Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 1, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Rain day!

Okay, that doesn’t sound exciting at all, but then we can’t say that our adventures have been newsworthy.  Tai Chi was indoors; we had a hot breakfast; and then our academic adventures were fun but uneventful as we head toward the holiday weekend.  Ethan and I play-worked at the lab or archives after school and into the evening; we had Pizzeria pizza for dinner while at the lab; and had fun with our books or beakers until we took advantage of a short break in the rain to head home.  We did a visit with Mom and Dad in the office that included a Magi lesson; and now we’re wrapping up our day with the usual computing and twin chat time.  We’re getting tired and it has been a long day; so let’s get to the world news report and then we’ll call it a night.

The news that everyone was not really waiting for was President Trump’s address to the nation tonight.  The speculation kept reporters and pundits entertained from the time the announcement was made; and stories ranged from America dropping out of NATO to either an end to the Iran war or an escalation to a ground offensive.  Well, the actual address was nothing more than a load of lies about Iran and the justifications for attacking them along with vague ‘promises’ of more war to come if Iran doesn’t basically surrender.  President Trump also tried to gaslight the rest of the world and suggested that they could open the Strait of Hormuz and keep it open now that Iran is supposedly destroyed – or buy their oil from our country.  Our leaders apparently can’t do math; since we don’t actually have an extra twenty million barrels per day of oil to sell into the world market to replace the lost production in the Gulf region.  We especially found the President’s history lessons about war ridiculous; and he only proved that he really doesn’t understand what he is talking about.  That wasn’t because of the time frames he mentioned for the various wars – it was all of the claims about American war supremacy.  Just for fun; let’s recap a few of the examples.

The United States did not win World War Two – Russia and their allies beat Germany, and while common belief is that the nukes dropped on Japan led to the surrender; historians know that Japan was actually more-terrified of Russia as they were preparing to invade their islands and do to Japan what they did to the Easter European countries that were absorbed by the Soviet Union after that war.  Moving along, the Korean War was next on the President’s list, but he apparently doesn’t know that the war isn’t technically over yet – North and South Korea are still technically still going on because a peace treaty has never been worked out to actually end it.  Even mentioning the Vietnam War was dumb; since we definitely lost that war and left South Vietnam to deal with the fallout when we gave up and left.  Afghanistan was notably not mentioned, since we obviously lost that war too; and it was hypocritical for Iraq to get mentioned after President Trump has spent more than a decade declaring that former Presidents should never have started that war in the first place while now claiming it a ‘success’ for our military.  How is that working out for us now as half of the Iraqi militias are now happily joining in to fight against us in support of Iran?

Okay, that’s enough of the history lies recap – though it is also funny that our President actually seems to believe that he will achieve his so-called goals in under two months now even as he spoke of those other wars in terms of years while not at all mentioning the cost of those wars in terms of lives lost and destroyed or all of the destruction on both sides of those conflicts.  The threats of worse to come in the next few weeks was likely real-enough, but then that will just make everything that has happened so far that much worse.

We’re going to stop there, but stay tuned for our next report; since we are going to write about war costs and have a little rant about that too as our leaders are talking about approving an additional tw0-hundred billion dollars of debt to pay for this war and all of the losses that will need to be replaced over the next few years or more.  Ethan and I need to get some sleep now, though, so that’s all for this report.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - March 31, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 14^th Birthday, Brandon Green!

Our last day of March has been very busy, and while we offered Brandon best wishes and a little birthday gift and card; we left it up to his family and friends to handle making his special day a good one.  Weather-wise, we’ve had a mixed bag with some rain, thunderstorms, and breaks in the weather that were still warm with a high this afternoon that still hit the low-eighties.  That didn’t matter that much to us because we needed to be indoors most of the time for school, band practice, and our final teen praise team practice ahead of the Easter sunrise service.

There wasn’t any special news from our academic adventures – though there was one test and we turned in a project ahead of the deadline on Thursday.  The school band practice was good; we had a break for dinner with Mom and Dad and a bit of studying; and then we moved on to the church for the teen praise team practice.  That was a full rehearsal for the sunrise service, so we had all of the teens involved for the music, skits, and everything else; we where there for more than two hours; and then we came home to a work and Magi lesson session in the office with Mom and Dad.  Time phasing allowed us to get about three hours of work done; and now we’re wrapping up our day and the month with the bedtime computing and twin chat fun.

