Heirs of the Magi News Flash!

***Heirs of the Magi News Flash!*** The first half of fall feels as though it is over as we move on from the annual fall festival, and that feels like a transition as some of our favorite grandparents head south for the winter; and Cassie and Michael head out on their fall work trip. Whether our adventures are at home or elsewhere, we are going to have a lot of fun through Halloween and on to Thanksgiving. We expect a few surprises to go along with everything we already have on our collective schedules, and hope that you will enjoy all of those stories; so... ...Visit Witch Falls often to keep up with all of our latest adventures; and happy reading!

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Cassie's Journal - November 8, 2016



It’s Election Day!

I’d suggest that the best part of that will be that the non-stop garbage on the news will be over again soon for a while, but the news media will just move on and find something else to sensationalize instead – as well as re-hash the election results.

Before I get to the election news, though; let’s take a quick look at normal life around here in the real world where life goes on regardless of what our politicians are doing.

For me, that meant that school and my four practices went ahead as normal; and I had fun with everything – whether that was in our classes or playing with my friends.  Jenny had us work pretty hard at our cheerleading practice, and while she isn’t adding another practice this week or anything; she is getting fired up about the playoffs.  We’re enjoying the better-than-expected weather too; and I’ll be glad for every practice and game we have from now on that won’t be wet, cold, or snowy.  Our band practices were both really good; though it’s been very busy for me – especially since I spent a fair bit of time in between band practices working on the fundraising part of the marching band business.

I know it’s a bit early for most of my friends to care about the Florida trip, but we are in the fundraising run up to the end to pay for everything; so what we do now is a big deal.  This next fruit and vegetable box order is going to be big too; and we’re making a push for the Thanksgiving week orders – particularly when we’ll have so many visitors here and locals going away to visit other families.  If we get this right; we should come close to double the orders compared to last month – and bring us that much closer to reaching our goal even before we launch the main Christmas fundraiser the week of Thanksgiving too.  I’ll write more about that soon, but we’ll be busy that week between the fundraising, holiday fun, and what will hopefully be a championship game opportunity for our football team too.

Our actual practices for both bands went pretty well too; though the one downside of continuing in the football playoffs is that we have less time to get ready for the Christmas parades and the Florida trip.  We’re going to need to start splitting our time more in favor of those parades, but we’ll be there for our team too – whether they have one game left in the season or will go all the way to their next championship victory.

I’ll mention here as the story moves from band to teen praise team practices that the election was not an issue for any of the teens around here as we played; and most of us don’t care who our next president will be for the simple fact that it won’t make any difference for us.  That isn’t true for many of the adults, but we also don’t have a contentious battle going on here either.  That wasn’t an issue at all during our teen praise team practice; though the election and our nation were in our pre-practice prayers.  The music time was really good, but we also got a late start to that practice again; so Michael and I were late getting home and started on our homework.

We did that at my house again tonight; Mom did a Magi lesson with me; and then Michael went home while I joined Mom and Dad in the office so that we could all work and keep an eye on the election results.  We were all busy because there is a lot going on in the business world because of the election, and while we’re mostly immune to whatever happens in Washington; that doesn’t keep people from being nervous or panicking when markets of all types are volatile.  I’ll be honest and admit that I find that a bit funny – if not in a good way.  An easy example for that tonight is some of the goofiness we’ve heard about the stock market futures’ volatility tonight and how that’s bad for investors.  Note to all of the supposed news analysts – there is a winner for every loser in a stock trade!  I know, that’s shocking and too many people can’t get their heads around that fact; but it is true.  If you’re on the winning side of those trades; you’re a happy camper whether the market goes up or down by hundreds of points.

I don’t really want to get into anything like that, but silliness abounds in the media tonight as we’ve watched the election results trickle in.  This is the time to write about my personal feelings about some of the issues, though; so let’s do that next.  First up, as a member of the fairer gender, I’ll agree that we’re past-due for putting a woman in charge at the White House, but having said that; I don’t agree that it should be done simply for the sake of doing it regardless of the worthiness of the candidate to hold that office.  Don’t get me wrong – I don’t support either of the top two candidates this year; I wouldn’t have voted for either of them; and wish that we weren’t stuck with one of them for the next four years.  Then again, ditto that for most members of congress and the senate.

As you read this someday in my future, I’m sure you’ll be entertained by this update; since you’ll have the historical perspective on how the next four years will go with our new president.  Trying to use the Sight to take a look ahead is tempting, if a bit scary with either candidate in charge of the country, but that wouldn’t really work out very well anyway; since there are just too many variables and possible futures to learn anything useful.

