Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - August 10, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

It’s Sunday night; and we’re writing this update earlier than usual for an actual bedtime report – in-part thanks to a mostly-rainy day.  Ehlana and I had a lot of fun last night with Mom, Dad, Naomi, and Aiden; with everything from dinner to the co-ed nap time helping to keep all of us happy and entertained.  Highlights included a Magi lesson with Mom; an hour and change of music play time; and the first movie that Mom and Dad joined us for in the lounge before heading off to their own room for the rest of the night.  We o not need to write about what they were doing once on their own; since we prefer to pretend that we don’t know what’s going on behind their shields and wards.  We stayed up for another movie and co-ed cuddling; and eventually managed a handful of hours of sleep.

The rain moved in overnight as expected, so Tai Chi was indoors; we had a hot breakfast; and then drove to church because it rained pretty much all morning.  Dad dropped the rest of us off at the front doors and managed to mostly stay dry despite the rain and puddles everywhere by the time he joined us.  The service and Sunday school were good and Ehlana and I joined the group getting ready for the holiday weekend teen-led service.  We’ve also been given the music and have a couple of practices set up too; so that’ll be a bit more for us to do between now and when we’ll be heading back to school.

We came home without our best friends; had an easy-lunch with Mom and Dad; and then we got a ride to the lab so that we could work-play there for the afternoon since it either rained or stayed wet outdoors most of the afternoon anyway.  Mom left us there to work until a bit after six o’clock; gave us a ride home; and then we had another quiet meal without extra guests.  They worked all afternoon too, so Dad had his weekend work wrapped up too; so we didn’t need to do any office work tonight.  We did do some chores and a Magi lesson, but Mom set us free by a quarter-to-nine to head up for bath or Jacuzzi time.  That worked for us, since we have had quite a few late nights in a row; and the coming week is going to be busy so the extra nap time will help a lot with getting back to full power again.

While we do that, Cassie and Michael have already hopped over to Turkey from Cyprus; and will be spending the week there.  We’ll try not to worry about them too much, but they will spend some time close to the disaster zone that is Syria; and there are lots of problems in Turkey too thanks to everything from ongoing earthquake recovery to social and political issues.  Their last day in Cyprus included two project site visits with a deal-making luncheon at one of them; they had some water and beach play time; and then took an evening flight over to Turkey.  We’ll keep you posted on their adventures; and hope that they won’t be too-exciting!

Let’s wrap this up with a quick world and political news report – or longer; if I get going on a rant!  Starting with the horrors that Israel continues to inflict on the Palestinians, the rest of the world continues to do nothing beyond condemnation talk while the Palestinians are starved and killed.  Israeli leaders have declared their intent to take over all of Gaza and either kill or expel the Palestinians; and we have no doubt that the West Bank Palestinians would be next – not that life isn’t already horrendous for them.  What is happening there is flat-out evil; and we really wish that we could stop it.  That isn’t an option, but if it was; Cassie and Michael might have been happy to make a little side trip to Syria and Israel to do just that – though we probably shouldn’t give Cassie any good ideas like that while in Turkey! ;^)

As for the Ukraine war, it has been another day; another round of politics with growing attempts to sabotage the meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin.  We really don’t know why they are wasting time and money to have that meeting when it seems unlikely that anything will actually happen to end the war.  Ukraine has no reason to make any deals while the top European leaders continue to declare their full support to fight until they ‘win’ over Russia.  Some of them actually seem to believe that is possible and that total defeat isn’t an option; proving that at least some of them are also seriously delusional.  News flash for those idiots that will never read this journal anyway – if the west somehow manages to defeat Russia; it will be at the expense of the world when that would require a nuclear war.  Any peace deals being offered now are better than that; and those deals will just get worse for Ukraine the longer the fighting continues.

Finally, the political theatre games continue, and while a lot of time is wasted on those stories by media and politicians; we’ll continue to keep up with everything and ignore the nonsense that will fade in days or be recycled as needed to keep the daily churn going forever.  On a happier note, that idea has me picturing a future after the ascension where reporters have nothing better to do that tell happy stories filled with love and joy, but then if that did happen; I doubt that many of the current mainstream reporters would have those jobs!

Have fun with that mental picture; and we’ll call it a night and go get some sleep right now.

