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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Thanks to having home field advantage for the playoffs, Ethan gets to do this early update with me – though we need to make it quick because he needs to eat and get back to the school soon.  As we mentioned last night, Cassie and Michael are in Somalia today – already past-midnight on Saturday their local time; and they will be traveling along the coast as they work their way to Mogadishu through the weekend.  It is warmer along the coast; they’re still getting daily mixes of sun and rain; and their work will include more business related to shipping and fisheries and agriculture with less focus on technology or environmental projects.

Here at home, we’ve had a good day so far – though the cool-down continues and the high is barely touching fifty and will definitely be in the low-forties for most of the game tonight.  We don’t have much news from our academic adventures; and most students are focused on football and the playoffs hopes.  The rest of our news for today will need to wait; since we’ll be busy and away from home for the rest of the day.  Miles will host the victory party tonight if we win; and Aiden is hosting his five best friends for the co-ed sofa sleepover we’ve set up for after the party.  Let’s add that we don’t really have any doubts about winning tonight, and yes, that could happen, but we really do have a very good team; so it would be a major underdog win for Three Rivers if they managed to defeat us.  Ethan really does need to eat and run soon; so let’s wrap this up with the world news of the day.

We don’t really need to offer another war update since the last one; since nothing has changed.  Peace and war are both on the table; the talk of peace isn’t actually going anywhere; and the war-mongering rages on – especially for the leaders that really want to keep bombing Iran, Yemen, and other places in the Middle East.  Israeli leaders might try to take that choice out of ‘our’ hands by attacking Iran without us; and the region continues to be a powder-keg.

European protests and riots will likely continue and spread over the weekend, and while we wish that wasn’t happening; we understand the frustration and anger when politicians won’t listen to what the people need.  Stock markets continue to be oblivious to ‘real’ data and trade on every rumor and lie; and there is a total disconnect between what is really happening around the world to what most leaders choose to believe – or pretend to do that for selfish reasons.  One thing that the midterm elections might accomplish is that the American people could be distracted and appeased from now to spring instead of getting out to protest like the people are doing in Europe and elsewhere.  That won’t last – especially if we don’t find a way to get out of those top wars and start repairing all of the damage that has been done so far.

We need to start focusing on football – and get back to the weekend adventures; so that’s all for this report.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - November 5, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

***RESTRICTED UPDATE***

Cassie and Michael were awake all night for their Wednesday and then through Thursday because their fight with Makarai Kalenga and then the follow-up visit they had with him after his defeat and before they made him forget what happened to him took around six hours.  He was and is a brute both as a person and Dark Magi Master; he didn’t care about collateral damage for his own people; and Cassie and Michael needed to deal with that danger to his own employees as well as they could while fighting him.  They’ve advised us that his tactics were often disgusting and crude; he possibly understood the least about how Magi abilities work compared to most of the other Dark Magi they’ve faced; and that didn’t make the fight easier for them – only different; since he did still have a great deal of power and wielded it in horrific ways.

Their chat with him and investigation into his corporate networks led them to a lot of important information about his family and their power in the region both Magi and political and economic, but they won’t be going at anyone else in the family on this trip – in-part because this is another family with some very young children.  We will be able to do more in the region with that information; and Cassie and Mom will lead the way for countering all of the evil that their family businesses do in the region.

Finally, Cassie and Michael did not get injured at all in the fight; did some Magi healing for some of those employees; and made sure that nobody remembered them being there at all.  We are all very glad to have one more Dark Magi Master out of the way; and can hope that this win will at the very least lead to a pause in all of the evil during the transition from father to son – and we have no idea how long that will take; since Makarai might not admit his defeat to his son right away if they don’t have plans to get together anytime soon.  We’ll add more if there is any news to report in the coming days or weeks, but that’s all we’ll include tonight in our journal.