That does bring up a question that you might have about how that’s different for what Ethan, Ehlana, and I see about our own future and the Ascension of the Light.  The simple answer is that we’re mostly looking at our own future; and we’re keeping the scope of our use of the Sight fairly narrow.  I’ll also point out that the things we’re doing in reaction to what we see is mostly local and small-scale right now – even as we’re getting ready for an amazing future.  My point is that we’re not affecting millions or billions of people through what we see in our future.  Compared to that, the President of the United States has a much larger impact on the world that we do – at least over the next four years; so there are many more variables.  There are other issues too, but it would be far too egotistical to write about why our future possibilities are very different to look at compared to national or international politicians.  Let’s not discuss any of the reasons for that – I’ll leave that sort of thing to the mainstream media.

Speaking of them, as we’ve been working away for hours now; the news services finally began to call the Presidential election for Donald Trump.  One of the things that I will mention about that is the news that President-elect Trump gave his acceptance speech before most of the major mainstream news networks called the election in his favor – though they did start doing that shortly after his speech; and after finding out that Hillary Clinton had called Mr. Trump to congratulate him and concede the election.  That, by the way, was the next news story I have about the election – the fact that the Clinton campaign is not doing a concession speech tonight; and that they instead sent their supporters home from their election night party without hearing at all from their candidate.

That isn’t a choice that I agree with, but then it also isn’t something that surprises me about either candidate for dealing with the election loss.  As I’ve mentioned already, this result isn’t something I’m happy about because I think that both choices for president were awful.  It would be great to be surprised over the next four years, but the odds are poor; so I won’t hold my breath.  Fortunately for us, the President-elect isn’t likely going to ever do anything that will affect our little town very much; and this won’t change how we run our family businesses and charities.

We do have the election results now, though, and we’ve dealt with everything we can for the work issues we’ve had tonight; so it’s time for me to wrap this up and head up to bed.  We won’t get much sleep, but I’ll also be set for our classes tomorrow – where the election post-mortem will be part of the lessons we’ll have in at least one or two of our classes; so maybe that’ll be worth the lack of sleep tonight.

Having the bonus time with Mom and Dad was what I really liked the most about staying up late tonight; and we did get a lot of work done too.  That will help me for tomorrow night, and since it’s also an after-school work day; I plan on making up for the lack of nap time today when I go to bed early tomorrow – later today.  I’ll add more news about the election if anything interesting happens between now and the next update, but this is it for tonight, and Mom, Dad, and I are all ready to head into nap mode now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

Cassie's Journal - November 7, 2016



Happy 16th Birthday, Marcie!

This has been a big day for her; she’s now a member of the drivers’ club; and her birthday party was a hit with her family and friends.  Allen did a good job helping her with the fun; and earned ‘good’ boyfriend points for his efforts.

I’d write more about her party and the rest of the fun – like the little lunchtime bit a birthday entertainment that Allen and some of Marcie’s best friends set up for her, but it’s been a very long day for me; and I need to make this quick and head into nap mode.

Tai Chi by the river was a bit chilly again this morning; we had a hot breakfast to warm up after that; and the rest of my school day except for Marcie’s birthday fun was fairly normal – even on the day before the big presidential election.  This may be shocking for some Magi reading this in the future, but teens and kids are generally indifferent to politics in general and elections of any kind.  Yes, we’ve had to deal with it in our lessons for several subjects.  That, by the way, included Phys-Ed, but that was just done in fun; and I seriously doubt that we’ll need the cardio because there will be a Zombie outbreak the day after the new president is elected. ;^)

Michael had football after school, as usual, but I didn’t end up getting any work or studying done after last class because I helped out at home – and spent time with Ethan and Ehlana instead.  That was fun; and so was the play time while I got ready for Marcie’s party.  That started shortly after the football practice ended; there was a social half-hour before dinner; and then we had a pasta and sides meal that was a bit more than normal for a gang of teens, but I loved the change from the barbeque or pizza and wings sort of fare that we normally have at birthday parties.  Michael and I had fun at the party, but we helped with some of the work too; and then had a couple of hours after doing that to hang out with our friends.  We listened to music, Michael did a bit of video gaming with the guys; and I talked with the girls a lot as we just had a really fun, good night together.  Michael and I left the party at ten o’clock; he came home with me; and we did our homework before Mom had a Magi lesson for us while Dad took care of the bedtime fun with Ethan and Ehlana.  Michael didn’t head home until eleven-thirty; I had a short visit with Mom and Dad when we all came up to bed; and then I got started on my family business work and studying.