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - August 9, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

We had a lot of fun last night from dinner and some early-evening swimming and play time to the outdoor movies and through the camping with our cousins and friends.  The first movie was next-gen-kids’ friendly; the second was an action-comedy; and then the teens and older kids left standing went for a moonlit swim and stayed up late with quiet chat time and some co-ed cuddling for the couples.  Some of us managed co-ed nap time in our tents too, but we didn’t make a big deal of that; and didn’t get teased about it too much either.

Tai Chi by the river was great; Breakfast was an easy-meal with bakery treats, cereals, and fresh fruits; and then we were busy for a while getting younger kids ready for the day and returned to parents or other caregivers.  Mom and Dad had some bonus chores for Ehlana and I after that; we took care of the work that included some canoe and bike maintenance, car washes, and cleaning in the storage barn; and then we were set free for the rest of the day by lunchtime.  Naomi and Aiden met up with us for lunch after helping their own families for the morning; and we’ve had a lazy play afternoon with rotating groups of family and friends as we mostly played in the back yard and on and in the river.

That brings us up to now.  Naomi and Aiden have left us long-enough to pack overnight bags; and they’ll be our only guests tonight.  We’re going to have a quiet dinner with Mom and Dad; and then we’re planning on some music play time; movies in the lounge; and a comparatively-early bedtime with co-ed cuddling and nap time high on our list of priorities.  Mom might do a group Magi lesson with us too, but we’ll see how that goes for us; since they might choose their own chance for alone time instead of hanging out with four teens! ;^)

That’s all we have for our own news of the day.  Cassie and Michael did a bit of work today, but they also spent most of the day sightseeing and enjoying some play time in Cyprus.  They still have one more day there with another work-play mix, so while they are having fun and getting a lot done too; we don’t expect a lot of news from them through the weekend.  On the world and political news front, the top story today is that the Trump-Putin meeting is apparently now confirmed for this coming Friday and in Alaska.  We’re not expecting a lot and expect that there are a lot of risks involved in even having this meeting – especially on our soil.  It will make for a week-long diversion, but if nothing happens to actually lead to peace in Ukraine; it will also just be a waste of time.  Let’s not beg trouble by offering suggestions for worst-case outcomes.  We do want to mention that there are a lot of leaders in Europe and Ukraine that are against any concessions on their side of this fight; so it doesn’t look good for any chance of an agreement that all sides involved will accept.  As always, we can hope for the best; and won’t be surprised if nothing changes with the actual fighting on the ground.

Let’s stop there.  Ehlana and I want to be happy and enjoy the rest of the day with Mom, Dad, Naomi, and Aiden; so we’re going to get back to doing that right now.

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - August 8, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 5^th Anniversary, Joshua and Sally Parker!

While we hope that Cassie’s and Michael’s friends are having an awesome day, Ehlana and I weren’t involved in their special day – though most of the party plans for their day haven’t started yet anyway.  We know that Rowen and Tim will be attending that party at the farm; so we expect that everyone involved will have an awesome time!

We’ve had a great day so far too – if not party-level amazing.  That includes our babysitting and fun last night at Sophia’s house.  We met up with her – and Aaron and all of the kids we were booked to babysit while Caleb and Erica’s anniversary party moved on from dinner to social fun with friends.  We kept all of the kids entertained either until we put them to bed for the night or their parents came over to pick them up; and then we didn’t have any co-ed nap time when we went to our beds because the girls all had junior sleepover buddies.

We only had a handful of kids with us this morning, but that still made Tai Chi by the river a challenge; and getting them fed and ready for parental pick-up kept us busy through until Aiden, Aaron, and I needed to get to the park for our football workout.  By then, we’d made plans for the day – a bike ride to Quarry Lake with cousins and friends; so the girls did most of the work to get ready for that – including rounding up a picnic, other supplies, and more so that we could head out on the trail not long after we got back from the park.  We had a quick swim and change first; the ride out to Quarry Lake was quick because we were motivated; and then the play time at our favorite campground included some of our favorite activities and a lot of swimming and play time on the water slides.  The weather was awesome and hot; so the swimming was needed; and we had a last swim right before we needed to bike home again – though that didn’t help us with staying cool for long during that ride.  We made that trip fairly-quick too – in-part because we wanted to set up tents and round up camping gear before dinner.  Mom and Dad are hosting the family-and-friends’ meal and movies; so we’re hosting the camping too and that part of our plan has expanded quite a bit even since we got home – to the point that Dad is stopping on the way home from work for a major bakery order for breakfast treats.