***END OF RESTRICTED UPDATE***

Dad’s birthday dinner was fun; we don’t need to comment on the rest of his night that included some time at the pub and the kid-free night; and our teen praise team practice went well and we got a lot done with extra work on the Thanksgiving holiday music.  Ethan and I also had a lot of fun with our respective co-ed sofa sleepovers with Naomi or Aiden; and none of us got a lot of sleep by the time we got around to our co-ed naps.  We did our own thing for Tai Chi and breakfast this morning; and then our academic adventures were good with the final football and cheer squad practices ahead of the first playoff game went great too.  It is staying cool into the weekend; so practicing when the high only reaches the mid-fifties again will help us with the forecast game time temperature we’re expecting to have tomorrow night.

Ethan and I hosted the dinner and study session with our four best friends after those practices; Mom added in a group Magi lesson; and then we all headed to the Inn for game night.  Mom and Dad won the senior title this week; and they got teased about that being a belated birthday gift for Dad while also getting jokes aimed at them for being able to win despite the kid-free night that should have left Dad too messed up to play his best.  We don’t want to give them any good ideas for teasing us, but for the record; Ethan and Naomi didn’t win the junior title – and neither did Aiden and me.  We did take Silkie for a walk after the gaming while seeing Naomi and Aiden to their homes; we only did a short chat with Mom and Dad after getting home; and bath or Jacuzzi time followed that little break.  Now we’re winding down fast toward nap time; so let’s wrap this up and then we’ll go and get some sleep.

Cassie and Michael are starting their Friday as we’re writing this; they worked in Garissa, Kenya for a while on their Thursday morning; and then they headed toward Somalia and have or will be crossing the border from Kenya very soon and while we’re sleeping.  They’ll get to spend some time here and there on the east coast of Africa, but won’t have much time for sightseeing; and won’t be at any risk from the Saudi-Yemen war – though they won’t be far from that war on the other side of the Red Sea and strait.  Somalia is another country they’ll need to be careful in while visiting and working there; so we’ll hope that they stay safe and can help a lot of people that really need the partnerships – especially because of all of the fighting in the Middle East.

That will work as a transition to the world news; and there hasn’t been an escalation in the war with Iran yet.  The threats are still happening, but our leaders appear to need to come up with a different angle to get more war after the midterms clearly shouted out a no-war message from the American people.  That’s never stopped our war mongers in the past; so we’ll take any reprieves we can get and hope for even better.  Peace is on again for Ukraine with envoys meeting the First Lady at the White House today, but we still don’t see any changes on the ground in Ukraine; so we aren’t getting our hopes up when the two sides are still far apart on expectations and unwilling to make any real concessions.  Ukraine and Europe are definitely not willing to deal with the core issues for Russia; and the Russians are ready to fight on until they do get what they want – including a neutral Ukraine free of NATO support and influence.

The protests and riots in Europe haven’t gotten as much attention for a couple of days, but that is still a huge problem; and the anger is very real and still spreading.  That is sure to slow heading into winter, but then it is going to be a bad winter for the people in Europe – especially if they start having major energy shortages.  There could be food shortages too – though we expect to see more of that happening next year.  Their leaders are not doing anything to help with those pending and growing problems, and if anything; they are doubling down on the most-idiotic policies.

We need to stop and get to sleep 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 - November 4, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 48^th Birthday, Dad!

Let’s begin by assuring everyone that Ethan and I had some bonus fun today teasing our parents because Dad got a new truck for his birthday – and our sixteenth birthday is coming up next June!  No, we don’t actually want cars or trucks for that birthday, but facts are not required for that entertainment.  For the record, his new truck is the current version of his old truck except in the navy-blue color with the latest tech toys too.  As for his ‘old’ truck, it is not being kept for us – they sold it to Lucas Norton and gave him a very good deal for it so that he has a decent, dependable upgrade for his farm and family vehicle.

As for our day so far, we were up early for Tai Chi by the river; our best friends joined us for that workout and to help with Dad’s birthday breakfast; and the highlights included his new truck gift and the birthday vid-chat with Cassie and Michael from Kenya.  We had fun with all of that; and it was also a major rush of non-stop action to get everything done including the clean-up and still get to school on-time.  Our academic adventures weren’t newsworthy compared to everything else, but the cooling weather definitely caught our attention as the afternoon high only reached the mid-fifties.  Yes, that is more-normal for November in our area, but we are missing the warmer weather already – even if that will only be a short-term change for us.  Ethan didn’t mind that for his football practice and I was warm-enough for the cheer squad workout; and both practices went well as we get ready for the first playoffs game of the season.

