I need a hug

My two year old is always saying this to me. "Hug, hug, I need a hug" so after a long day (at 11:00 a.m), after struggling through catechesis with two year old and five year olds not sitting too still, kids taking their sweet time getting ready for the day, my eldest announcing the organ doesn't work, and finally my two year old trying to shut the washer door on my head, I uttered....."I need a hug!". Ugh. That is the mantra of the day. The older kids find this quite charming. "Let me give you a hug mom".

I am not a huggy person by nature as my parents were not huggers (must be the old children of immigrant Scandinavians background effect - who knows?) so I am not a huge hugger myself. Perhaps I need to work on that. The week has been......long.

Last night I needed a hug as well. Dh was having mental wrestling or something and was not able to come to church or rather I told him if he needed to be alone that we would survive. I got to church and saw that "Abide with me" was on the menu and of course was thinking thoughts of looking forward to that etc. Well........the two year old strikes again. Dad is not here so instead of "Abide with me" I think we will scream instead. Senseless screaming. I hog tied him in the lounge and hoped with the door shut it couldn't be heard. Ingrid had been tossed to Erik as I grabbed the small child and ran out the back. He was mad about something and who knows what it was. Perhaps he was contemplating shutting my head in an appliance. Then, over the screaming, came the sound of the congregation and pastors singing....."Abide with me". Foiled again.

Earlier this week I discovered that our refrigerator had suffered a slow death. There is no fixing it without spending the equivalent of another fridge so for now we have the 'great outdoorerator" and the stair master to the old fridge in the basement which being old.....still works. The broken fridge was around five or six years old. Throw away society. We also have a portable wagonerator which dh came up with to tote the fridge items around?

So maybe I really need a bottle (like the two year old). Whichever it is, I am trying to keep my humor. Oh.....it did occur to me as well, that poor me has to endure screaming toddlers, fighting children, husband who has some work stuff he is dealing with causing stress, all the school stuff, house cleaning, emotional teenagers, schedules, bills that are hard pressed to get paid, blah, blah, blah and still hold it together. Perhaps that is really why I need a hug. God's peace y'all.