Hello Everypony! Here are some new annoucements!

I haven't updated in a while, so I thought should give you guys an update on what's been happening with me as of late.

First off, I'm working hard my first stories for this website.

My first story is inspired by this story where a a human OC introduces Twilight and Spike to the comedy classic Airplane!

In my story I (or a human OC similar to me) will spend movie night with Spike, Gallus, and Sandbar introducing them to human cinema; starting with the Pirates of the Caribbean series.

I'm excited by the idea of it, but it will take time to complete since all 5 films are very long, but the completed story will be worth it in the end.

The other is a crossover with the underrated cult classic action/adventure fantasy film Van Helsing.

I won't give any more spoiler-filled details about the story other that it takes place immediately after My Little Pony The Movie and 3 years after the events of Van Helsing. It's actually an older story I started writing on fanfiction.net but never finished. Recently, I've gotten the spark for writing again so I'll be posting the story here and there (fanfiction.net) when the first 2 chapters are finished.

Expect editorials concerning the 25th anniversaries of the Star Wars Special Editions, and Batman & Robin, and the 10th anniversary of Disney-Lucasfilm buyout in the near future too.

Secondly, it's a new year but I won't be re-posting Saints' lives that I have blogged about twice. I will be re-posting new Saint's lives that I have not done before along with various sayings/sermons/stories that I think are worth sharing. I've not decided whether or not I will be re-posting the material from Holy Week/Easter from last year. Orthodox Holy Week/Easter this year is a week after the western Holy Week/Easter. See you in Church and in the clearance aisle for the discounted candy! (BTW, I call dibs on everything Reeses, you can have everything else)

I also have some thoughts regarding the Russia/Ukraine conflict, but that will be a post for another time.

Short version: While the footage we see before us is terrible and it should not have happened, I can't take any solid position on the conflict partly because I believe we aren't being told the full story.

Our lamestream liberal media has a bizarre grudge against Putin and Russia because both the country and it's leader is everything they can't stand: A Christian, traditionalist, conservative, patriotic, powerful nation that won't take take crap from anybody who disrespects them; and so they have pretty much made it their life mission to make Russia look bad at every turn possible.

Ukraine isn't exactly an innocent in this conflict, and the media is intentionally excluding Ukraine's guilt in this conflict, in order to make Russia look worse.

I also wish Putin was invading Turkey instead. Constantinople isn't going to re-conquer itself, ya know!

More importantly, I have had a personal tragedy in my life, so I barely give a damn about what's going in the rest of the world because of that.

This past January, my Dad landed in the hospital with a really bad stroke, a week before his 60th birthday. His stroke left him paralyzed on the left side of his body and can barely speak or move. As a result of Mom now spends of all of her time with him at the hospital to take care of him (and to raise hell when the nurses are not taking care of him properly) and I spend most of my time at home taking care of my little sister.

If it sounds like I'm complaining, I'm not. It's just the unfortunate turn of events we have been led to and we are doing our best to fix it.

It's not all bad, however. All our family and friends have really stepped up to help us out in our time of need; They watch my little sister when I need to drive to work, the stores, or the occasional escape to the bookstores and movies. They have been sending us money and food whenever we need it. Most importantly we have many been blessed by the prayers we have had from our family, friends, spiritual fathers, churches and monasteries from around the world.

"Why do bad things happen to good people?" is a common question that has been asked and answered by many in all walks and beliefs of life, but naturally I only accept the Orthodox Christian version of the answer to this question.

Now I don't remember which Saint or Father said this (I'm working on finding the original source) so I'll do my best to paraphrase it by memory;

Tragedy constantly befalls us for 2 reasons: Because the evil one hates us and seek to destroy our souls and our relationship with the Lord. The other reason is that the Lord allows for tragedy to happen so that our faith will be tested and our spiritual lives enriched by the experience.

Again, this not the exact quote, but it is a paraphrase from my memory, so I think it is semi-accurate.

I know that may seems unfair to many, but it actually makes sense.

If we love God we have to be tested at every turn to see if our faith is genuine and our desire for the Kingdom of Heaven is real.

When the going really gets tough, what we will do? Give up because life is too hard, or persevere because the final victory, the Kingdom of Heaven, is worth it in the end?

I hope your answer was the latter, because there is no victory for quitters.

Right now, with Dad being in the awful position he is in, our faith is being tested, so we are doing our best to keep the faith in the Lord and his Holy Saints that Dad will be made whole again.

We must be doing something right because Dad is getting better day by day. While his half his body can barely move, he is at least fully aware of everything and everybody around him. He occasionally feels his left side waking up for short periods of time. He is pushing to get his voice full functional again; so far, all he can do is a quiet whisper. He is no longer in intensive care but is now in rehab. The road to recovery will take time but it will be worth it in the end.

We don't know each other, and we probably will never meet each other in real life, but the only support I ask of you is your prayers for my Dad.

Prayer is a powerful weapon and aid, and every little and large bit of it helps.

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Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners

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