Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - June 25, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Congratulations, Marc and Gretchen Johnson and their family – it’s a boy!

Okay, we’re a bit early for that news, since Gretchen is currently in labor at the clinic and their son hasn’t been delivered yet, but our update is early; and we didn’t want to wait until tomorrow to offer our best wishes! ;^)

Marc and Gretchen might be happy to be at the clinic this afternoon instead of out on the farms, since we’re getting another hot, sunny day and the high hit triple-digits.  Our day has been fairly standard so far.  Tai Chi by the river was nice; we had a light breakfast; took care of a few chores around the house; and then we went to play-work at the lab or archives for the rest of the morning.  We worked until twelve-thirty; had lunch with Mom; and then we’ve been playing with our friends for the past few hours.  Even with the heat, we did a bit of biking on the trails; swam a lot; and played in the back yard with some cousins and friends.  Now we’re getting ready for the rest of our day – which for me includes going to Naomi’s for the rest of the day and overnight.  Ehlana is hosting a night with Aiden, and while we’ll see each other at the park for the co-ed ball practices to help with kid control; we’ll be doing our own things for the rest of the day.

That’s why this update is early – and why we’re also not going to get into any world or political news for this report.  We’re ready for a day off from all of that anyway; so it works for us.  Stay tuned; and we’ll have the rest of our respective stories for you with our next update.

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - June 24, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Let’s begin this update with what might be a good news story – if the tentative ceasefire between Iran and Israel can be trusted.  A ceasefire has been declared by both sides and there is talk about the war being over already; so now we can only wait to find out whether that will lead to actual peace or prove to be yet another ruse – just as the recent peace negotiations have been used as a diversion to lull Iran into a false sense of security.  It would be nice to be able to trust anything being declared on ‘our’ side, but that is impossible when history proves otherwise; and some of the rhetoric from Israel isn’t exactly helping to improve or change our opinion.  Israeli leaders aren’t looking to change anything they’re doing; they are still terrorizing the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank; and they’ve stated that their goals toward Iran are still the same – basically that Iran must get rid of their non-existent nuclear weapons program and give up all ‘offensive’ missile technology.  To be blunt, Iran’s leaders would have to be crazy to agree to that kind of total surrender – and Israel still wants regime change in Iran too.  We’ll wait as see what happens next and keep you posted.  This should be a ‘win’ for peace, and the people in both countries will appreciate the end to the daily bombings on both sides; so let’s hope for the best and move on.

While we’re doing world and political news anyway; let’s comment on other stories of the day.  The ‘other’ war rolls on whether getting much attention or not; Russia continues to bomb Ukraine; and their ground forces continue to make progress all along the front lines.  There are reports of thousands of Ukrainian troops caught in cauldrons in multiple locations; and we can only hope that they’ll surrender instead of fighting to the last man.  We want to comment on claims of hypocrisy directed at Russia for refusing an unconditional ceasefire in this conflict while supporting ceasefires with Iran and Israel – and the one between India and Pakistan, but while there might be a nugget of truth in that sentiment; the differences in the conflicts are also significant.  We will point out that Russia has attempted peace agreements from before the Ukraine conflict began through to now, but the problem is that Ukrainian leaders and their western backers won’t accept the terms that Russia has demanded; they’ve proved to be untrustworthy; and now Russia is pretty much to the point where they have decided to impose their demands on Ukraine.  Let’s add that the ceasefire between Iran and Israel won’t resolve the reasons for their fighting, and if time is no longer a factor for negotiations; then we’d really like to know why it was a factor used to justify the attacks on Iran.  We certainly don’t actually know whether all of that bombing has achieved the purported goals – especially when it is more-likely that the attacks have likely just made everything worse.  There is no doubt that most of the world has all-new reasons not to trust our country – or Israel; and that is sure to have long-term implications.

Here at home, there is a lot of nonsense going on ranging from judicial political games to the widespread protests and riots and other violence.  Congressional fighting over spending bills and other policies are leading to either nothing getting done at all or worse – we’ll end up with bloated compromises that will be even worse for all of us as we continue to speed along toward bankruptcy for our country.  It gets tough to sift through all of the nonsense; so we’ll report that our political system is messed up and it is once again proving that it doesn’t matter who our leaders are because they’re all terrible and only pretend to care about ‘normal’ people while only serving themselves and their paymasters.

Moving on to our own news of the day, we were up early for Tai Chi by the river and breakfast; Ehlana and I play-worked at the lab or archives for the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon; and then we had a late lunch and a couple of hours of play time with our friends.  It was hot again today, so we mostly went swimming and hung out under the shade of trees with cold drinks and not much interest in too much action.  Naomi and Aiden stayed with us for dinner; we had our ball practices after that; and then we went for a cool-down swim after the baseball fun.  We aren’t doing a sleepover again tonight, but we also didn’t do any work in the office either.  Mom did a Magi lesson with us and we talked with Mom and Dad for a while too, but then Ehlana and I were ready for bath or Jacuzzi time; and now we’re quickly winding down toward nap time.  That’s also pretty much all we have for this report and we really are ready to get some sleep now; so that’s all for this update.