While we’d like to take another night off from world news, we should report that the Iran war idiocy continues; and the politicians are continuing the nonsense on all fronts.  Today, our own leaders managed to do everything from claim victory to insult western allies for refusing to join the war effort and ‘save themselves’ from the economic harm that we’ve instigated by attacking Iran.  President Trump is also declaring that the Gulf nations will be required to pay ‘our’ costs for the war; claims that ‘we’ are going to take over the Iranian oil and gas fields and infrastructure; and they will all allow that to happen because he will force them to do it.  Ethan and I are sure that this war will not end that way, but then we are still most-worried about having Israeli or American leaders will get desperate and escalate to nuclear war.  If that happens, it will not matter if they use tactical nukes or larger ordinance.

That’s too-dark for any night, but before we wrap this up we want to cover some economic issues that continue to escalate around the world.  While market prices are heavily skewed by attempts to control them, actual economics on the ground are starting to happen.  Jet fuel prices are in the news as actual shortages show up in different countries, and price isn’t really the issue – it is having jet fuel available at any price in some countries.  That might not seem like a big deal, but beyond rising costs for all of those military operations in the Middle East; the rest of the world has more to worry about as we head toward summer and travel seasons that will definitely be affected if prices rise to the point that commercial flying for things like vacations become unaffordable.  Add in extra costs for freight flights; and that will damage industries from online retail to hotels and tourism.  Other stories include shortages for fertilizer that will cause problems for crops through the rest of the year; since that could affect crop yields through the summer and fall and then cause food shortages for a year or more.  There are other raw products that will soon cause issues for production of everything from computer chips to plastic garbage bags, but energy shortages are also starting to require some countries to ration various fuels and natural gas.  That will eventually require the need for some high energy use manufacturing to slow down or stop production either due to shortages or because costs rise so high that they can’t make money on their products or stay competitive.  Our point here is that even if the war stopped tomorrow – and not as an April Fool’s Day joke; it will take months or more than a year just to recover from the damage already being done.  That isn’t new news for our journals, but it deserves repeating; since every day that the war continues; the worse the damage will be to the world economy.

Ethan and I are ready to get some sleep; so that’s all for this update and we’ll be back with our next report next month.

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

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - March 30, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 31^st Birthday, Jake Stone!

Cassie and Michael helped out with his special day – including taking their kids for a sleepover tonight, but we weren’t involved in the dinner or party at the Inn and pub; and left it up to Jake’s family and friends to help him out with an awesome day.  Mother Nature obviously loves him too; since she gave him a sunny day with an afternoon high that hit eighty-eight!

While Jake may have been the main recipient of that gift; the rest of us were happy to enjoy the sun and warm weather too.  We got to have extra time outdoors at school; biked and played with our friends after school; dinner was for four and grilled after we got home; and then it was time for another work evening in the office that included a Magi lesson and work on family business and charity projects.  Ethan and I had fun with all of that; followed up the time-phased work with bath or Jacuzzi time; and now we’re winding down fast with the usual computer checks and twin chat.

We’ve decided not to get into another major war report tonight.  The horrors continue on all fronts; peace is nowhere in sight; and escalations and threats continue to roll on with no signs of better choices on the horizon.  I’m seriously tempted to start a rant anyway, but there is sure to be more bad news to write about tomorrow – and every day until the war ends; so Ethan wins and we are going to head off to sleep now and stay happier after another really good day here in our blessedly-peaceful little corner of the world.

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

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

Ehlana and Ethan:

Palm Sunday in our little town is a special church event; and our Pastors treat it as the celebration that it was during the actual event.  That is intentional, because they want their congregation to feel a small version of the experience of joy and excitement that will contrast dramatically to the horrors that were just days away from happening to Jesus between that exuberant welcome and the crucifixion.  The service was wonderful; the music celebratory; and everyone moved on from the church feeling the exact high that Pastor John evoked in us.

We kept those feelings with us through lunch and into an afternoon of fun with family and friends that included a bike ride that this time was on the trail that heads south of town toward the rail trail connection.  That was a longer ride than we wanted to do today, but we headed out for an hour or so; did some exploring along the way and back again; and wrapped up with some back yard play time before we all split up for various dinner and evening plans.  Ethan and I were with Mom and Dad for dinner and the evening; Cassie and Michael were busy with their nieces and nephews; and our best friends were hanging out with their own families again tonight.

Our dinner was grilled with cold sides; Ethan and I helped with the work on both sides of the meal; and then our evening included a Magi lesson; some family business work; and bath or Jacuzzi time that brings us up to right now.  Getting some sleep is next on our to-do list, and we are tired thanks to the exercise and time-phased work; so let’s cover the world news and then call it a night.

