The Silas Chronicles ...and mommy's failure

I understand I will laugh about this later.

Yesterday I was rudely awakened from a much-needed nap when Brandon informed me that Silas had been painting in the guest room and "he made a big mess."

Uh-oh.

Si had earlier asked me if he could paint and I told him no.  

a-hem.  

Obedience has been a problem lately...a BIG PROBLEM.  

ugh.  

Si had heaped paint onto his canvas and it apparently was about to spill over the side so B advised him to get it to the trash ASAP.  TOO LATE.

I immediately surveyed the obvious damage.

A trail of paint connected the guest room and the hallway bathroom. (Thank God we have tile throughout much of the house...of course the guest room is carpeted in what once was a nice, soft taupe color.)  But, it was worse in the guest room.  A gi-normous (ok, so I know that's not a real word but it captures my thought) mass of paint in all the darkest colors imagined was now the new focal point of my meticulously decorated guest room.  On a positive note, Si chose deep scarlet, rich blue and black as his color palette...and the guest room is adorned in a patriotic theme, so... well... no, it still isn't good.  Dozens of smaller offensive dense drips of deep color polka-dotted the surrounding carpet.  Upon following the trail the other direction into the bathroom, it was nearly as bad a scene.
Apparently he wanted to throw it away in the bathroom trash and not the can in the guest room which is conveniently located only 2 feet from the original site of the art project.  As the masterpiece was thrown in the trash, the paint cascaded down the bathroom cabinet and onto the lid of the toilet streaming down the side and onto the shower curtain.

I'm sure some paint ended up in the trash.

Phew!

You can imagine the cleaning job I had ahead of me.  I was so angry that I had to call Jamie to come home and deal with Si for disobeying the 53,786th time this week.

Si told me last night that he prayed and asked God to "come down and clean the carpet just like it was new." This morning, I lifted the damp towels off the carpet and it appears spotless---even the gargantuan spot I was certain would never come up.  I tell you, that's a miracle.  I was certain we would have to re-carpet the room.

I have to admit, I did not respond well.  I am reading Sally's book about joy.  It's not working.  I wish I could just be naturally joyful.  But I must CHOOSE it.  I failed my first test.

Maybe I will pass the next.