From Hillary: “I may be old. I may be deaf. And my vision is not as acute as it once was. But I have a different view of life from where I am. I have traveled a winding road. It has had its ups and downs. It has seen sun and rain. It has known darkness and light. But it is my path and to get where I am now and look back upon the journey, I am grateful to have worn my pawprints into the path and called it my own. I am more tired now. I move a lot slower. But the memories of where I have been all come together as I look back. I am grateful for the journey. I am honored for the friends I’ve met along the way. And I am grateful to see the sunrise every single day. Because I understand every sunrise gives me another pawprint to put on the path of my life. And at the end of the journey, when I look back, I will be blessed with knowing that I made each one of those marks myself. And I will feel joy and comfort and peace.”

From Viva: “Every year for more than half my life I have done this message thing. And you know what, it never gets old. I don’t mind each year stopping to tell you what I am most grateful for. I’ve lived on this farm my whole life. I’m the first horse! The kid who started it all. I can look around at what we’ve created here and who we have become with great pride. We worked hard to get here. Sometimes days were really tough. Sometimes things looked really grim. We’ve faced some tough things. And we’ve seen so many miracles. When I started into my adulthood here, I had three friends. The four of us made up our own herd. And now, it’s just me and Belle. Neither of us are particularly the picture of health. Both of us are old. Neither of us have enough teeth left to eat hay. Yet, both of us are grateful for every single day. What more could I have asked for in my life. Nothing. And that is a wonderful thing to say. Each year, if they are honest, my human friends think that this will be my last annual message. And each year, I surprise them and stay a little longer. I don’t live my life thinking this is my last message. I look to the next one. Because it is the only way to live well. I have found that you need to be most grateful when you feel the least grateful. You do that, and you will find your miracles. That is how it works.”

 

 

From Merlin: “I see so many people come and go through our facility here. I love to watch the various types of folks who come to say hello. Humans are sort of intriguing to me. There is a sign on my cage that reads, “Please don’t stick your fingers in my cage. I might get scared and bite.” I hate to say this but I then get to see several things about people. Some read the sign out loud and then put their fingers in the cage to see if I’ll bite. Some don’t read the sign and try to get me to talk to them. Some insist that they can prevent me from biting in the first place and set out to “tame” me. And then there are my favorite visitors who come to the cage to learn who I am. They are the ones who I interact with because if you are truly interested in what’s underneath all my feathers, you would never try to put your fingers in to see if I would bite you, and you’d never think to try to fix me. You would just understand who I am.”

 

From Mary Beth: “Many people could look at me and just see a crippled little donkey. But they would be missing the most important things about me. They’d be missing the light in my eye that now is there thanks to the love that surrounds me. They’d be missing how I like to nuzzle up with the people who turned my world around and to whom I thank every day for their kindness. They’d be missing the most important thing about me. My body may be twisted and malformed. But my heart is as full and healthy and large as a heart can be. I am the most happy donkey in the world. Because I know what it is like to have had nothing to believe in and suddenly have everything in the world to hold dear. I am grateful for every breath I take and every single beat of my heart.”

 

 

 

From Chipper: “A lot of people probably don’t stop and consider what I have to be grateful for in life. But actually, I think I understand life better than a lot of people! People rush by my pen here as if they are always in a hurry. Well, let me say, that if you all wouldn’t be in such a rush, you might appreciate a lot more things in life. Simple things are usually the most important factors in our lives. Yet, humans, from what I see, always look for something dramatic. You need to stop looking for the screams and start listening to the whispers. Because life is really what is happening in the whispers. And your heart longingly tries to listen to those whispers if only you’d let it.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Toby: “Life is about playing. If we all could just go out and play together, we’d stop being so serious about everything. Sometimes my friend Cashew and I disagree on things. We can each get a little grumpy at times. But we know how to solve it. One of us will go get our ball and the other will run over and we’ll play together. We carry it together. We toss it to one another. And in the end, we forget why we were grumpy in the first place. Humans do not play enough. Come on! Forget your differences. Get a ball out and toss it around. Have fun. Lighten up. Move on. Believe me, it works.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Piper:  “I was born into this life without ever having seen a single thing, yet I know more about my environment than most. People have mistakenly felt sorry for me because I have no eyes. Please don’t feel sorry for me at all. Because I have the most magnificent view of life. I can climb and jump and play and chase toys. I can snuggle with my other cat friends. I can be impish when I want to be. And I can even climb higher than most the other cats and not be afraid of how I will get down. I may not have eyes. But I have a trust in life that many never find. I have to trust what I can never see.  And I have to believe that what I feel is real. And for that, I am extremely grateful.”