The latest from the Iran war includes more attacks on both sides; and while the latest from Iran includes bombing of Universities and schools; Iran’s retaliations include attacks on aluminum factories and air bases.  There are reports that at least one AWACS het was destroyed in Saudi Arabia, and if true, that’s another billion-dollar bill for our taxpayers.  More talk of peace isn’t credible to us, but there are reports that other countries are making deals with Iran to get passage for their ships through the Strait of Hormuz.  Our leaders are attempting to take credit for that, but we know it isn’t true; and economic deals were made – likely tolls paid for each passage.  There was a meeting in Turkey too, but since Iran wasn’t involved; we doubt that those diplomats accomplished anything.  A ground offensive is still more-likely than not; and there may be as many as ten-thousand more troops on the way to the region in addition to the thousands already there now.  As we’ve mentioned before, that will be an insanely-stupid disaster if they try to do that; so we can only hope for someone to stop that plan before it is too late.

On the Ukraine front, one of the most-interesting stories of the day was about suspected Ukrainian drones crashing in Finland.  If true, that would mean that Ukraine has been getting permission to use the airspace to send drones against Russia.  Finland leaders are not saying much about those drones; which makes them look complicit in the war with Russia.  That is a minor story compared to the actual death and destruction happening in Ukraine and to a lesser extent in Russia.  It says something about world media to note that drones crashing in the wrong place gets more attention than all of the fighting along the front lines or hundreds of missile and drone strikes.  That’s also a distinct difference between the top two wars going on right now; since all of the ‘pretty’ explosions and fires in the Middle East are still new and exciting while the fifth year of the Ukraine war is ‘boring’ despite the fact that those bombs, missiles, and drones are just as destructive as anything happening in the Middle East.

Okay, that’s enough for tonight.  We need to get some sleep; so we’re going to get started on doing that right now.

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

 

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

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Happy 4^th Birthday, James Connor!

We didn’t have anything to do with James’ special day, but mention it because he is a friend of some of our favorite next-gen cousins; and Cassie and Michael did help with and attend the party with some of those kids.

Our day wasn’t that exciting.  We had chores all morning after coming home from Sophia’s house; we work-played at the lab or archives after lunch; and we’ve had a quiet night at home without any overnight guests.  Dinner was a bit late; we took care of the clean-up; and then we worked in the office for a few hours this evening – mostly so that Dad could get his work done.  Mom did a Magi lesson with us too; and then we moved on to bath or Jacuzzi time by ten o’clock.  Now we’re winding down toward nap time, but before we do that; let’s cover the rest of our Friday news.

As mentioned, Sophia hosted a larger group of our friends after school; we started out with some biking on the trails and park play time while enjoying the sunshine and hot weather.  Dinner was grilled and outdoors with salad and finger food sides; we helped with the work on both sides of that meal; and then our evening included some video gaming; movies; and lots of co-ed cuddle time and teen chat.  Sophia only had her five best friends stay overnight; we stayed up too-late; and really did only have time for co-ed naps before we needed to be up again this morning.  Tai Chi was by the river; we had a hot breakfast; and then we all split up for the rest of the day because our best friends had other plans for the day too.

That brings us up to date; so let’s wrap up with a quick world news report.  The Iran war stays at the top of the news cycle, and while we can report that a ground war hasn’t started yet; more troops are apparently on the way – along with another aircraft carrier group.  Attacks on Iran have escalated and now include bombing factories and civilian nuclear facilities and power plants.  Iran has started retaliating in-kind; and both sides are now risking potential nuclear disasters if they succeed in destroying reactors and causing one or more meltdowns.  The Houthis in Yemen have joined in with first attacks on Israel and threats to close the Red Sea; there are major militias in Iraq attacking ‘western’ military bases and facilities; and the battles in Lebanon are escalating too as Hezbollah forces are fighting the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon.

President Trump made some vulgar and insensitive remarks about the Saudi Crown Prince and Iran and, well, pretty much everyone from NATO leaders to the people of the Middle East; and we are sure that more people are coming to see just how delusional our leaders are about pretty much everything going on in the world right now.  Yes, we can impose our will on the world, but that shouldn’t happen at any cost; and we definitely shouldn’t project that power just because we can and want to gain more power and wealth at the expense of other people.  Israel’s leaders are just as bad; and they are to the point now where they happily admit to their war crimes overtly without any concern about consequences from the international community.

Let’s stop there, since we don’t want to go to bed angry – especially when we don’t have our favorite cuddle buddies to nap with tonight!  Our parents do like to spend time with us without extra guests now and then, though, so we can do that for them now and then.  While we get some sleep, stay tuned; and we’ll try to have a more-exciting blast of adventures to write about tomorrow night!

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