!  No details are wanted or expected; and we’ll pretend that we don’t know why they were smiling and so happy when we got home for dinner!  We stayed at home for that meal; Ethan and I took care of the clean-up; and then our own work and Magi lesson in the office were kept fairly-short because Mom didn’t want us staying up late after not getting much sleep the past two nights.  We’ll also be up early to see Dad and Anna Marie off to Crystal Springs; so we’re good with the comparatively-early bedtime.  Bath or Jacuzzi time came first to get cleaned up from the biking and park adventures time; and now we’re winding down with the usual twin chat and computer checks.

There is so much that we could write about from the weekend world news.  There was the Munich security summit that we thought was a disaster as the talk was all about more war and no peace – including the calls to destroy Iran and attempt a maritime blockade of Russia.  There are reports that our country is already sending two more aircraft carrier groups to the Middle East – along with squadrons of F-35 fighter jets; so that hardly matches up with peace talks – and gives Iran no reason to trust us with those negotiations so soon after we used that peace talks ploy to launch a surprise attack last year.  On the Iran side of that equation; reports are coming out that both China and Russia are sending high tech military support including next-gen radar and defense systems and possibly Chinese built fighter jets.  We do not want to find out what will happen if we attack Iran again, but our leaders must know that it is unlikely that Iran will be surprised this time; and they have promised to retaliate if attacked.  For the record, we – the western countries – are not on the right side of this story; and a lot of people are already getting killed for no real reason other than the fight for power and resources.  Iran’s only ‘sin’ is that they refuse to do as they are told by the western powers.  They understand that they really don’t have any good potions here, since capitulating to America means ending up like Libya or Syria or Iraq while standing up to them might at least give them a chance of survival – though ending up like North Korea isn’t exactly prosperity either.

While we wait to see what happens in the Middle East; the situation in Ukraine continues to deteriorate while those peace talks go nowhere too.  Russia is bombing the Ukraine power and energy systems ever day; the people of Ukraine are suffering through winter in horrid conditions; and the frontline battles rage on.  There have been some reports of Ukrainian counter-offensives, but they seem to be more about grabbing headlines at the pointless expense of soldiers’ lives; and it really is stupid to fight your way into a town or village just for the photo op and then retreat again!  On the Russian side; they are just grinding along as they’ve done since the start of the conflict; and they will continue until they either win on the battlefield or Ukraine accepts the inevitable at the negotiating table.  Unfortunately, from what we saw from that Munich conference; it will be decided on the battlefield – and we can only hope that our western leaders will not escalate and turn that battlefield into a worldwide fight.

This update is dragging on a bit, but there is news on this side of the planet too.  There are stories coming out about Russia and China offering Cuba help with breaking the American blockade and fuel tankers may already be on the way to the island; so there could be a flare-up if our navy and coast guard attempt to seize those ships.  Our leaders are also making threats against Venezuela again; so it appears that kidnapping their President and First Lady hasn’t actually solved all of the problems in the country and brought peace and prosperity and democracy to the people!  Greenland has been out of the news, but is apparently still a priority for us to take over despite the fact that Denmark and Greenland do not want that to happen, but maybe President Trump will be too-busy with all of the other conflicts to send a carrier group there in the dead of winter too!  If we haven’t already been sarcastic-enough, maybe he could trade Ukraine to Russia for some of their state-of-the-art, nuclear-powered ice breaker ships to help with conquering Greenland!

Okay, that’s enough for tonight.  We need the sleep and you, future reader, have learned enough to know that our world in our ‘now’ is fairly messed up; so we’ll be glad to be living here in our happy little corner where we are blessed with peace and love and joy!  Stay tuned, since even with Dad away for the week; we’re expecting to have an amazing third week of February!