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - June 23, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

We are taking a night off from sleepovers or camping tonight – partly because we wanted to do some work in the office tonight; and we did that with Mom and Dad – along with the Magi lesson that Mom did with us after dinner.  We do have a double-update for you; so let’s get to it!

Ehlana and I had an awesome fourteenth birthday.  Our birthday adventures unofficially started on Saturday evening.  That didn’t include the kid control help we provided during the co-ed ball game that ‘our’ team won over Sheldon’s Solar Storm – though their team name is cooler than the Witch Falls Whirlpool.  It was still hot well into the evening, so we took the kids for a swim and the parents had cold drinks and even a round of frozen snacks for all of us; and the girls spent more time cheering for our team and favorite next-gen parents that included Violet, Dillon, Jake, and Stephanie.  We came home after the game; didn’t end up doing any babysitting because we weren’t asked; and the early birthday fun included a movie, co-ed cuddling, and the eventual co-ed nap time in the lounge.

Our Sunday started with Tai Chi by the river; a special breakfast that Cassie and Michael joined us for; and then the church service and Sunday school were not shortened for our special day the way Pastor Martha does for Father’s Day!  We still managed to have fun – including helping out with teen prep work for the Fourth of July service that we will help to lead because we’ve been asked to help out while some of the older teens are either busy or stepping back ahead of leaving for college in August.  You already know that our birthday adventures included a trip to Quarry Lake; and we headed there shortly after writing our micro-update and got straight to the play time with a swim before lunch.  That meal was quick and easy; and then we had fun with the rock wall climbing, zip line rides, paddling on Aqua Bikes; water slide action; and lots of swimming through until we headed home in time to get changed and ready for the late buffet at the Inn.  The weather was awesome too with a high in the nineties instead of triple-digits; and the buffet dinner was another amazing culinary experience that had the added bonus of Olde Bakery birthday cakes.  Having two of them wasn’t a twin thing – we just needed more cake to feed everyone at our party!  We aren’t going to write about birthday gifts and will only confirm that we appreciated all of those gifts; and we’re more-grateful for the family and friends that love us and help to make our lives so amazing.

We came home from the Inn with our four best friends; took turns with showers or Jacuzzi time; and there was some video gaming in the lounge that was mostly for the guys while the girls took longer with getting cleaned up and ready for bed.  We watched one or two movies after that – only one for those of us that fell asleep during the second movie; and we had fun with the co-ed cuddling and teen chat time until we crashed and napped for the rest of the night.  That brings us up to this morning.  Tai Chi by the river was great; we had an easy-breakfast; and then our friends headed out while Ehlana and I took care of some chores and then we headed to the lab or archives for the morning.  We play-worked there until lunchtime; had that meal with Mom; and then we spent the afternoon with our friends and some cousins where we mostly tried to stay cool on another hot day with lots of swimming, frozen treats, and lazy time in the shade of trees.  There was some canoeing and a short bike ride, but it was just too-hot to play too-hard; and we were ready to head indoors by dinnertime.  We didn’t have any friends with us for that meal; enjoyed the chat time with Mom and Dad; and we took care of the clean-up before getting to the charity and family business work in the office.  The Magi lesson and work were highlights of our day, and while we haven’t been able to help out with stopping wars or influencing other problems in the world; we got a lot done tonight; and have been able to help people in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Mom had us wrap up our work by ten o’clock – though we did have several time-phased hours mixed into that ‘real’ time. Bath or Jacuzzi time was needed again tonight after a hot, busy day; and now we’re winding down toward nap time that will feel a bit lonely after so many co-ed sleepovers!  Before we get to the sleep time; let’s get to the world and political news of the day and from the weekend.

As mentioned yesterday, the top story is President Trump’s decision to launch attacks on Iran.  They didn’t attack us first; so there are issues with attacking them without congressional approval; and then there are also problems with attacking nuclear facilities – a definite violation of international laws.  The premise put forward for doing this attack isn’t legal either; since no country is supposed to have the right to tell other countries what they can and can’t do internally – and our leaders are insisting that Iran not only eliminate all nuclear re-processing but also get rid of their ballistic missile programs.  That didn’t work out very well for Libya; and Iran has every reason not to trust our country – especially after the past couple of weeks when it seems that we’ve been faking diplomacy and peace talks while preparing for war.  That, by the way, is a violation of international law too, but why keep count when we are breaking so many of the laws we claim to want our enemies to follow?  Since that attack on Iran, they have retaliated with missile attacks on Israel and on our military bases in Qatar and Iraq – though they also warned those countries in advance; so there were no casualties and it doesn’t seem as though they used their best missiles so most were knocked out by air defenses.  Iran is also warning that it may close the Strait of Hormuz and some tankers have already turned around to avoid the risks of using it, but we’ll see how serious Iran is about that plan.  If they go ahead with it, though, while twenty percent of the world’s daily use of oil goes through that strait; it is closer to fifty percent of the exported oil; and that would definitely be a problem for the countries that import that oil.  What we are fairly-sure of, though, is that this is a war; and it won’t be over anytime soon unless our country and Israel back down and quit bombing Iran.

