God, Grant me the..what?

Funny story, a few years ago I bought my sister this beautiful bracelet for Christmas. It had this verse on it that I had always been fond of. It had pretty beads with little charms throughout that read the Serenity Prayer. When I told my mom what I had bought for my sister, she asked me if I was trying to tell her something. I was so confused. That was the day that I learned that the Serenity Prayer was a prayer of sobriety used at Alcoholics Anonymous. I had no clue.

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference."

The past few days have been difficult for me and this prayer has come to mind several times. I am home alone with the kids right now while Peter is in Virginia with his parents. My patience has been tested and I find myself stopping for deep breaths quite often. A little voice in my head then says "Please God, give me...", or "Please God, grant me...". The funny part is that I stop short of completing that sentence. Is it because I need so much help right now that one word or thought could not possibly be enough? Don't get me wrong, my problems are not huge..nothing earth shattering but enough to bring me to my knees in prayer so here goes:

God, grant me the patience to not yell or get mad when Pierson poops his pants. Help me help him instead of threatening him with some kind of punishment. Help me get over it and move on instead of feeling mad at him. Help me remember that he needs me to show him love and not disappointment.

God, grant me the calm to sit quietly while Peter tells me what is happening in Virginia. Allow me to sit and listen and not interrupt with the millions of questions running through my head. Help me not to get frustrated with his parents for not knowing to ask the right questions.

God, grant me the willpower to stop eating crap and start exercising again. Nuff said on that one.

God, give me the energy to keep up with my house. Right now it looks like it threw up on itself. Please give me the strength to go home today and find my closet behind the piles of clothes. Give me the wisdom to remember how to use a hanger. Help me teach my children that it's not normal to live like this and that we are better than this.

God, please help me use my time more wisely.

God, please grant me the courage to say NO when I am not comfortable doing something and have faith in myself to trust my instinct and not second guess my decisions.

God, please help me remember that these are the formative years in my children's lives and they will remember what I do, how I do it, what I say and how I say it. They are listening even when I don't think they are.

God, help me lose the guilt that I'm not a good enough mom. My kids think I am a good mom..I should listen to them more.

God, please help me lose the guilt that I am not a good enough friend, daughter and sister.

God, please remind me daily that I am only one person.

I am afraid that I could go on like this all day and while this was quite therapeutic, I think I will end there for now. I feel like I should mention that God must have bigger fish to fry today because while I typed this, I ate a handful of jelly beans, told a friend that I wasn't sure if I would be at exercise class tomorrow, wondered if Pierson pooped for the villagers today (you know.."It takes a village..." he's at daycare today) and checked Facebook two times (it would have been more but apparently the site is down)..Oh..and did I mention... I'm at work?

I think I have a lot to work on.