Authenticity and Kid's Art

Good morning!

I do have a playroom update for you but first, I need to be a little bit real.

“The given place in which I grew up issued a script that spelled out a life lived near family, in a safe neighborhood where you had a fence and cute curtains, and where life wasn’t too hard, especially if you loved Jesus.” ~Jennie Allen, Anything

You see, I haven’t posted anything on Instagram for four days because none of it “felt” right. I know this is absolutely ridiculous and so strange but I wanted to tell you what happened and I didn’t because I couldn’t find the words and again, something just didn’t feel right.

Then I read this article about authenticity so I felt like I needed to be completely open and honest with you. You are always so supportive and you need to know because I know you will pray, too.

Sunday, Kuy and I had a wreck.

And y’all, it wrecked me.

Physically, we are all fine.

But emotionally, it took me a full twenty-four hours to process what happened.

It was in those moments following that God completely met me there. You must know, I am NOT a crier. My husband cries more than me, seriously.

And it was this one incident…it unleashed something. It broke me down to the point of uncontrollable sobs because God is so good.

All the time.

He is so big and we forget that He can handle all these tiny details. Because I know, our wreck was not the worst thing that happened on Sunday and it wasn’t even a tiny inkling of all that God can handle.

Around the world, there are unimaginable things taking place, but this incident for me, brought me to that face down position because the ONLY thing I could do was lean on Him.

I don’t know what depression feels like but I know that Monday afternoon I felt pretty close. And He.met.me.there.

And brought Joy back to me.

So to just post about my kid’s art felt silly. It felt unimportant.

But I see the authenticity in this.

This is their art. This is our time. This is our little corner of the internet where we share how our God continues to wreck us.

And if you haven’t left us yet, here are a ton of pictures of our snow day paintings and our authentic playroom artwork.

This little project truly could not have been any easier. I used art from Kuy’s preschool class last year, as well as art we painted during our “snow day” here in the South. (My little town did not get a single drop of precipitation but the governor had already called a state of emergency and since we were already out of school, it was the most perfect day!)

After school that day, knowing we wouldn’t have school the next day, we ran by the store and grabbed some watercolors for $1. One of the best purchases ever, I do believe.

And they both loved it. Cray used more finger paints and Kuy used more watercolor but it was fun and easy and carefree. It was authentic. It was real and there was nothing the paintbrush could hide.

We taped newspaper down but you could easily use cardboard or even nothing at all because washable paints wipe right off!

Plus, when you paint your dining room table like I do, it’s not like you can mess it up.

These watercolors have only made it one frame now, though! I think my goal is to take them to Staples and have them blown up! In the meantime, I’m absolutely convinced that I could hang their artwork and other projects all over the house.

It just fits.