Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 9, 2020

Happy 17^th Birthday, Patrick Emerson!

Congratulations Jake and Stephanie – you’re officially pregnant!

Ehlana and Ethan:

The birthday party avoidance continued for Patrick, but we’re sure that Jessica is helping him to survive the disappointment.  Jake and Stephanie couldn’t have a big party for their happy news either, but we won’t comment on how they might be celebrating – for obvious reasons! ;^)

That’s the news of the day; so we’ll keep our own adventure story short – mostly because there isn’t much to tell.

It cooled down to near-freezing overnight last night; and that was a bit of a shock to the system after the hotter weather yesterday.  Warming up to around sixty was still okay for early-April, but we still couldn’t be as fired-up when we needed to wear sweaters or spring jackets while out on our afternoon biking and play time.  Our morning online lessons and studying went quickly, but we had lunch at home instead of taking a picnic and hitting the trails early.  There weren’t any major changes or events to write about for our biking or park exploration; and then we’ve had a quiet dinner and evening at home – mostly because Cassie, Michael, and May wanted to get a jump on their weekend assignments.  They have a load of work to do too; so they’ll be busy over the next few days.

That may not end up being true for us; since church services are still cancelled for tomorrow and Sunday; and the Easter Egg Hunt that would have been on Saturday won’t be going on either.  There are plans for dealing with all of the eggs and prizes that were already delivered and ready to use, but that’s supposed to be a surprise; so we’ll wait to comment on that until our Saturday report.  We hung out in the office for a while after dinner; watched a movie in the lounge; and then had a music practice before getting around to this update.  Naomi and Aiden aren’t with us tonight because their families have tomorrow off and they’re with them instead; and Jayden is with Zack and Eli tonight while Briana is with Faith, Jaimie, and Kaitlyn for a sleepover.  We’re obviously not doing that with either group; mostly because our parents don’t want it looking as though we’re totally ignoring the social distancing that we’re all supposed to be doing.

Sure, we could heal everyone if needed – as we’ve mentioned before, but most of our neighbors and friends don’t know that; and we all take dealing with this problem seriously.  We don’t want to get into any serious discussions tonight; so let’s just wrap this up and call it a night.  It has been another really good day, and while we won’t have the usual holiday weekend fun to look forward too; we will have a happy weekend too.  Yes, that’s weird when the first part of the holiday is Good Friday, but you know what we mean; and the sacrifice we’ll be commemorating in quiet ways tomorrow should have special meaning for everyone this year – especially when so many people are making their own sacrifices to help others all around the world.

So much for staying away from any serious comments, but that really is all we have for now; so we’re out of here and heading for our beds for the night.

This is Ehlana and Ethan Proctor; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 8, 2020

Ehlana and Ethan:

We’re home and don’t have any extra guests tonight – mostly because we all need to catch up on our sleep after two camping nights.

Our evening last night was a lot like Monday night; and today has been a near-repeat too – except that it warmed up into the mid-eighties; and we had picnic lunches to take with us for the afternoon biking and park exploration adventure.  We were home for dinner – though we had that meal at a table on the back yard patio; and then we’ve had a quiet work or study evening in the office or lounge since then through until we split up for bath or Jacuzzi time.  That’s all we have for our own news of the day; so we’ll just add a bit of more-worldly news related to the pandemic.

Milestones being hit today included one-and-a-half million confirmed cases worldwide; and New York now has more cases than any other country in the world except ours – though that’s only on paper; since some statistics from quite a few countries are likely understated by a lot.  There are never-ending reports about the pandemic situation improving because of the lockdowns and other measures, but we don’t think that’s something anyone will be sure of until we look at this after the pandemic is over – which we expect to be able to do in a year or two.  Historically, the worst of a pandemic happens in the second wave; so there is a very good chance that we’re still just at the beginning of this one.

That isn’t a prediction of a years-long lockdown here at home or anywhere else – only that this isn’t a problem that will suddenly disappear in another few weeks.  We want to point that out because the everyday work and business side of this crisis is going to last for longer than many people expect, and while we don’t want to get into politics; we really don’t get why most people aren’t seeing any help at all so far; yet the biggest banks and corporations have already had trillions of dollars pumped into their accounts.  We may just be kids, but it doesn’t take a Magi Master to figure out how unfair that is for the majority of the people in our country and only benefits the already-rich – at least on paper.  We really don’t want to go on about this and turn it into a rant, but the difference between how we’d help everyone with trillions of dollars and what is actually going on right now is very different – to the point where we wonder just a bit whether the Hathornes or other Dark Magi are involved.

Okay, it’s more-likely to just be ‘normal’ greedy people taking advantage of a crisis, but then that’s just another problem that we’ll eventually need to deal with as we head toward the Ascension of the Light.  Yesterday would be a great time to see that happen, but as we have mentioned now and then, the Dark Magi will not give up without a fight; and that’s true for all bad guys.

Yes, we do expect to be busy with that for a lifetime – or two! ;^)

Okay, it’s time to get on with that catching-up-on-our-sleep thing; so we’ll wrap this up and do that.

This is Ehlana and Ethan Proctor; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 7, 2020

Ehlana and Ethan:

This is an afternoon update because we’re having another camping night; and don’t want to spend any time on our computers while having that fun with our cousins and friends.

