Happy New Year!

As 2013 draws to a close, I can't help but reflect on the last 12 months. To say they have been colorful is an understatement. Animal Aid International made every single day of this year filled with so much emotion, most of it overwhelmingly positive. I learned about great new organizations and welcomed new AAI partner groups and vets. You may be surprised how logistically challenging this can sometimes be behind the scenes. Add language differences and time zone differences, and the juggling act requires the use of colorful charts! (Or my ever-faithful dry erase board, of course).

AAI doubled the number of donors from the previous year! While I'm typically shy about approaching donors for a personal friendship, the times that I did overcome this sense of boundary have paid off terrifically through the beginnings of great friendships. Indeed, having a shared passion for rescue sets a solid, unshakable foundation that assures you this is a good person who is willing to put his/ her own money and emotional comfort on the line for others. And that, friends, means a lot in today's world.

There probably wasn't a single week when I didn't shed a tear. Some of those tears were for the animals we fought for but lost. Others were for the unfortunate many whom we couldn't even reach. But there were also tears of utter gratitude and an overwhelming sense of being loved. Without AAI, I would never have known this experience. The sense you get when you read words so genuine and caring that you physically feel the warmth of being loved engulf your entire body, starting with your heart. The feeling of sharing a need and seeing it immediately met by someone across the world who so truly believes in you that there is no need to wait and consider the investment. The way your heart races when you see the video of a soul whom so many left for dead and who is now rejoicing in the glory of health and safety. And knowing you had a part in making that possible.

I am grateful, I am humbled, I am thrilled. Ok, to be honest I'm also frequently exhausted, occasionally frustrated, and at times plain thankful I know more than one language in which I can verbalize my annoyance with the world. And I can't wait to do it all over again in 2014! Cheers, friends, to many more successes and lives saved!