I had a lot to do, and since I didn’t get it started until nearly midnight; it’s now going on four o’clock as I write this report.  A time phase was only possible for part of my work; and I needed to work in ‘real’ time for everything else.  That’s worn me out, and while I’m happy with what I got done; we don’t need to go into any details about what was mostly-boring and dry business facts and figures tonight.  I’ve also dragged this report out longer than I’d planned, and really want to be sleeping more than I want to be doing anything else right now; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Sunday, November 6, 2016

Cassie's Journal - November 6, 2016



According to the guys, the only news around here worth reporting for the weekend is that our opponent in round two of the playoffs will be Mount Pleasant.  They’re not quite right about that – though it was the big story at church and around the Inn today.

Tai Chi by the river was frosty; I had breakfast at Michael’s house because we also had a phone chat with his cousins so that we could collectively wish Annette Bishop a happy second birthday; and I got the bonus gourmet breakfast out of the deal!  I’m sure that Annette has had a happy day, but other than that call and sending a gift that Michael, Rebecca, Lucas, and I went in on together; that’s all the birthday news I have for her big day – mostly because I don’t exchange many email with the Bishop family; and haven’t been sent any updates on what she did to celebrate her big day.

We had a good morning at church and Sunday school; I came home for lunch; and spent the afternoon doing my work and studying – including doing my homework with Michael during his afternoon break.  I worked the buffet shift at the Inn after that; Michael and I kept busy until closing up for the night in the kitchen; and only took one break for a quick dinner because we were busier than expected and a bit short on staff because of that.  the good news is that I don’t have to stay up half the night working thanks to doing that work this afternoon; and I didn’t spend much time with Michael after work either because we were both ready to have an early night after a busy weekend.

I had a visit with Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana after getting home; took care of getting the twins tucked in for the night while Mom and Dad kept working in the office; and had a soak in my Jacuzzi after that before getting ready for bed and snuggled in it with Mandy.  Other than an email and computer check, I haven’t done anything else work or study-related since then, and once I have this update finished; I’ll be heading off to dreamland.

Consider that done; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Cassie's Journal - November 5, 2016



I was up early; Tai Chi by the river and breakfast with Mom, Dad, Ethan, and Ehlana was fun; and then I needed to hit the road with Rebecca, Lucas, Jenny, and a group of seniors that were all going to write their SAT’s today.  We were doing that at Central State; so it was a bit of a drive; and then we split up to go and write the different exams – though I was one of the few taking a specialty SAT today while most of the seniors from our school were writing the ‘normal’ SAT while I was writing the one for French with listening.  I need that for my own college plans; and need to take it this early because I’ll be taking more SAT’s in the spring and again next fall too so that I’ll have all of the testing done that I’ll need for a multi-lingual program when I head for college the summer after next.  I won’t get the results from this test for a while, but won’t need to wait to know that I wrote a perfect SAT today.

That isn’t meant to be bragging – it’s just a fact.  Nobody should be surprised at that, since I do have some rather significant advantages that make standardized tests very easy for me to write perfectly every time.

Moving along, I won’t bore you with the test details, but I had fun with it; and then had time to wait for Rebecca, Lucas, and Jenny to finish up their tests.  We went out for lunch; some of us did some shopping after that; and then we headed for home to get back to town in time for Rebecca to help out with the dinner sift at the Inn.  I didn’t work at the Inn too; had dinner with Mom and Dad because Ethan and Ehlana are spending the night with Aiden and Naomi respectively and they were already gone by then; and then I had Michael, Tim, and Rowen come over to watch a movie and spend some time together after Michael was set free from the Inn early after working most of the day there while so many of the senior teens were out of town with the SAT testing.

Michael and I don’t get to spend enough time just with Rowen and Tim right now, but as with the problems I have for that with my family and other friends, we’re all busy; and do the best we can.  Tonight, we had fun for a few hours; watched a Christmas movie; and simply enjoyed being together when we weren’t busy doing other things – like football, cheerleading, or band.  Rowen and Tim went home to her house at eleven; Michael stayed for a minor make-out session; and then he went home at midnight because I was getting tired.

Yes, a sofa sleepover was an option, but we’re saving them up right now to use more often over the holidays. ;^)

After seeing Michael out with some front porch goodnight kisses; I came back up to my room; got ready for bed; and have been doing a bit of family business work that came up during my email check.  I didn’t use a time phase for that because I was too tired to do that safely; which is why I’m seriously ready to crash and nap now.  It’s been a good day, and though I wish that I could have helped Mom and Dad with the work around the house today; the testing was more important for our future plans and that had to be my priority today.

