One of our kids’ favourite thing to do it to simply cover the table in white paper and have at ‘er with a little paint.

I’ll admit. Every time this starts up, the boring adult me gets a little whiny about it. I envision paint trekked through the house, fights with paint brushes, the messy cleanup later. I mean, boring me has a point.

But I really wish this wasn’t my first reaction. I wish my default was excitement, but I’m working on that. I’m learning that what usually ends up happening when you trust your kids and the mess is the stuff of true creativity.

The stuff of life.

Today, the kids found the finger paints in the art basket and asked to use them. I actually meant to hide those paints until later, when I was ready for the paint to be let out. But alas, I followed them and their idea to paint on the table.

We taped white craft paper over the whole table and I gave explicit instructions to help me clean up after. They were eager, so there was no problem getting them to comply.

My seven-year-old proudly stated, about five minutes in, that he was painting ‘Jellybean Row,’ which is how the colourful attached houses in downtown St. John’s are usually described. Our rental house on Victoria St. is one of those. I could see he was identifying with St. John’s and our temporary home.

My husband sat down and took up a paint brush. I grabbed a paint brush.

The seven-year-old shouted, “Let’s blast it with colour!”

In the end, there was a lot of crazy-energy painting. Finger painting was involved. Paint on hands, faces, bellies. There was definitely a blast of colour and it was awesome.

One of the biggest lessons I’m learning from my kids is that they are so much more creative and fun than me. I’m learning from them at all times.

God, I love them.

The final painting product is now hanging in their room in this rental house of ours.

For now…it’s where we belong.