I’m fully aware how ironic it is that I’m writing about this as my morning in the office hits record levels of chaos, but I still wanted to share this hand drawn lettering with you. I shared this with my friend Melissa from church, a fellow boy mom with her hands full, on a Sunday recently when I really thought she needed to see it.

This was just a quick little bit of hand drawn lettering I jotted in my sketchbook last fall. Patience, grace and strength have become a little bit of my mantra since early last year. I pray for it almost every day, because I’m pretty sure patience, grace, and strength are the three things any mom needs most to get through to the other side of the day with any little shred of sanity intact.

When the office is at its craziest – Phil needing a snack, and then help with typing on the laptop, then setting up a new document to type in (p.s. he’s learning how to use the computer…), then trying to think about his next activity… Joy being so small and needing so much attention… the sleep being almost non-existent these days… the work needing to get done at the high level of quality and speed that I’m committed to… That’s usually when a) my computer decides that’s the best time to be uncooperative and b) I ask for some more patience, grace, and strength.

Patience, grace, and strength. You should ask for it, too. Because I promise you, it helps.

I added another word to that short little prayer this year:

Click to watch this word get created!

I’ve been thinking a lot about blessings lately, and how I want very, very badly to be a blessing to everyone in my life. I want to be a blessing to my husband, I want to be a blessing to my kids, I want to be a blessing to everyone in my life.

I want to give as much as I can, I want to be as there for others as I can, I want to be a blessing in the best ways I know how.

I need that patience, grace, and strength to continue to do that…

So I’m gonna keep praying for that as well.