Heirs of the Magi News Flash!

***Heirs of the Magi News Flash!*** We're back! Summer is winding down fast, but we do still have three weeks and change to go until we head back to school; and we will do our best to make the most of that time even as we are going to be very busy! Your favorite Magi teens will get back to their summer jobs at the lab; the push is on for baseball teams to make it to the championship games on the holiday weekend; and football and cheer squad tryouts and the first two games of the season are right around the corner now too. We will have all of the tops stories for you with our daily journals; so... ...Visit Witch Falls often to keep up with all of our latest adventures; and happy reading!

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - February 5, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 4th Birthday, Jonathan Bassett!

Sophia and Aaron helped out with her cousin’s special day, but we weren’t really involved at all; and left it up to the Bassett clan and friends to make sure that Jonathan has had a good day.

As for our day, take yesterday, drop the school band practice, add a dash or ten of rain, and move the hours at the lab or archives to the late afternoon and evening from later into the night; and you have the basics for our Wednesday.  We did about the same number of hours of work tonight and got a lot done again; and that is why we’re tired and ready to nap again.  We should add that Cassie and Michael are busy and getting a lot done too with their work; and they are getting excited about the vacation week they’ll be starting on Friday now that they only have one work day left to go before their flight into Mexico.

Since we have had another good, productive day; let’s not mess up how we’re feeling tonight with any news or politics rants or commentary.  The general insanity infecting many of the world leaders continues; so we’ll stick with the love and happiness that should go along with this time of the year and hopefully spend the rest of our night having happy dreams!

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - February 4, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

We’re cooling down back toward winter again today, but that isn’t why we spent most of our day indoors.  After Tai Chi and breakfast with Mom and Dad, Ehlana and I headed off to a fun day of learning at school with our friends; followed that up with the school band practice; and then we stopped in at home for dinner before moving on to an evening of work-play at the lab or archives.  Thanks to some time phasing, we put in a work day or more of fun with our books or beakers, and that was still later than it should have been in the real world and time; since some of Ehlana’s work needed to be done in normal time for access to equipment and systems that don’t work in a time phase.

That’s also why we’re tired and ready to crash after just the basics of bedtime computing and a chat that included Mom and Dad; so that’s all we have for tonight.  We got a lot done and are happy; so being tired and in need of recharging is worth the efforts.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Monday, February 3, 2025

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - February 3, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Our first school day of February has been pretty good; and we loved getting a second weather day with a high around sixty.  That break from winter isn’t going to last; so we enjoyed it while we could – including going biking with our friends again after school instead of going to the lab or archives.  There isn’t much to report from our academic adventures beyond a bit of bonus outdoor time once it warmed up this afternoon, and while we had a blast with the outdoor time after school; there wasn’t anything newsworthy to write about.  We did stick to the main trails, since most of the trails can’t be ridden on in winter even on warm days – not that reality keeps some guys from trying anyway.  Thankfully, none of those guys required medical attention related to risky biking practices, but we did joke about the need for mental health experts at the medical center! ;^)

Moving along, we came home from the biking in time for dinner; enjoyed that meal with Mom and Dad; took care of the clean-up; and then we got to work in the office.  The family business and charity work went well; Mom did a Magi lesson with us; and then bath or Jacuzzi time was needed before we got around to the twin chat and bedtime computer checks.  Cassie and Michael are in Guatemala this week, but only for four work days because they’ll move on to Mexico on Friday and will be taking a week off for a vacation for Cassie’s birthday through Valentine’s Day.  We really wish that we could be there for that part of the trip, but it won’t happen; so we’ll try to do our best to have fun here at home instead.  Their work in Guatemala is important, and we helped out from here with a bit of our work; so we are collectively doing a good job helping locals with issues ranging from community infrastructure and decent jobs to environmental and wildlife management projects.

On the world news and politics front, the hits keep coming.  One of the top stories today is President Trump’s decision to roll USAID into the State department.  Other than the likely loss of jobs as that happens, we have no idea whether this change will make any difference for actual activities and programs that USAID operates now; so we’ll wait to see whether serious changes are made so that USAID isn’t used for the wrong reasons anymore.  The tariffs battle is having some impacts already, and on the Mexico side of that story, their President has committed to putting ten thousand troops on the border to help with stopping illegal immigration and drug smuggling.  We will again wait to see whether any of these political plays lead to actual results that are good for everyone – or anyone; and we’ll keep you posted if we do eventually get some good news.  We can’t offer any happy stories yet from any of the ongoing conflicts.  Ukraine continues to be destroyed while their own leaders continue with the insane policies that are ruining their country and will take decades to repair if they even have a country left to rebuild whenever the war does end.  Syria is on the way to being ruined too, and our leaders should not be proud of replacing the Assad regime with a radical Islamist dictator who is busy turning Syria into another Afghanistan.

