I saw this very cute picture of the elephants and  straightaway I saved it to post as a part of my Chirpings! Even elephants like to give and receive flowers! I have read that elephants have an excellent memory skill.

They remember things very well. In our lives, what seems to us to be a small or simple gesture, or a little chat, or a kind  word, or a smile,or a caring act, or a listening ear, can live on in the hearts and minds of the receiver for a long time to encourage them and bring warmth ❤️

Hello to everyone reading this blog . All the below posts have been from Chirpings that I have written over the years. I decided to post some of them here. From now on, I will be writing new posts that I haven’t written before. I will keep “ chirping as a sparrow” here!

The sounds of early morning seem to differ every day! Shortly after I got up one morning last week, all I could hear was the very, very loud thumping down of torrential rain outside, accompanied by the "crashing" and banging" of the weekly rubbish truck van entering the court in which we live. It really was a huge amount of noise!! Then another morning, lots of magpies and other birds decided to unite together and form a "bird choir" to sing early morning tunes to us. The best sound of all is a "hello" and a "how are you going today?" loving enquiry from a family member or friend ANY time of the day. On other times, just being with other people speaks so much louder than an uttered word. May we enjoy all the sounds that we encounter through this coming week!!

Vacuums are very, very noisy machines!! They seem to make so much noise, and then when they are turned off everything seems extra extra quiet! It is good every day to have quiet times and noisy times all mixed together. May we take time to stop and reflect on all our blessings and be thankful for the love we receive and the love we are wonderfully able to give out.

And in the midst of the "noisiest" of our lives, take pleasure in all the delights that it can hold and know strength in the cares and challenges that these times can hold too.

We have some new "guests" to where we live. Their names are: Zachariah the zucchini, Beatrice the bean, and Taryn the tomato! Dad been growing the zucchinis and beans from seeds, and they have all of a sudden over this last week literally popped their heads up from out of the soil in the containers where Dad planted them, and shouted "Hello World!" . Dad is transplanting them now to our backyard garden, and has already planted some tomato plants. Dad has bought the Apollo and Mighty Red varieties of tommies so far this year. We now look forward to eating the vegies that will appear in a few months time!!

Springtime is a great time to plant seeds and seedlings, and watch them grow. But…anytime is a great time to show love and care to another. Zucchinis literally "explode" in size overnight, and for us to bring  a little bit of joy and support to someone really makes them "flourish" and keep blooming through life too!

The Melbourne Cup is being run this week. It is the "race that stops a nation" for 3 minutes! People all around the country (and sometimes Aussies around the world!) stop what they are doing to watch the tv, or listen to the radio, or actually watch it live at Flemington to see which horse wins and if the horse just "wins by nose" or by a greater distance. Perhaps the bigger the nose, the better!

May we
too each day take time to "stop" and think about all our many daily blessings. May we be thankful and encouraged and joyful…all three at the same time! What a great "trifecta"!! Horses enjoy a simple meal of an apple; may we take much delight in "everyday" blessings too! And just as many race watchers barrack for their favourite horse, may we too seek to "cheer on" our loved family and friends and all who we may come into contact with day-by-day.!!

Geraniums are such lovely flowers! They just grow wild in our garden, and are nicer and more beautifuller than any flower you could ever buy from a shop. They just seem to yell out to me "home!" From when I was very little, geraniums have always played a special role in my life. When I was very little, Mum and I would go out to the garden every few days and pick a little posy of these flowers, wrap them in foil (it was always foil! Such a homely comforting touch when I remember it.) And then Mum would bundle me into the pram/stroller and off we would go on our way as she pushed me around the different streets and up and down hills to visit my grandma/grandpa (Mum's parents) who lived not too far away, with me proudly holding my little posy of geraniums tightly in my little hands to give to Mama and Papa. They may not have looked as good when we reached our destination as when they started off from our house, but they would always be delightedly received and placed in a vase, until they needed to be "disposed off" a few days later…and then we could
again pick another posy for them! We went to visit my grandparents every day so we certainly kept their house full of these little posies! In fact, I think that originally when Mum and Dad bought our house, they planted the geraniums from an off cut from my Papa's own geranium bush, so really the flowers were returning to him!