That brings us up to now and we don’t have much time for this report because we also have a time limit for Dad’s birthday dinner.  We’re currently multi-tasking this report with packing overnight bags; and we’ll be with Naomi or Aiden overnight after the teen praise team practice.  The rest of our own story can wait for tomorrow night; so let’s do a quick world and election news update and then we need to get going to that dinner party.

As of now with some contests still unconfirmed, the Democrats will have a majority in the Senate with fifty-four confirmed seats so far and in the House with a much-larger margin of two-hundred and fifty-eight seats to one-hundred and seventy-seven for the Republicans.  Add in a lot of Democrat wins for State-level elections from Governors to mayors and Judges; and it was a very bad night for the Republicans.  The markets liked the results, but we expect that those trends are temporary; since nothing has really changed for the top problems in the world and this won’t instantly fix any of those problems.  The top two wars are still going badly for ‘our’ side; the world economy is still on the brink of major recession; and global debt levels are still critical with no end in sight.  This new congress won’t even be sworn in until January; so even if they have plans to make things better; they can’t do anything until then.

That’s enough for today; since we really do need to get going now.  We’ll have the rest of our adventures and birthday fun stories for you sometime tomorrow night; so stay tuned for that while we get out there and enjoy those experiences with our family and friends.

***RESTRICTED UPDATE***

We don’t have all of the news yet, but Cassie and Michael are currently in a fight with the Dark Magi Master currently in-charge of the family that rules Central Africa.  Makarai Kalenga is at his primary estate in Kenya; he is a brutal, horrid man; and Cassie and Michael have their hands full right now – so we don’t expect to get those details until sometime later tonight or tomorrow.  That update will come tomorrow night too; so we’ll only add that we have no doubt that Cassie and Michael will win that fight – and learn a lot about Makarai’s family and businesses before they move on and resume their ‘normal’ work and travel schedule.

***END OF RESTRICTED UPDATE***

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - November 3, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 15^th Birthday, Caroline Carter!

Midterms election day didn’t affect Caroline’s birthday fun, but our school day schedule did; so she only had most of her friends with her for a short birthday dinner between the football and band practices and the evening marching band practice.  We had fun with that meal – and with all of our practices, but the highlights for Caroline’s day included passing her test to join the new driver’s club and the smaller party she’s hosting tonight with her best friends.

As for the rest of our day, Tai Chi was indoors thanks to rain; our academic adventures included birthday fun for Caroline – though I missed most of the lunchtime entertainment while busy with the cheer squad practice.  Ethan didn’t get rained on during the football practice even though it did rain on-and-off all day; and then we were okay for the marching band practice too; so we were outdoors for that too as we continued to learn how to march and play so we’ll be ready for the Christmas parades that we’ll be doing in Woodvale and Maple Valley.  We came home after that last practice; collected Silkie; and took her for a walk with Naomi and Aiden to see them to their homes before returning home again and joining Mom and Dad in the office to do a bit of work and a Magi lesson with Mom while multi-tasking keeping an eye on the midterm elections results.  Some time phasing allowed us to get more done; and now we’re still watching the elections coverage while wrapping up our day with the usual twin chat and computer checks.

Along with the rest of our earlier multi-tasking, we did a vid-chat with Cassie and Michael.  It is Wednesday morning in Kenya; and they are on the move again from Nairobi to Garissa.  They’ve gotten a lot done in and around Nairobi and enjoyed the extra sightseeing breaks they’ve fit into their schedule while in Kenya so far, but they are going to be even busier through the rest of the week.  We’ll have more on those stories; and will be talking with them again in the morning when they call for another vid-chat we’ll have for Dad’s birthday.  We do need to be up early to help with that special meal; so let’s get to the world and election news and then call it a night.

The easy call so far is that the Democrats will have a majority in the House – and comfortably-so.  That will be more than thirty seats beyond the two-hundred and eighteen seats minimum for a majority; so that doesn’t look good for the Republicans and our President.  We’ll add that we don’t expect this to mean a change for the better for our country; since the best we can hope for will be that our national leaders will fight each other and get nothing done for the next two years while the worst will be that they’ll continue to work together to keep going with the politics and policies that are destroying our country and world.  The Senate will likely flip tot the Democrats too, but some of those races are still too-close to call; and recounts could definitely be demanded by any candidate-losers.