Top news from last night was that we didn’t have any co-ed camping.  There were boys and girls tents for everyone; and Jaimie and Kaitlyn were in charge of the youngest cousins in their tent – Brianna and Faith.  We didn’t have any teen boys to watch over the younger guys, but Zack and Eli were on their best behavior because they had the options to either do that or be banned from distance-supervised camping until they’re thirty.  Sure, Aunt Leanne was exaggerating by a decade or two, but at a time when we don’t have a lot of play options; even our most-likely-to-prank cousin wasn’t going to take chances on messing up being able to camp for even a week.

We had four campfires – and four camping areas for our tents – though the spacing wasn’t ridiculously-far apart.  Our group was at the main fire pit where we normally have our campfires, but we don’t have other spots in our yard; so the other campfires were around borrowed, portable fire pits.  There was adult support for the campfires, but we still kept our distance between the groups – even as we played our games.  There were group challenges for races in the dark with glow sticks; food contests; and music competitions.  Add in some campfire stories; and we had fun for a couple of hours before it was time to head for our tents – or into the houses for the night.

It stayed even a bit warmer than forecast overnight, so it was still in the low-sixties this morning – which was great for Tai Chi.  That needed to be done in groups along the river, but we had quite a gang with all of our favorite exercise buddies.  Breakfast was done in groups at four houses; and then we – the kids and teens – were split up among those same houses for our study and online lessons time until lunchtime.  Our cousins have different home-schooling set up through their schools, but that’s true for most students; so the only strange part of that news is because our small-town school has a more-advanced set-up than they have – though that’s likely because their schools are dealing with so many more students using different computer and internet systems while our students all use the same computers and network.

Lunch was still in groups, but we did that in the back yards of the Carringtons and Everetts; and then we – the kids – were set free to bike and play for the afternoon.  We’ve done that in groups too, but we were also crossing paths regularly; and had the same options for our snacks and drinks break that we were in the same area for near the river-bridge on the main path below the ridge on the edge of the park.  The temperature topped eighty degrees – if only by a bit; so it was great to be outdoors for most of the afternoon; and the camping tonight will be awesome too.  We’re going to have an extra couple of tents tonight – in another spaced-out area of the back yard, but we’ll write more about that with the next update.

For now, we’re moving on to some kid-control entertainment while some of the parents and older cousins are busy with getting dinner ready for us.  We’ll likely help out with setting up groups of tables and chairs around the back  yard too, but that won’t take long; and we’ll likely get out of the clean-up tonight too.  Before we move on, we should also mention that our parents are still mostly keeping busy with their own work – whether they’re doing that at home or elsewhere; and Cassie, Michael, and May are still putting in a lot of time on their video lectures and assignments.  We’re missing out on the lab and archives play time, but can’t really get away with doing that every afternoon or evening while our visiting cousins are here; so we’ll have to save up that work and get back to it next week.

That doesn’t really feel like the right thing to do when we might be able to help more than we are right now, but we are still kids; and have to live with the restrictions that keep us safe.  Having so much fun today is something we think about while so many people are suffering, but then that’s an everyday truth that more people are just aware of during this pandemic crisis.  As always, we know that love and joy is what helps us to get through the challenges in our lives; so we won’t have regrets or feel bad about the blessings we have in our lives – including the happy days like this one that we get to share with our favorite people.

It’s time to get back to those adventures now; so that’s all for today.

This is Ehlana and Ethan Proctor; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - April 6, 2020

Ehlana and Ethan:

We’re getting ready to head out to our tents and the back yard for the night; so we’ll keep this update short.

Our aunt, uncle, and cousins arrived here in time for lunch today; so that worked out for us because we got our studying and lessons done by then – just as Jaimie, Kaitlyn, and Jayden did their school assignments while on the trip here.  They’re staying with Aunt Grace and Uncle Mark, but the weather has been great today; so we got approval for a camping night – with some social separation between groups of cousins’ tents.

Our family earned some extra attention today because of our guests, but most of that was fun; and the teen attention for Jaimie and Kaitlyn was a bit weird – as well as entertaining.

Social separation has also been strange right from the time we welcomed our guests; since we couldn’t just do a big family gathering for lunch – or since then either.  Mom, Cassie, Michael, and May were at the center of our lunch plans, but they also set up that meal at three houses.  Jayden ended up with us for that meal – and for the biking and afternoon play time with our best friends.  We had other cousins out and around town and at the park too – which is why we know that Jaimie and Kaitlyn got that attention from other teens their ages, but we kept the social separation around everyone else instead of being in a bigger group; and they kept their distance from those other teens too.  They still talked with those teens and friends – that was just at a distance.  Being a rare visitor since we’ve been off from school made Jayden a celebrity too – and we just won’t comment on why the girls our age were more-interested in him than the boys. ;^)

Moving along, we all played for the afternoon; set up the tents before dinner; split up for that meal; and stayed apart for an hour or more of hang-out time with our own families.  We had the usual seven for dinner tonight; and we’ve had a quiet evening since then to now.  Naomi and Aiden were first to get back here for the night; we went for a short walk to the park with Silkie; and we were back in time to welcome the rest of our camper-cousins – at a distance for most of them.  Staying apart is why we’re taking our turn in the house now, and we need to make way for the next group of kids; so we’d better wrap this up and get on to the camping part of our day.

We’re going to do campfires – and that’s plural; since we’ll have small groups for that too.  Some games are planned so that we can still have some fun together while staying apart, but we’ll write about that with the next report.  This has been a really good day; and we expect the fun to continue all week; so stay tuned to find out what happens next as we live those adventures ahead of us through to the Easter weekend.

This is Ehlana and Ethan Proctor; live from the hidden home of the Magi of the Light – and May the Magi Force be with you!