Ehlana and Ethan:
Cassie and Michael have finished their visit to Ethiopia, and as we’re writing this; they’re getting started on their flight to Juba, South Sudan. While they have bigger issues to deal with in South Sudan, we’re going to comment on the weather forecast because they aren’t supposed to get any rain at all while there; and the highs both days they’ll be there will be in the nineties. Yes, that’s nothing compared to the needs of the people there, but they’ve had at least a bit of rain every day of this trip so far; so they are looking forward to that change! Let’s add that they got a lot done in Ethiopia; and we hope that our new partnerships and projects will help a lot of people over the next few years.
Here at home, we’ve had a fairly-normal Wednesday. Tai Chi by the river was chilly and we had a hot breakfast after that before heading off to school. There isn’t anything newsworthy from our academic adventures, but it is Veteran’s Day; so we did have a ceremony and minute of silence this morning to go along with the classwork and lessons. Football and cheer squad practices went well after school and we still got one more warmer day – if cooler and only in the mid-sixties; so we’ll appreciate those moments when we can. Ethan and I hosted our four best friends for dinner, studying, and a group Magi lesson with Mom between those practices and the teen praise team practice this evening; and we love those group lessons a lot. The food was really good too; and we multi-tasked the dinner clean-up with the studying and lesson; and then we headed to the church for that practice. We mostly worked on the Thanksgiving music tonight, but covered some of the Christmas songs too at the end of the practice; and then we came home to get Silkie for another walk while seeing Naomi and Aiden to their homes. That wasn’t an extended walk, but we didn’t do any work in the office after we got home for the night either. Bath or Jacuzzi time followed a short chat with Mom and Dad; and now we’re ready to wind down fast to nap time while doing the bedtime computing and twin chat fun.
The top world news of the day was again all about the Ukraine war peace talks that wrapped up in Abu Dhabi today, but while the talk continues; we haven’t seen any reason to believe that anything has changed on the ground as the fighting and airstrikes continue and the Ukrainian and European leaders are still looking for more war unless Russia surrenders to everything they demand. That won’t happen, and Ukraine probably won’t surrender either until they have no choice; so we aren’t holding out hope for better.
As those teams of negotiators leave the region, the Middle East conflicts roll on with more ships getting hit; more fighting and airstrikes between Saudi Arabia and Yemen; and more horrors for the Palestinians and Lebanon at the hands of Israel. We have gone another day without a return to the hot war with Iran, but those threats are still ongoing; and we still expect the worst from our leaders – or from Israel if they can’t goad our military into doing those new attacks for them. There are other stresses in the region that could blow up too; so new attacks on Iran are far from the only risks for escalation.
Here at home, top distraction stories include multiple firings of President Trump’s staff from both the White House and beyond. Those political ‘casualties’ include his Chief of Staff and a highly-paid lawyer; and we’ll point out that he’s mostly firing women while keeping some of the most-despicable men – like the Secretaries of State and War. Is that sexist? Probably; since there have been quite a few women fired from his ‘team’ over the past year and more. These stories really are more of the daily distractions from the real issues that should be important to everyone; and they continue to work well – and will until it all collapses under the weight of the rot. We’re not hoping for that collapse and crisis, but it is likely; so we’ll also be prepared for anything.
Let’s stop there. Ethan and I need the sleep; so that’s all for tonight.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
