Ethan and Ehlana:
Dad had a happy birthday yesterday, and while we joined in when we could; let’s also concede that Mom and their friends took care of most of the entertaining and we will not comment on what he likely agrees were the best parts of his day! ;^)
Ehlana and I had fun with the birthday dinner while missing out on the rest of the evening while at our teen praise team practice last night. We also had fun with our respective co-ed sleepovers with Naomi or Aiden; and that included doing our study session last night after the practice and using a vid-chat while physically working separately. Sophia and Aaron got in on the digital study time too – though Aaron didn’t stay the night with Sophia after we wrapped up the studying. We do not need to report the details of our separate co-ed sleepovers, but can note that each couple wrapped up our day with cuddle time and watching shows or music videos between the work and nap times.
Today was quieter for pretty much everything. We didn’t get together for Tai Chi, so Ehlana and Aiden had the best view by the river while Naomi and I were in her back yard. Our school day was uneventful; football or cheer squad practices went well; and then Aiden hosted our dinner and study session tonight. We actually kept that fairly short because Ehlana and I needed to get home for Magi lesson with Mom and some family business and charity work. We had a vid-chat with Cassie and Michael too and they are busy hopping around the Cook Islands for their work there. We would like to mention that they are still having to deal with rain pretty much every day, and while they knew what to expect for the season; Ehlana and I can’t help but compare their tropical islands adventures to Hollywood portrayals and the general lack of reality for most of those movies and shows where the sun always shines and everything is picture-perfect! The locals know better; and Cassie and Michael are there to build partnerships and help people with what they need – not with what fictions are believed by people who don’t understand or even comprehend those needs.
Moving on to the world and political news, the world seems to be waiting to find out whether our country will invade or attack Venezuela while battling narratives leave that answer unknown – at least publicly. The elections in New York City and elsewhere that favored the Democratic party are getting attention, but while those victories and losses will impact the local governments and residents; we’ll wait to see if anything actually changes for good or ill; and we don’t really expect anything good. We haven’t mentioned this in a while, but the federal government shutdown continues; it is stupid and pointless; and proves that all of our leaders are idiots and narcissists with no interest in anything beyond their own power and wealth. Let’s also mention that talk of nuclear war and arms control continues with bi-polar insanity. For a clear example, President Trump has both suggested starting a new round of nuclear tests while also suggesting that he ‘might’ be interested in making a deal for nuclear weapons reductions with China and Russia. He also ignored a Russia-offered extension for the START treaty that is going to expire early next year; so all of that talk is likely just posturing instead of anything real.
The plight of the Palestinians is getting little attention this week while other stories take up the news cycle, but that works for Israel as they continue to destroy Gaza and kill and starve the people without serious opposition to their genocide. Ukraine continues to get a lot of attention with the ‘western’ side replacing peace talks with the actions of sending more weapons and ‘helping’ with some long-range missiles and other tech and support and money to pay for everything. They are also hiding the truth of what is really happening on the ground as Russia continues to systematically destroy the Ukrainian army and critical infrastructure for the entire country while their leaders pad their own bank accounts and likely prepare to flee whenever the inevitable failure arrives and their frontlines collapse. The Russian ‘cauldrons’ that we’ve mentioned previously continue to squeeze the Ukrainian forces trapped within them; and it appears as though they’ve been left to delay the Russian advances and fight to the death. That is an astonishing decision by the Ukrainian leaders to allow such a pointless sacrifice; and history is sure to judge them poorly.
Finally, we’ve had a bit of time to process the recent news about former Vice President Dick Cheney’s death, and while there is a lot that we could write about, he has passed on; and we’ll leave his final judgment to God. The news commentators and everyone else commenting to praise or demonize him should likely do the same; since the entire narrative for each side looks bad.
That’s enough for tonight. We had fun with the Magi lesson and work with Mom and Dad; we used time phasing to get more done – though we couldn’t do that while on the vid-chat with Cassie and Michael; and now we’re winding down fast toward nap time. The weather has been good today with more of the same through Friday, so while it isn’t tropical-hot; high-sixties in November around here with sunshine is fairly-awesome! We want to be rested and ready to enjoy that weather and all of our adventures; so that’s all for tonight.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