 

 

From Ginny: “I am grateful for my new friend Nell. When she first came to my barn, I liked her but I didn’t really know her yet. She was afraid of a lot of things. She had seen some really hard times. She is missing one eye, so I realized that I needed to help her to see life a little better. We became friends. I think I would tell humans that they should try this exercise. Try showing another human how life is beautiful through your own eyes. I think if everyone did that, the world would look completely different.”

 

 

 

From Daisy: “I am very happy to have friends. Early in the year, I lost my companion who happened to be a goat. Just because we were different didn’t mean we couldn’t respect one another and be friends. We actually really like one another. And when she died, I was very sad to lose her and once again be alone. I now have another friend who happens to be a sheep. She is a very different kind of sheep than I am and she may not live a long time because she has a problem. But, I am happy to be her friend for as long as I can. Friendship is something to never take for granted. I know I am grateful to my friends as they have helped brighten my life and find who I really am.”

 

 

 

 

From Noah: “To know the love of friends is by far the greatest gift I’ve ever been given. For most of my life, no one truly saw me for who I am or what I have to offer. I shut down because what else was there for me to do. But, then, someone took notice of me and saw something underneath all of the walls. They saw my heart and I knew I had been discovered. I got braver and braver and learned to walk into my own truth and light. And now, I want to help others find that same thing within them. I am grateful for every heart in any form who comes to share with me. That is why I’m here and what I want to do.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Luna: “I know that people think I can be a little pushy but actually that is just a game I like to play. I am very grateful for my human friends. This year I got sick and really didn’t feel well and they all came together and helped me. I now feel better thanks to them. But what I am most grateful for is how much they obviously care about me. I think life is a very special gift and we need to say thank you sometimes and be grateful for everything we have. Because life is an opportunity and we need to not waste that gift that is given to us.”

 

 

 

From Nell:

“I am most grateful to be alive. Every breath I take is a gift. I am grateful for my eyesight which I may not always have. I like to watch everything there is in the one eye I have left. The sunrise, sunset, moon and stars. The grass, the rainbow, the faces of my human friends. I take it all in and I savor it and I bank it. Because someday, if I lose my vision, I will always still have my memory. I wish humans would learn to appreciate the little everyday things more. If they did, they’d take care of them better.”

 

From Jessie:

Hi everyone, I’m Dawn’s dog Jessie. My mom is busily preparing for the next 40 days of messages coming from our home to yours. In case you don’t know about this, my mom asked me to tell you. It’s our tradition here at the farm on Thanksgiving to go around and say what we are most grateful for. Many years ago, someone asked Dawn to speak for the animals as well. I can tell you that it is very special. Check back here each day, starting tomorrow, for a message from one of our animals.

I just want to say one thing, and I made my mom write this down. I am grateful for her and for all that she does for me and all of the animals. She works hard and I am the one who has to calm her down at the end of the day. So, I know what I’m talking about. I help her of course with all of this. We really hope you enjoy this from all of us. It is from our hearts to yours through the end of the year.

It is our annual tradition and gift to all of you for the holiday season. Each day from Thanksgiving through New Years we will post a message and photo from one of the Spring Farm CARES animals. The animals will remind us of what it is they are most grateful for in life. Visit daily for a dose of inspiration.