We haven’t just been watching the election; and would suggest that it is just a distraction that keeps most people from paying attention to the most-important issues from around the world.  The devastation in Ukraine continues to worsen – and that’s likely why even bad stories help distract from the worst news.  The latest is about torture centers in Ukraine where men are being taken after caught by press gangs and detained until sent to the front lines.  A medical whistleblower revealed one location where the detention and torture included a fourteen-year-old boy; the pictures and videos are horrendous; and is just a minor story compared to what is happening all along the front lines to the Ukrainian forces.  Every day that this war continues is another descent toward a winter that will decimate what is left of Ukraine.  There isn’t much news out of the Middle East, but with the elections over; it should only be a matter of time before we find out what our leaders will choose to do next; and we’ll have to continue to hope that the choice will not be to escalate the war again.

You’ll be able to flip a digital page for our next update whenever you’re reading this in our future; so let’s stop there and we’ll cover more of the election fallout tomorrow night.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - November 2, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Cassie and Michael are in Nairobi tonight – Tuesday morning for them; and their work is covering a lot of different grounds from agriculture and land and wildlife management to high tech development for the country.

While they’re busy with their work and travels; the top news here at home is that Kyle and Erin Landry are taking over his family home from Lee and Sarah.  They will be moving in over the next two weeks with some work being done on the house through the transition; and they will be living there by the time we get to the Thanksgiving holiday.

As for our own adventures, we’ve dealt with a damp day that was tougher for Ethan because the football practice was still outdoors while the cheer squad practiced in the gym and avoided the rain.  Tai Chi was still by the river because the rain hadn’t started yet, but it was fairly-steady during the football workout; and the boys got wet and didn’t have much fun.  That will help them if we do get any rainy games.  Ethan and I came home for a light dinner with Mom and Dad; we work-played at the lab or archives all evening with some time phasing to get more done; and that’s how we put in those hours of work and still got home by ten o’clock.  We only did a short visit with Mom and Dad in the office; bath or Jacuzzi time followed; and now we’re winding down fast to nap time with the twin chat and computer checks.

This has been a weird news day because everyone continues to wait for the election results tomorrow; and there were still stories that moved markets and made headlines.  The airstrikes into Ukraine expanded again – probably in retaliation to the attacks on their refineries; yet Ukrainian leaders renewed claims of massive Russian casualties and frontlines advances with no proof to back up those claims.  We are sure that the Russian leaders know the truth, though, and they are not acting as though they are at any risk of defeat.

There are new political problems in Europe, and while the story from Poland has been developing for days now; the one in Belgium is new today as their leader resigned and their government is now in crisis.  The protests and riots continue in Europe too; and the latest spin being offered by some leaders is to blame young migrants for the looting and destruction.  We won’t suggest that can’t be at least partly-true, but those same leaders seem to forget that they’ve been inviting those migrants into their countries for more than a decade now; they are not treated very well; and there are valid reasons for all of the citizens and migrants to be angry with the elite of the European Union.

In the Middle East, more ships have been hit; peace is on – or off; and the Houthis and Saudis continue to fight with daily airstrikes and ground battles for control of Yemen.  The threats are still flying between Iran and America; and everyone is still waiting to find out what President Trump will decide to do after the elections – even though he is not supposed to have the power to declare war without the consent of congress with the exception of responding to direct attacks on our country first.  That hasn’t stopped him from the attacks he’s already done in Venezuela and Iran and elsewhere; so we know that won’t matter to him anyway until someone stops him.

That’s all for today.  We have another long day ahead of us, but we’ll likely offer a ‘live’ report for our journal update tomorrow night as election results come in – though we won’t stay up all night to do that if it actually takes very long for those results to come in.  Midterms are usually different from the Presidential election years, so while a few races could be contested; we expect to get the most-important results before we head off to sleep.  We should probably get the sleep while we can to be ready for that late night; so we’re out of here right now.

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