Family = Love. But what is love?

Miss 13 finally got to see her little brother and sister again! They came over for the afternoon with their new parents.  They had an absolutely fabulous time together - and I may have not lost an octave of hearing.

They tumbled and screamed, giggled and argued.  But they were brother and sisters - together.  It made my heart hurt a little - but also mended one of those little holes those kids have.  They have each other back.

Miss 7 (she was Miss 6 last time I blogged about her) and Mr 6 have two fabulous new parents whom they clearly adore.  Miss 13 accepted them as her parents much quicker and with much more ease than I anticipated.  She did express a little concern at hearing the words "son" and "daughter" used in reference to her baby brother and sister.  But she didn't argue the point.

So why do I question love?  Because in the eyes of these children, you show love by hurting. With words.  Miss 13 told Mr 6 the park was dumb and boring - which in turn made him resent his trip to the park.  She told Miss 7 that she had fatty arms (My harsh one word response quickly had her repeat as "your boney arms".

I didn't hear so much of it back from the little ones...and Miss 13 went and had a good cry when she was pulled up on her behaviours.  She did listen though when I told her "We don't show love by hurting people...it doesn't matter how often that has been taught to you, it's not okay. We show love by saying and doing nice things"  It made her cry even more - but she came through the other end and  showed positive love.

Time came for the little ones to leave - and it was heart wrenching to see them pulled away and buckled into a car when they so clearly didn't want to leave.  But promises were made - that now that all of the three children were with their permanent new families - that they would be reunited as a family more often.  We now need to reinforce that by following through.  Miss 13 has planned her one year living with us party for 28 March, so that her little ones can come and help celebrate (though she often tells me there is nothing to celebrate...I'll go with that!)