Mario

So I made the mistake of telling someone the other day that Mario had been better lately. He seemed calmer, was having fewer fits, and just behaving better. Let me tell you it was the calm before the storm....within the last 24 hours or so the boy has blown up 3 or 4 times. The latest of those happened just over an hour ago at morning devo. Karen had taken Katty's chair away for tipping in it so 3 minutes later when Mario started tipping his she asked Marvin to remove Mario's seat from the circle. That did it...Mario went ape. He ran around yelling and knocking everything over he could. When Karen finally got him he bite her arm...thats right we are talking hard enough to leave a bite mark! She then had to restrain him for awhile to get him to start calming down. Knowing that dealing with him (or Cindy for that matter) can be draining I offered to take him for awhile. Karen passed him off to me so that she could go help the other kids get dressed.

As I pulled him down on the floor with me I told him we were going to pray....pray for a less angry Mario, pray that God would help him find an outlet for his temper, pray that he could learn to listen. He didn't so much want to at first so I started. I pulled him into my arms and started to pray out loud over him. Before too long his eyes went shut, his hands came together, and his posture became one of prayer. Marvin who had been listening to music just a few feet away immediately turned it off and bowed his head where he was sitting. Seconds after that Daniela and then Fitto made their way out of their bedroom and over to where we were. Without saying a word Daniela wrapped her arms around my neck and Fitto knelt beside me on the floor...both with their heads bowed...both muttering prayers of their own. I didn't ask them to join us. Heck I didn't even know they had come out of their rooms until they were beside me. It was one of those moments that I wished someone would come along and take a picture of so that I could keep it forever.

In the past when Mario has had a bad fit I've asked the kids to pray for him. More often than not they stop what they are doing, drop their hands, and beg the Lord to "help Mario be good." It is a habit I want them to form now while they are young...but more than that there are moments when I so helplessly just don't know what else to do for Mario besides create his own personal prayer circle. Today spoke volumes to how far our kids are coming. God is placing within each of them such a tender God fearing spirit. I'm just one of the lucky ones that gets to be here to watch it develop.

How often do we walk by a situation instead of joining in prayer. Sure maybe the scene we pass isn't a group of people circled up crying out to our Father...but I know I personally have walked by far too many groups that could have used my added prayers and yet I walk on by without even thinking to utter one. Today was a good reminder that more than just encouraging our kids to constantly have a prayerful attitude that I need to work on my own as well.

Continue to pray that Mario learns to deal with his anger in healthy ways.