Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - May 24, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 26^th Birthday, Stefan Reardon!

We joined in on the breakfast vid-chat with Stefan and Madelana this morning – along with the rest of the teens at Cassie and Michael’s house; had fun with that; and hope that Stefan has had a good day.

Ethan and I didn’t have a lot of time for birthday adventures today – we were busy-enough with our own plans.  Tai Chi was by the river and that vid-chat was the highlight of our morning meal, but we also needed to help with the cooking and cleaning; take turns getting ready for the day; and then getting to church early for the teen praise team set-up ahead of the holiday weekend service.  As always, this service is, by nature, one of the most-solemn, so our music and messages are appropriate to the occasion, but our efforts still have an impact on the congregation; and our music was heartfelt and emotional for everyone.  The service and follow-up social time was great – though we spent most of that post-service time packing up gear and hanging out with our friends; we moved on to one of the handful of smaller family lunches that for us was again with Cassie and Michael; and then we’ve had a play afternoon since then while enjoying a sunny, warm day in the great outdoors.  Biking, canoeing, and park and yard play has kept us busy for most of the afternoon; and now we’re getting cleaned up and ready for the late buffet at the Inn with family and friends.  Ethan and I are also packing for sleepovers with Naomi or Aiden respectively; and we’ll be with their families for the rest of the day while Mom and Dad will hang out with some of the other parents along with getting another kid-free night.

The rest of our news for today can wait for the holiday weekend wrap-up tomorrow night, but we should add that we had fun last night with Cassie, Michael, and the gang of teens they hosted and entertained.  There was ‘live’ music, video gaming, and movies; we stayed up too-late; and enjoyed sharing that time with them after weeks of only being able to trade messages and see them through vid-chats.  We’re going to skip most of the world news of the day, but want to mention that Russia has at least started their retaliation against Ukraine for that drone strike on a school dorm, but details are limited beyond agreement that they’ve again used one of their multi-warhead hypersonic missiles against unspecified targets near Kiev.  We expected this and it had been promised, but we’ll also mention that more destruction and death will not solve anything; and certainly won’t bring back those twenty-one teens from the dead or heal the forty-plus teens that were injured in that drone strike.  This story hits us harder because they were or are teens around our own age; and we can’t imagine having something that awful happen here and to us and our own friends.

We should mention the supposed peace talks for the Iran war, but that seems to be yet another flip-flop; and President Trump’s claims seem to be based on talks that weren’t actually with Iran at all but with other Arab and Gulf countries allied with ‘our’ side.  If that is all that is happening, then getting our vassals to agree with our demands is not diplomacy at all; and we already know that Iran will not agree to our primary demands.  We’ll wait and see what or if anything happens; and won’t be at all surprised if a resumption of the war becomes more-likely again by tomorrow – though we’d hope that our leaders would not celebrate Memorial Day with a new round of air strikes or even a ground offensive on Iran.

It’s time for us to go to the Inn soon; 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 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!