Geraniums give out a lovely fragrance too. The scent remains on your hand when you are carrying them, and also fills the room where they are placed. When I think of geraniums, I think of homely, warm, comforting things…of family memories…of joy in the little things…just a tinge of sadness because I miss my grandma and grandpa…of how love and kindness and care leaves a beautiful
fragrance on the hands of both the giver and the receiver. May we treasure our family and friends, treasure the little homely things of life, and treasure all the fragrance that our loved ones add and give out to us in our lives!

It is just a week before Christmas Day! I have been thinking about the first Christmas Day night. I don't think that it would have been a very quiet night. I can hear the angels singing praises the most melodiously than could ever be sung. I can hear the shepherds talking to each other excitedly about what they had heard and seen. I can hear all the animals around the manger using all their animal mouths to cheer and praise and celebrate too. And I can hear Mary and Joseph tenderly and softly talking to our loving Lord Jesus. May this Christmas time be a very special time for you. I send

loving thoughts to each of you, and please know that you are all extra very, very special to me and to our loving Lord, whose birth we all celebrate!!

Many students are going back to school this week. It is a fun time filled with a sense of "newness" about it. New books, new subjects, new classmates, new teachers, new things to learn. Some students are starting school for the first time, or other ones are starting Secondary school, whilst there are also students who will now be attending a new school because their families have moved houses since last year. But every person is always a student in everyday life. Each day we learn something new, or see or read or hear something new that we never knew before or makes us think or surprises us or

encourages us. May we all continue to enjoy learning new things each day, and take delight in the little and big things of life!

I was thinking the other day about cheese slices. Every day, there must be literally thousands of cheese slices eaten by people around Australia, whether it is in sandwiches or in a salad, or used in recipes or in a hamburger or on dry biscuits or perhaps grilled on toast ! Cheese slices usually all look the same,although when you taste them they can sometimes have quite different flavours.

We are not like cheese slices, because everyone looks uniquely different and are uniquely special. We all have different likes and interests, things we prefer to do, are good at doing some things and not so good at doing other things. We are all different in many ways. But at the same time, we are all the same! We all laugh, cry, smile, get tired, feel happy, and have times of sadness. And we all want to have people who love us and whom we love. It is good to be different…it is good to be the same ...it is good to be uniquely you whom no-one else could take your important place in this world ❤️

I heard the other day someone mentioning about our "Fallsum weather". I was wondering what they meant by that? Then I realized that it referred to a mixture of Fall (American version of Autumn) and Summer weather!! It was said when we were experiencing all that very warm weather last week, but it really was officially Autumn/Fall season time. The word now makes sense! Our days and lives too

are made up of a mixture of times when we are happy, sad, tired, excited, fearful, and glad. Through it all, we are always encouraged by the love , care and support of our family and friends. Love is like air, it is a part of each and every season, and it is very great to know that we are loved and to love each other !!

Good Friday and Easter Sunday is coming up this week. I was thinking the other day about how many, many Easter hymns Dad would have played on the piano and Mum would have sung over the years!! Before Jesus and the disciples went to Gethsemane they sang a hymn. And I am sure that there would have been so very, very much singing on that first Easter Sunday morning when there was the hugely joyful occasion that our Lord had risen!! I think that the women who first saw Him would have had hearts and voices exploding into songs of praise!! And when Jesus appeared to the disciples in the room after he had risen, I like to imagine the whole room would have been filled with heartfelt rejoicing in song! And what a scene to imagine to think of the angels in Heaven looking on

and singing so wonderfully praises that "He has risen!!" We may not be able to always sing out loud, but our heart can always rejoice in "inner singing  " of songs at Easter and every day!! Christ has died! Christ has risen! Christ will come again! Rejoice!