Ehlana and Ethan:
Happy 12th Anniversary, Rob and Trish Johnson!
We didn’t get to help our cousins with their celebration today, but they are going to be here next week; so maybe there will be a belated party for them then – though we have heard that they were having fun today at home with family and friends.
Ethan and I are happy to report that we won our ball games yesterday afternoon; the park fun was followed by another barbeque dinner; and then our evening entertainment highlights included outdoor movies with lots of co-ed cuddle time for the couples in the group. Staying up too-late again was part of the fun, and while we only had time for naps once we did crash in the wee hours of this morning; the lack of sleep was a fair trade for all of the happy! There were more campers for our second night, but that wasn’t really more work for us; and we actually had fewer drama moments – possibly because Zack and Eli had less success with their attempts at being funny; so they gave up and found less-annoying ways to keep themselves entertained. It helped that the movies were picked by the guys last night; and then the snacks included an intermission Pizzeria pizza break that did get a bit weird thanks to some guy-led food games.
Moving along, we had a busy morning that included Tai Chi by the river, breakfast, getting ready for church, and packing up our tents and gear. The Sunday service and Sunday school time was awesome and happy; and then our afternoon highlight for entertainment was a group trip to the Ridge River Ranch for a trail ride or corral adventure. We had a big-enough group to need to split up for the rides, but Ethan and I were still with Naomi and Aiden in our group; and we got to have Christie Carter for our guide. We really loved the horsing around time on the trails, but the youngest kids and their parents or helpers might have had more-fun than we did – or at least we think that was true; since most of them were both happy and in need of naps while we drove back to town!
Okay, Ethan might have wanted a nap too, but he only pretended to do that while cuddled with Naomi on the back bench of the minivan! ;^)
Moving along, we had a major family-and-friends’ gang at the Inn for the late buffet, and that included Rowen, Tim, and their families. They got back to town while we were at the ranch; had time to unpack and visit with their parents and others before heading to the Inn; and we got to spend a bit of time with them too – though that was mostly an extended cameo moment; since we needed to share them with pretty much everyone at the Inn. We were also there to impress our visiting family and hopefully keep them coming back for more in the future, and while the food was as amazing as always; Ethan, Naomi, Aiden, and I also helped with kid control while we all enjoyed the meal and fellowship. Ethan and I didn’t have any sleepover plans with our cousins or friends tonight because we needed to work in the office with Mom and Dad, so while our cousins were split up and doing other things for the rest of the day; we headed home from the Inn with Mom and Dad and got to work on family business and charity projects. Mom did a Magi lesson with us too; time phasing allowed us to get everything done by ten-thirty; and then it was bath or Jacuzzi time – a clean-up break that took longer for me than for Ethan; so he also took care of more of our bedtime computer checks. We’ve still needed some twin chat wind-down time, and he gave me the condensed news flashes telepathically before I met up with him again; so we’re pretty much caught up on everything and ready to get some sleep.
Cassie and Michael did some work today while in Germany, but they will be putting in very long days starting soon for their local time, so while we’re sleeping; they’ll be busy changing the world one meeting or project or partnership at a time. We’ll keep you posted on their stories too, but that’s all for tonight; and we’re out of here and off to dreamland soon!
***RESTRICTED UPDATE***
While we mentioned that Cassie and Michael did some work today, their top priority for today was meeting Marcel Bauer at his comparatively-modest weekend home while on a mission to learn all they could about the Bauer family the same way they approached the Thornes in Brazil. The Bauers are another of the Dark Magi families with larger numbers of Dark Magi and Dark Magi Masters; and we need to learn a lot more about them before considering next steps to defeat them. Marcel proved to be yet another unique opponent for Cassie and Michael. While we correctly determined that he was a weaker member of the family, Cassie and Michael found out that Marcel was a Dark Magi Master – though near the weakest possible levels just above a ‘normal’ Magi on the power scale. What was most-unusual about him, though, was that Marcel had become a defensive fighter. He was also very cautious, so he was as-interested in talking with Cassie and Michael as they were with talking to him. Marcel is sixty-nine, but has always been subservient to his brother, Pietr, the head of their family and a much more-powerful Dark Magi Master. As with other, less-talented members of the Bauer family, Marcel has survived by accepting his subservience and making himself useful to his brother.
We’ll leave the details of his story to Cassie’s reports and journal. For us, the main news from their visit with Marcel is that Cassie and Michael learned a lot about the Bauers; and then their defeat of the man was most-interesting because it happened in slow motion because of the defensive nature of his fighting. Marcel did eventually attempt to defeat them, since he was, after all, a Dark Magi Master, but then he also never really comprehended the danger he faced all the way through until he passed out once Cassie and Michael had drained him. Since they already knew pretty much everything they wanted to get out of the man by then, they left him sleeping and wiped his memories of their visit; and moved on to enjoy the rest of their first full day in Germany. We’ll hope for the best for Marcel even though the survival rate for the Dark Magi that have been defeated so far hasn’t been great. On that note, though, we should add that Mom is keeping an eye on the Stryker family and business, so we know that nothing has officially changed for Grant Stryker so far. He is still in charge of their family corporation and has been working as normal since his battle with Cassie, Michael, Rowen, and Tim. There must be more going on that we don’t know about yet, but while his wife and kids have joined him in the city from one of their vacation homes; we have nothing so far to indicate that either of his children have chosen to try and take over from him – even though they are too-young to do that yet for the actual corporate operations. We are glad that he hasn’t been killed outright already, since every day he lives is another opportunity for Grant to learn the truth and turn to the Light!
We’ll keep you posted on both stories whenever we get news on the Strykers or Bauers, but that is all for tonight.
***END OF RESTRICTED UPDATE***
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