This update is happening now while Ehlana and I are quickly getting cleaned up ahead of dinner and the rest of the fun tonight.  Even with the gang of teens and kids we’ll be camping with now; we’re still hoping for lots of co-ed cuddle time and maybe for the camping too.  Trust me; the odds of that happening for me with Naomi are better now than they were pre-shower!  We aren’t helping with the pre-dinner work, but do need to get back to hanging out with our cousins and friends; so let’s wrap this up.

Cassie and Michael are already through with their first day in Cyprus, but we haven’t gotten any details yet; and might not get that update until tomorrow.  We don’t really want to get into world or political news, but we should at least mention that the top stories today still include plans for a meeting of the Presidents of America and Russia – even though there doesn’t seem to be any serious changes in what each side wants to get an end to the fighting.  As for political theatre, we have a new story out this week related to the Oklahoma City bombing in nineteen-ninety-five.  Ehlana and I know the history of that story, and the thirtieth anniversary might sound like a good reason to drag it up again, but then that attack happened in April, not August; so we expect that this is just another distraction for the masses.  That isn’t to suggest that the truth about that story and many others shouldn’t be made public, but nobody should let these distractions get in the way of the outrage over what is happening elsewhere in the world.

So much for not getting into the news of the day!  Since we went there anyway; let’s add in that the tariff wars are on; and our President’s threats are not going over well as India and other countries are calling for other countries getting together to fight against the tariffs and sanctions – especially the BRICS+ countries that are sick and tired of the economic and military threats.

Instead of going on about any of that, we need to go; and we are going to be thankful for and enjoy another happy blast of adventures with a lot of our favorite people.  We might not be able to give that kind of gift to everyone in the world, but we can do that here at home – and will eventually share our Light with everyone!

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - August 7, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 4^th Anniversary, Caleb and Erica Palmer!

After starting our day with Tai Chi and breakfast with Mom and Dad; I had my football workout at the park and then Ehlana and I teamed up with Naomi and Aiden for a chores day at the usual homes and cottages.  Other than lunch and swim breaks; we’ve kept busy all day to now; and we’re only getting cleaned up now because we need to have dinner and then head over to Sophia’s house to help with babysitting for her next-gen cousins and other kids while their parents are busy with Caleb and Erica’s anniversary party.  We’re also staying at Sophia’s for the night and expect at least some of the kids to stay overnight too; so this is going to be a busy, long evening.

The Palmer and Bassett clans are having a dinner party for the couple of honor too, but we’re not attending that meal with Sophia and Aaron.  Naomi and Aiden are going to be here with us for dinner with Mom and Dad, though, and we need to help Mom with the pre-dinner cooking; so we need to get moving soon after the break for showers, clean clothes, and packing our overnight bags.  Before we do that, Cassie and Michael have finished their work in Greece and will be in Cyprus for the next three days.  That stop will be evenly-split between work and sightseeing, but the comparatively-small island is geo-politically and historically important; so even when our partnerships there help a limited number of people; the impact extends beyond Cyprus and into the region.

We really do need to go and help Mom now; so we’ll only mention that one of the news stories of the day is a possible meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin within the next few days – though we have no idea why they’d bother with the trip or expenses when that is very-unlikely to do anything to actually end the war in Ukraine – or help with problems in the Middle East with Israel, Iran, and all of the other countries involved in the conflicts and horrors happening there.  We’ll find out more on that and cover other news, as always, in the coming days, but we are not going to waste time thinking about all of the bad news around the world for the rest of today.  Taking care of the kids, having fun with our best friends, and enjoying another awesome weather day will be enough for us – and we are grateful for the simple fact that we can do all of that here in our little corner of the world.

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - August 6, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 38^th Birthday, Aunt Deborah!

Happy 10^th Birthday, Alex Byrd!

Happy 9^th Anniversary, Neil and Michelle Ryan!

