Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 10, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 5^th Anniversary, Carolyn and Jeff Morris!

We hope that Carolyn and Jeff have a happy day, but they aren’t home because they did a family-and-friends’ breakfast and then headed out on an anniversary vacation.

Our day-so-far has been good, and the top local story is the heavy morning fog we had that delayed buses and led to a fairly-quiet school day as first classes ended up being in-class work time while we waited for the ‘country kids’ to arrive.  The rest of our day was normal without any major news or excitement; and now we’re getting ready to go biking with our friends and packing overnight bags to spend the night with Cassie, Michael, and our four best friends.

We haven’t written about Cassie and Michael’s next trip, but they are heading out again on Monday for a work tour of the northern States.  They’ll head west first and then work their way east along the Canadian Border States and then they’ll head home again in time for the Memorial Day weekend.  That’s why we’re going to be with them tonight and they’ll spend time with cousins and next-gen kids over the weekend.

Ethan and I need to get going soon; so the world news can mostly wait for our next report or three; since it may be a while before we learn anything real about the Iran war peace talks that are supposed to start in Pakistan tomorrow.  There haven’t been any changes to the positions on either side – at least publicly; so we do not know whether anything positive will happen this weekend at all – especially when ‘our’ side has a documented history of using diplomacy as a ploy to hide military attack plans.  We also want to mention that Iran announced two conditions that need to be met before they’ll even sit down for the talks tomorrow – a complete ceasefire in Lebanon and a release of all Iranian assets currently being frozen by the United States and other countries.  That alone could be the end of the talks before they start, but we’ll let you know how that goes when we find out what happens.

We really need to get going, so that’s all for today; and we’re going to get out there and live the adventures that we’ll write about tomorrow starting right now.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 9, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 23^rd Birthday, Patrick Emerson!

Happy 21^st Birthday, Micah Byrd!

We are happy to report that the weather forecast was off again today, and while we’re getting some rain tonight; it stayed warm and mostly-sunny for most of the day.  That’s why we got to have extra outdoor time at school; we skipped the lab play time plan in favor of biking the trails with our friends; and then we’ve been at the Inn for game night after a barbeque dinner with Mom, Dad, Naomi, and Aiden.  Dad had some work to do in the office, so after we got home, we did some charity work and a Magi lesson with Mom for three time-phased hours.  Now we’re winding down toward nap time and it is getting late, so while we’ve had a good day, there isn’t much news to offer; and sharing the adventures with our family and friends is what is most-important for all of us.

As for the world news update, let’s start with a Ukraine war update.  The top story today is that President Putin has ordered a ceasefire for the Orthodox Easter weekend, and while we don’t know whether Ukraine will stop fighting too; that is good news for the people of Ukraine – even if it only lasts for a few days.  As for the Middle East war, Israel is still bombing and invading Lebanon despite growing world outrage; there have been more Israeli attacks in Gaza and the West Bank; and the Israeli politicians are not talking peace at all.  The rest of the ceasefire agreement between Iran and America remains tentative; and we don’t know why peace talks are still booked for Saturday in Pakistan when each side is declaring very different proposals for an actual peace deal.  Our side is basically demanding complete surrender; and Iran’s plan includes lifting of all sanctions, reparations, and more demands that President Trump will never agree to because that would be political suicide.

There isn’t anything we need to add tonight; since we’ll all be waiting to see whether the ceasefire holds through the weekend and if the peace talks lead to any serious solutions.  Stay tuned for those stories; and we’ll go and get some sleep starting right now.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 8, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Here at home, the weather was a top story of the day; and we enjoyed the mid-seventies high and regularly-sunny skies – at least until some showers moved into the area after dinner tonight.  Tai Chi was by the river this morning; we had a hot breakfast with Mom and Dad; and then our academic adventures included some bonus outdoor time.  We opted for biking and play time with our friends between school and dinner; and then we work-played at the lab or archives after taking care of the dinner clean-up.  We used time-phasing to get more work done with our books or beakers; so we put in about seven hours of ‘real’ time of work before we headed home at around ten-thirty.  We did a visit with Mom and Dad in the office as they wrapped up their work too; and then we all headed up to our rooms for the night.

Ethan and I needed bath or Jacuzzi time after the biking and work; he did more of the computer checks while I spent more time soaking in my tub; and now we’re winding down fast toward nap time with our twin chat and the rest of the world news checks.  As usual for the past month and a half, the Iran war is the top story; and the claimed two-week ceasefire might be nothing more than political theatre on both sides of the war.  Israel increased attacks on Lebanon while pretending to honor the ceasefire; Iran pointed out that the Pakistani mediators stated that the ceasefire was supposed to include Lebanon, Yemen, and the rest of the Middle East countries; and President Trump claims that Lebanon was excluded from the agreement.  Yes, there has been a reduction in the attacks everywhere except Lebanon, but that doesn’t mean the ceasefire is holding; and the Strait of Hormuz is still mostly-closed.  There are also insurance issues for the ships in the region; so at least some of those ships will not move until they can have their cargos and property insured.