Speaking of priorities, before I forget to mention it; Michael and Tim get bonus points tonight for watching a movie with us instead of college football.  I’m sure they have or will catch up on that news; but it’s nice to know that Rowen and I get a bit of priority over football now and then too! ;^)

Okay, I haven’t covered any news from around here from while I was away, but there are other sources in the archives for that; and I’m ready to nap right now anyway; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Cassie's Journal - November 4, 2016



Happy 38th Birthday, Dad!

Our team didn’t get the first-round playoff win as a gift for Dad’s birthday, but he was at the game tonight with most of our family; and the big win was a nice bonus for Dad – and all of the players, coaches, and fans!

I’ll start with the football news; since that’s the top story of the day – even if Dad’s birthday was important for Mom, Ethan, Ehlana, and me.  We’ve had another nice-weather day; and it was in the low-sixties at kick-off – awesome weather for the first weekend in November around here!  Ridgeway won the coin toss; opted to defer; and found out that their defense wasn’t as good as they thought when our team proceeded to roll down the field and score a touchdown on our first drive.  We never lost the lead after that, but the game was fast-paced; Ridgeway fought hard and put up a lot of yards too; and both teams pushed hard right through to the end of the game.  We won by a score of fifty-nine to thirty-three, but that score looks more lopsided than it should for two reasons.  The first is that Ridgeway only scored one touchdown and three field goals in the first half; and the second is that they kept pushing for only touchdowns in the second half after starting out with a field goal on their first possession – even when that meant giving up the ball with turnovers or on failed fourth downs.

Our team didn’t have a perfect game, and the Ridgeway defense earned two turnovers too, but Michael and Tim had three touchdowns each; Lucas had two more; and we only had one field goal because of the way the game went in the fourth quarter – where trading touchdowns or earning one on a pick-six was how we needed to play to maintain our lead and keep Ridgeway from making a major comeback attempt.  Our cheerleading squad and fans certainly had a lot to cheer about with eight touchdowns and the field goal; so Rowen and I had a lot of fun with our families and friends.  The half-time show for cheerleading and band was great too; though I’ll admit that it does seem to be getting tougher to keep up with everything now that we’re eleven weeks into the season.  Since we are moving on, though, I’m not going to complain about the extra work and being too busy at half-time between band and cheerleading – or with all of the work that goes on before and after the game.

We won’t know until sometime tomorrow which team we’ll be up against in the next round of the playoffs – or whether we’ll have home field advantage again or not; but our team is quietly confident in a way that’s much different than a year ago when some of the seniors had a swagger that wasn’t really justified by how well we had been playing at the time.  Michael and Tim are really confident too, and since they’ve got some of the best numbers for wide-receivers in our division; they’ve got the stats to back up that confidence.  I’m not going to get into that, since anything can happen in a football game, but Tim is as driven to succeed as Kyle was – and is with his college team; so I wouldn’t bet against him when he’s on a mission to earn another championship this year.

Moving along, the post-game festivities on the field took a while tonight; we had a lot of work to get done before we could even hit the showers and get cleaned up and changed; and then Michael and I went over to Tim’s house with Rowen and a handful of other team mates  - including Lucas and Rebecca.  We didn’t have a full team party – or a party at all; but we did hang out together until twelve-thirty – mostly so that we could all wind down from the excitement.  Michael walked me home; we were first to leave Tim’s house; and our goodnight hugs and kisses didn’t take long because Michael needed to get home and off to sleep to be ready for his breakfast shift at the Inn.  I did help him out with some Magi healing before sending him on his way to deal with the bumps and bruises he picked up during the game; but didn’t take that too far so he’d still be able to sleep.  After Michael went home, I came up to my room because everyone else was in bed by then anyway; I got ready for bed; and have only done the basic email and computer checks before getting to this update.

Even though it’s Dad’s birthday today, I really don’t have much more to write about because I wasn’t available for the lunch at the Inn with some friends or the family dinner at home.  Mom, Ethan, Ehlana, Michael, and I did have a special breakfast with Dad after Tai Chi by the river, and he opened his gifts from us then too; but that was also a bit of a rush when we all needed to get ready for work or school too – and deal with the larger-than-usual breakfast clean-up.  That was all fun, though, and I had a good school day too; so it’s been a fairly-awesome day – even if I have yet again missed out on having fun with Dad while I’ve been busy with other commitments.

I guess that is all of the news I have for now, though, and it’s time for me to get some sleep too; so, until next time...

...May the Magi Force be with you!