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

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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I have been tempted to begin this update with the news for Ethan and Naomi, but decided that, for a change, Aiden should get top billing for doing such a great job with making my Valentine’s Day special – starting at midnight after the dance last night!  The boys co-ordinated that ‘surprise’ for Naomi, Sophia, and me; so we all had fun – and stayed up too late too while sharing those gift exchanges; a movie; and lots of co-ed cuddle time before we eventually got around to the co-ed sleepover.  Before we move on to the news from today-so-far; we can also report that we had a lot of fun at the school dance – including for the hour and a half and change of music fun that we – Naomi and the Holiday Harmonies – shared with everyone.  We didn’t get to go out for dinner at the Inn like many of the couples did last night before the dance while busy setting up and doing a sound check before getting ready for the ‘show’ and our dates, but we did grab slices of Pizzeria pizza along the way.  The dance was amazing, and it was equally-fun for the music time and the dancing and teen time we had when not on stage.  It was already late by the time we came home with our four best friends and our band gear because we helped with the dance clean-up too; we still had to unload our gear and haul it up to the third floor for most of it; so that ‘after midnight’ gift-sharing fun happened a bit more than a bit after midnight.

That brings us up to this morning – since we are not going to write about the parts of last night that might have included some quality alone time for each couple that was part of our early Valentine’s Day celebration.  Tai Chi was a bit crowded with eight in the exercise room, but we had fun; and then followed that up with a hot breakfast that the boys cooked up for all of us – and they took care of the clean-up too.  Valentine’s Day did not get us out of Saturday chores at multiple homes, but Sophia and Aaron didn’t do that work with us while Naomi and Aiden teamed up with us for the work at all of our homes; at Cassie and Michael’s house; and to get the third floor and guest rooms ready for the babysitting we’re about to start hosting for the night while our favorite parents go out for dinner at the Inn and a play night at the pub.  That won’t be romantic for us, but we think that our favorite adults should get to celebrate too; and we will have fun with our cousins and friends too.

We need to get going now, but let’s add that we’ve had some outdoor play time after the chores and lunch that included some biking on the trails and park play time.  It didn’t warm up as-much today, but the mid-fifties is still very nice for mid-February!  We also want to mention that Cassie and Michael had fun with their Valentine’s Day; and they are planning on having a second one for their Sunday thanks to the time change giving them an excuse to keep the fun going while ‘celebrating with us’ from afar.  There is not going to be a world news report today because we are going to keep love and joy in our hearts for the rest of the day; so we are not going to mess that up by reporting on the latest idiocies from our world leaders.  We will need to do that soon – if only to get the rants out of our systems, but stay tuned for that while we wrap this up and get back to having fun with our family and friends starting right now.

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

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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

It’s Friday the 13^th – and that could be scary for some teens and tweens tonight at the school dance! ;^)

We didn’t actually think about that at all so far today – we’ve been busy all day to now; and we’re only home for a quick break before we need to get to the school to set up our band gear for that dance.  The overnight lows are still around freezing, so Tai Chi has remained indoors, but we’ve had another warm afternoon with the high topping sixty.  That worked for us when it came time to hauling gear over to the church for the seniors’ Valentine’s Day luncheon and party; that was our fun highlight of the day-so-far; and we just finished hauling the school band gear back to the music room before being set free from school for the weekend.  That’s also pretty much all we have for our day-so-far – though we should add that the music entertainment we offered to some of our favorite grandparents included ‘unplugged’ Naomi and the Holiday Harmonies ballads that were all classics that we chose especially for our audience.  For the record and just for fun, there were definitely no Bad Bunny songs!

Moving along, we really do need to get going soon, and Ethan and I are going to host a co-ed sofa sleepover with our four best friends after the dance; so we’ll be sharing the rest of our stories tomorrow – or maybe on Sunday night; since we do have a babysitting gig booked for Valentine’s Day!  Cassie and Michael are technically already into their Valentine’s Day, but if they aren’t currently still sleeping; we do not need or want the details for why not!  We are not doing any world news reporting today – mostly because we haven’t taken the time for a search for all of the latest news anyway.  Maybe we’ll skip that and just stick with the love and happiness plans for the entire weekend!

It is time to go now; so that’s all for today – and we’ll hope that there won’t be any scary moments for the rest of our Friday the 13^th!  I am not worried about Ethan having drama issues with Naomi, but we don’t need to let facts get in the way of those potential jokes; so feel free to entertain yourselves with that idea while we move on and live those stories we’ll be writing about over the next couple of days.

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