Moving on to the Ukraine war, it continues to go badly for Ukraine.  Russia is bombing them daily and pretty much hitting every target they aim at destroying; and the battles on the front lines are not going well for Ukraine either.  What nobody seems to know, though, is how long Ukraine can hold out before their army weakens to the point of collapse – especially now that there are no new weapons being approved for them by the United States.  Ukraine could also have issues with paying their bills unless the European countries step up to cover what our country had been paying so far since the war started.  Ukraine is currently demanding forty billion dollars; and we have no idea how much of that they want to keep the lights on and how much they want to spend on weapons – assuming anyone has the extra weapons to sell when so much is being used up on the Iran attacks and defending Israel.  Neither of these wars should have happened at all, but the war-mongers and profiteers are very happy – and that’s especially true right now after getting to show off some of their ‘best’ toys for the first time.

It is really too-bad that they couldn’t have instead took those billions of dollars in waste and destruction and instead spent that money on helping people to have better, happier lives.  Maybe if our leaders would try that instead of war; there might be no need to fight at all!

That’s enough for tonight.  We’re ready to catch up on our sleep after a busy handful of days; so we’ll do that now and get back to full-power to be ready for our next round of summer adventures!

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - June 22, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 14^th Birthday to Us! ;^)

We’re just getting changed after church and ready to head out to Quarry Lake for the afternoon; so instead of doing an update now; let’s just save up and do a double update tomorrow night.  We’ve had a good day so far and we have a lot of fun scheduled for the rest of the day; so we really just want to get to it and enjoy those adventures with our family and friends.

Before we do that, we will mention that President Trump approved attacks on Iran that were carried out last night, but the fog of war news is still sketchy; so we’ll have more on that tomorrow night too – along with any news related to retaliations from Iran that could happen between now and then.  We are not surprised at this latest escalation; and can only hope that our leaders aren’t dragging us into yet another decades-long conflict or worse.

Let’s move on, and while it feels conflicting to go out and play when such awful things are happening elsewhere in the world, that’s true every day; and maybe the answer to the world’s problems is to fill our lives with love and joy; spread it around the world no matter how long it takes for that to happen; and show that what we have here at home really is what is best for the rest of the world too.

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

Ethan's and Ehlana's Journals - June 21, 2025

 

Ethan and Ehlana:

Happy 11^th Anniversary, Kyle and Tory Denninger!

We didn’t have anything to do with their special day, but have heard that their family and friends are helping them out with having fun with their celebrations.

Here at home, it is hot today with a triple-digit high this afternoon, which is why we did the rest of our normal weekend chores that we didn’t get done earlier in the week this morning.  Ehlana did a park visit too in support of our cousins’ ball games.  Brianna, Faith, and their team won; Sebastian, Caleb, and their team lost by just one run; and both games were apparently pretty good.  We’ve had a lazy play afternoon after a smaller group lunch that included a lot of swimming to stay cool and not-very-energetic outdoor play in the back yard or at the park.  We’re currently transitioning to dinnertime and getting ready to host another co-ed sleepover; so the early update is because we’re going to be busy for the rest of the day.  There is a co-ed ball game this evening for our entertainment highlight, and while camping was an option; we decided to stay cool and indoors tonight instead; and we’ll likely watch a movie or two in the lounge after the game – though we might be doing some babysitting too for some of the cousins and next-gen kids.  We’ll keep you posted on all of that with our next report, but we need to go help with making dinner soon; so let’s wrap this up.

Last night, we wrapped up our shopping day with a movie that some of us fell asleep during, and since I was one of them; my co-ed nap time was longer than for Ehlana and Naomi – though they enjoyed the girl chat time while I was out for the count.  I’ll try to do better tonight, but then again if we end up doing that babysitting; it won’t matter much from a co-ed cuddle time with Naomi perspective.  We’ll keep you posted on that too, but let’s move on to a quick news update.

Iran and Israel are still trading missile and drone attacks; Israel is still starving and killing Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank; the Ukraine conflict is getting worse every day for the Ukrainians; and there isn’t any good news for the trade and tariff wars.  The only diplomacy we see that isn’t just theatre is happening among our ‘enemies’ as they actually make deals with each other and oppose our actions around the world; and we can’t help but notice that those deals are worked out without never-ending threats and ultimatums.  ‘Our’ negotiating tactics really do boil down to demanding that others do as we say or be destroyed; and it is only amazing that our leaders think that rule-by-force can be imposed when we have so many examples of how that has failed for us – and for pretty much every other government in the history of the world.  We do also understand that force can work for decades or even centuries, but we are supposed to be evolving as a species; and now would be a great time to prove that by starting to care about everyone equally instead of fighting over resources, control, and anything else for the gain of power and wealth.

Okay, that’s all for today.  Stay tuned; since we do hope that our birthday adventures will be amazing!

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