There is definitely more pressure from world leaders to stop the war and get the Strait of Hormuz opened again; and Israeli armed forces are getting some serious pushback for endangering UN forces in Lebanon – including a team from Italy that was fired on while working in Lebanon.  Gaza and the Palestinians are being ignored, but an Al Jazeera reporter was killed in Gaza by Israeli forces; and they are getting condemned for that too – especially so soon after attacks and killings of a handful of reporters in Lebanon in recent weeks.  There are still too many leaders in Israel and America willing to ignore all of the ongoing war crimes, but the rest of the world is appalled; and ‘we’ are losing what little diplomatic reputation we have left as many other countries pivot away from us and make alternate economic and political connections and deals.

Let’s stop there; since it is still too-early to know whether the fragile ceasefire will hold or lead to a more-lasting peace deal.  Ethan and I are ready to sleep now; so that’s all we have for this update.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 7, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 5^th Birthday, Dustin Spencer!

We didn’t help with Dustin’s special day, but hope he’s had a lot of fun with his family and friends.

Our day hasn’t been that exciting, but we have had a good day between our academic adventures, the school band practice, and teen praise team practice.  There was a dinner with Mom and Dad between the practices that was pretty good too; and we enjoyed that time with our parents.  Mom didn’t have us do any work in the office tonight – mostly because we were tired and ready to wrap up our day after coming home from the church.  That practice, by the way, was the first to get ready for the Memorial Day holiday weekend service.  Now we’re taking care of the usual bedtime twin chat and computing; and the top news from the Iran war is more than a bit frenetic.

The top story is that a ceasefire has been agreed to for two weeks, but each side is claiming different concessions that aren’t matching up; and there have been ongoing missile and drone strikes exchanged between Israel and Iran even as we’re writing this update.  We’ll wait to see what happens, but market reactions have included a big drop in oil prices that won’t hold for long if the missiles don’t stop flying and the Strait of Hormuz remains semi-closed.  This ought to be good news, but we are cynical; since President Trump doesn’t exactly have a trustworthy record when it comes to peace negotiations – and Iranian leaders and people know that as well as we do.

Let’s stop there; and we’ll hope to see an actual pause in the death and destruction that has been going on in the Middle East for more than a month now.  Yes, that might be too much to hope for, but we can at least report that Iran isn’t getting ‘bombed into the Stone Age’ tonight and they are not retaliating against energy and civilian infrastructure in the region in return.  While we wait to see what happens, stay tuned for our next update; and we’ll get started on our nap time.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 6, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

The weather was decent today as we headed back to school, and we started the day with Tai Chi by the river, but then we spent most of the rest of the day indoors.  We had fun with our academic adventures; work-played at the lab or archives with our books or beakers between school and dinner; and then we had that meal with Mom and Dad and took care of the clean-up before we spent the evening working in the office and doing a Magi lesson with Mom.  Time phasing allowed us to get more done at the lab and in the office; so we’ve also had a very long day even though it is still reasonably-early now as we’re getting ready to crash and nap for the rest of the night.

Before we do that; the world news was all about the Iran war again today – no surprise; and the political nonsense rolls on with President Trump getting most of the highlights in the media for comments and claims ranging from claims of wanting to take all of Iran’s oil and impose American tolls on the Strait of Hormuz to assertions of imminent victory and a delayed deadline to tomorrow evening at eight o’clock before he will order the destruction of Iran’s power plants and all bridges in the country.  While the threats to Iran are international crimes even before being acted on; few leaders in the rest of the world are even trying to stand up and protest against our country and Israel.  They should; probably won’t; and we fully expect the situation to escalate and get worse in the coming days.

As usual lately, there isn’t much news being discussed or reported from the Ukraine war, and we are sure that Russia is happy with that; since they can keep grinding on the front lines and with their daily missile and drone attacks; and that will not end well for Ukraine – especially once the ground hardens again after the spring thaw.  European leaders collectively seem to be unable to do anything politically beyond posturing while their economies are being hit by the Iran war impacts on energy prices and shortages that are really barely beginning to hit them.  A slowdown will make it impossible for them to implement plans for military build-ups or support for Ukraine; so we are sure that the near future for the European Union will keep their leaders busy trying to survive internal economic and social challenges.

Ethan and I want to get some sleep now; so that’s all for this report.

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