Before we get to the news from today, our campfire and camping last night was great – even without any co-ed nap time.  The Pizzeria pizza was a hit with all teens and kids; our ball practices were good and on the short side; and then our band was the highlight of the campfire – even when we only used guitars and Aiden drummed on whatever he had close to him – like coolers, bag chairs, bottles, and more.  Our teen friends appreciated the dance opportunities and cuddle time; and the youngest campers fell asleep to our ballads – just as we’d planned.  We still had a late night – much-later than Mom and Dad did after getting home from the pub and anniversary party; so after two late nights we were happy to pack up the campground this morning.

I still had my football workout this morning, so we were up early for Tai Chi; had our tents and gear packed up before breakfast; and then that meal was an adventure – especially with the junior campers.  My football workout was good; and then I joined Ehlana for some house and yard chores for the rest of the morning.  We’re splitting up that work a bit this week; wrapped up around one o’clock; and then we were kept busy for the afternoon mostly helping out with kid control at the Carringtons while Mom and Aunt Leanne anchored the crew getting everything ready for Aunt Deborah’s birthday dinner party.  We helped with the work too; kept busy until we sat down for that meal and celebration; and then we kept busy getting the next-gen kids fed; working on the clean-up crew after the meal; and then more kid-control fun at the park while the co-ed ball practices were going on.

Some of our cousins are doing sleepovers or camping at other homes, but Ehlana and I needed to do some office work tonight; so we came home after the ball practices and got started on that fun in the office with Mom and Dad.  We all had a lot to get done and needed to work in real time a lot, so even with the time phasing; we’ve been up late again tonight.  We got a lot done, so it is worth being this tired, but it has also been a very long day; and we’re ready to crash and nap soon.  Bath or Jacuzzi time was still needed, so we took care of that after wrapping up in the office; and we’ve blasted through the world and political news checks – though we covered some of those checks while working on family business and charity projects that are affected by various challenges around the world.

Cassie and Michael are dealing with some of those issues in-person; and we all learn a lot through them as we adapt our efforts based on what is needed by different people in different regions of the world.  This isn’t a real-life example for us, but an actual suggestion for use of electric vehicles for a project we are involved in might have sounded good to some of the partners, but was ridiculous because that project was in an area with unreliable electricity; so re-charging those vehicles would have been both a challenge and put more pressure on an already-overloaded power system – which is why the idea didn’t get out of the brainstorming stage.  Our point here is that even with some fairly-smart Magi Masters involved, we don’t pretend to know everything; and locals often know what they really need.

On the world and political news front, the top story was another meeting between President Trump’s special envoy and Russian President Putin; and we were not surprised to find out that more talk didn’t lead to any real progress to end the Ukraine conflict.  In response to that lack of progress, President Trump put new tariffs on India for the audacity of trading with Russia.  Singling India out from all of the other countries that trade with Russia is intentional and stupid; since ticking off a trading market of one-point-four billion people will definitely backfire.  We even have a recent example of that, since the new tariffs on Brazil have led to China fast-tracking around two-hundred Brazilian companies for trade with them – including most or all of the coffee exporters.  We’re sure that Brazil will not care about tariffs on exports from them if they can just sell everything to China instead!  None of this is stopping the fighting in Ukraine, and we have to wonder if our special envoy is doing anything at all except spending a lot of money traveling the world.  His visit to Israel seems to have done nothing for the Palestinians, and as he headed to Russia; the latest news from Israel is that they are planning on ‘occupying’ all of Gaza and want to get rid of all of the Palestinians.  At the rate they’re dying of starvation and never-ending attacks by the Israeli army; they’ll achieve that goal while the rest of the world stands by and allows this genocide.

Finally, we’ll comment on the national political news nonsense.  As always, there are stories out there meant to distract from the real issues; and we do not appreciate the waste of our time to sift through the garbage along the way to getting the important information.  We would really love to see all of the evil power players in the world get what they deserve, but the political lawfare on both sides of the fictional political aisle is a waste of time; and nobody with power and money will ever get convicted of any really-serious crime!  That’s depressing, but true; and we don’t expect anything to change until something big actually breaks the current system.

Too much of that news is depressing, so let’s wrap this up while Ehlana and I work on happier thoughts to take with us into dreamland.  Stay tuned for our next update while we rest up a bit and then get back to living our next batch of summer adventures.

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