These stories are getting depressing, so let’s stop there and wrap this up.  We’ve had a good day and want to head off to dreamland with happy thoughts.  No, Ehlana, I am not going to think about pink, fluffy bunnies – or not think about them, but have fun if that actually works for you, sis!  If you really want to take this wrap-up into fiction, though, instead of a ‘Good Witch’ reference; I’d pick Harry Potter; since Naomi is always at the top of my list for happy thoughts – even though I can’t use them to create a Patronus! ;^)

Now that we’ve moved from serious to silly, it is definitely time for us to call it a night and get some sleep – so we will.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Sunday, February 2, 2025

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - February 2, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 81st Birthday, Grandma Aileen!

Thanks to splitting up last night for our respective sleepovers, the birthday vid-chat with Grandma needed to be a video conference call, but then we had that booked anyway with Cassie and Michael; so that wasn’t a big deal.  The Drapers enjoyed getting in on that blast of breakfast fun; and it made for a happy start to our day.  All of the ‘family’ grandparents are helping to make Grandma’s birthday amazing for her; and they all have the bonus of great weather with a high today that was around eighty degrees.

We can’t really complain about that here at home, since we topped sixty for our high today; and that’s also why we spent the afternoon biking the trails and playing with our friends and some cousins.  Before we got to that play time, we had a good morning at church and Sunday school; Ehlana and I had a quick lunch with Mom and Dad; and then we met up with the gang of kids and teens for the afternoon with the weather having everything to do with why we didn’t play at the lab or archives instead.  The great weather really was awesome and a nice break from the winter norms; and we enjoyed every minute of those outdoor adventures.

That brings us up to the dinner plans, which for us meant going home for a quiet dinner-for-four with Mom and Dad.  We got home in-time to help with the cooking; enjoyed the food and chat time with our parents; and then our evening included a short Magi lesson; some time-phased office work; early bath or Jacuzzi time; and the bedtime computing and twin chat that we’re wrapping up now.  We haven’t covered the rest of our news from last night, but instead of offering details about our respective co-ed sofa sleepovers, let’s just note that Ehlana had fun with Aiden and his family; Naomi and I loved a quieter evening with Mom and Dad; and the co-ed cuddling and nap time were highlights of the night for all teens involved!

Before we can call it a night, we do need to offer some commentary on world news and politics.  We don’t think that there is much in the way of good news – though others would argue with us on that point.  For Ehlana and me, though, it is about results for the important things; and we aren’t seeing improvements.  First up, the tariffs imposed by President Trump this weekend hit friends and foes alike – though not equally; and economic warfare is not going to end well for anyone.  Our new President also approved airstrikes in Somalia; and we apparently really do need to keep the never-ending wars going despite all of the political claims about ending wars and negotiating for peace.  Yes, there are changes happening, but as we’ve mentioned in other journal entries, those new policies often are more about the theatre and political games with no positive impact on the most-important problems we have around the world.

We should stop before we take this commentary into rant mode.  There is still a chance that some changes will happen for the better; and we should all hope for that outcome.  Ehlana and I have had a really good weekend with a lot of love and happiness to take with us into dreamland; so we are going to do that right now while hoping that your ‘present’ is equally amazing!

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Saturday, February 1, 2025

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - February 1, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

The end to January and start to February might have worked better at Halloween, but while our babysitting adventures were occasionally-scary; we managed to have fun too.  Zack, Eli, and some of the other boys led the way for the scary and annoying moments of our night and morning; so Aiden and I were kept busy trying to mitigate their pranks and practical jokes and food games while Ehlana and Naomi took care of the girls that were upset by the boys.  Pizzeria pizza and finger food sides led to some of the dinnertime gross-outs.  While we could go on about the problems we’ve had with the babysitting, let’s skip the rest of those stories; since there were a lot of good moments too.  The kids mostly loved that dinner despite the food games; our evening included music, movies, and video gaming; and the guys stayed up most of the night with the video game challenges while the girls generally got more sleep after the movies.  Breakfast was an adventure too, but Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne got to have some parental support; so we – the babysitters – mostly dealt with getting all of the kids ready for the day and then handling the post-breakfast clean-up.

It was going on ten o’clock by the time all of the guest kids were returned to their families and the work at the Carrington’s was done; so we got a late start to our actual chores.  That’s why we’ve spent most of the day to now getting that work done at multiple homes and cottages.  We have some guests coming to those cottages over the next couple of weeks – especially for the Valentine’s Day weekend; and we didn’t want to leave all of the work for next weekend.  All of our chores are done now; and we’re getting cleaned up and ready for the rest of our day.  For Ehlana, that means packing for a night with Aiden and his family while I am getting ready to host Naomi and have a quiet evening with Mom and Dad.  The rest of our story for today can wait; since we’re going to be having too much fun later and won’t be together to write an update anyway.  Don’t take that the wrong way, since there is a very good chance that we’ll all fall asleep early after the total lack of sleep last night, and on that track; we’re also not going to comment on why some of those favorite parents including Mom and Dad were so happy this morning thanks to getting a kid-free night.  It is time to wrap this up; so we’re out of here and back to the ‘real’ world fun that we are going to have either here or with the Drapers.  We hope that your ‘now’ is really great too!

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!