* My first small success involves infants , my grandchildren. I miss connecting with infants, not simply with their hearts but with their spirit as well. It was a gift to connect with a newborn again, to know that they know, that I know, that they are not idiots but vibrant souls who are in communion with God.
I was shocked the first time that I experienced the love of God through an infant. Years ago, I had been struggling to centre myself in the Lord’s presence while I nursed one of my babies. I was tired, actually I was exhausted and felt completely depleted when an unexpected flow of heat, the fire of God’s love flowed into me. Joy bubbled up, I started smiling, felt invigorated, my head cleared and all the tension left my muscles. I heard these words, silently within me.”
“I move how I want, when I want. You cannot control my Spirit or manipulate me because I am the Lord of your spirituality, not you. And at this moment, I choose to move through the most open soul here, your infant. She is my daughter, made in my image. Relax. Humble yourself and let me heal you through your baby.
* My second small success is all about baths. Although I wrote a post about this on mother of nine9, I simply must bring up my greatest success of last couple of weeks. My new name is the Bathing Grandma because I know how to bathe newborns without making them cry. It is my small success, my claim to fame.
My first rule is not to bathe the baby like the nurse showed you in the hospital. My son tried that, wiping the baby from back to front just like the nurse had and the baby cried just like he cried in the hospital. Nurses are wonderful people but they have a lot to do and are efficient. Babies do not like efficient baths.
My daughter-in-law asked me to do the next bath and she was thrilled that her baby did not cry. She ran downstairs to tell my son all the things I had done differently than the hospital. If you want all my tricks you will have to read them at Reflections from the Bathing Grandma
joy of nine9 
WOW the miscarriage icons are so so relevant to an artist friend of mine who has had 3 miscarriages and feels very called to do pro-life art. Thanks for sharing that, Melanie! Also, I agree about bathing babies. When my husband and I gave our oldest daughter her first bath, she screamed, and we realized it’s because we POURED WATER over her head instead of using a washcloth to gently massage her body and hair. Since then we haven’t had issues with bathing infants!
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I am so pleased discovering these icons; I hope they inspire her. I actually have othe rpaintings as well I will post later this week and yes the trick is “easy does it” with infants
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