If you’re reading this blog, you probably know us. Or maybe you don’t. Either way, it might be good for you to know that something we strive to maintain in the Dodd household is our togetherness.Meaning, when we do things, as much as we’re able, we do them as a family. Matt and I (Cameron), when we’re able, do things as a couple.We find that the more time we spend together, be it as a couple or as a family, the more time we
want to spend together. And vice versa.On any given day of the week, you can probably see this in our household.We do school as a family at home. I teach, the bigger kids learn, the little kids learn to
behave while the older kids learn, and Matt teaches science… occasionally. I mean, sure, most of the time, Matt teaching science takes the form of him exploring the insects in our backyard with the kids or having them jump off chairs and do twists in the air in the living room, but still.
When Matt goes to a men’s conference for a few days once a year, we all go together. Not to the conference, of course. No, we rent a house near the conference and every day we drop Daddy off in the morning and then I go pick him up at night. The cost is worth the benefit to us.Just the other day, when we decided to give Mary baby food for her second time, we were all there together as a family. And we took pictures!
She didn’t quite get it at first. It took a few tries…or ten. But, hey! She got it! Matt was doing the
Jaws theme song for every bite (which now represents nothing but happiness to her…we may have to correct that one day) and the kids-all of them-were literally cheering for her.
Some people might call us strange.But we all just really love each other and enjoy being together. Obviously, this isn’t the only right way to be as a family.And this doesn’t mean Matt and I are never apart, or that we never have someone watch our kids so we can go on a date. We do!But it is something that is important to us. And it is something that we are going to strive to maintain once we get to Papua New Guinea.
It might look a bit different.Matt might need to go and do surveys with Zach for a few days at a time, or go and build a house for six weeks (still figuring that one out), but those are small sacrifices we are glad to make in order for the gospel to go to a people group who have never heard it before.When he’s gone, I can tell you we will miss him.But if there is something more important to us than being together as a family, it is preaching the good news of Jesus Christ to any who will listen.It is going to where there is no preacher and being one.It is writing down a language for those with none written down and translating the Bible into that language so that they can read it!That is who we are. That is what we are about.
When Matt goes to a men’s conference for a few days once a year, we all go together. Not to the conference, of course. No, we rent a house near the conference and every day we drop Daddy off in the morning and then I go pick him up at night. The cost is worth the benefit to us.Just the other day, when we decided to give Mary baby food for her second time, we were all there together as a family. And we took pictures!
She didn’t quite get it at first. It took a few tries…or ten. But, hey! She got it! Matt was doing the Jaws theme song for every bite (which now represents nothing but happiness to her…we may have to correct that one day) and the kids-all of them-were literally cheering for her. 
Some people might call us strange.But we all just really love each other and enjoy being together. Obviously, this isn’t the only right way to be as a family.And this doesn’t mean Matt and I are never apart, or that we never have someone watch our kids so we can go on a date. We do!But it is something that is important to us. And it is something that we are going to strive to maintain once we get to Papua New Guinea.
It might look a bit different.Matt might need to go and do surveys with Zach for a few days at a time, or go and build a house for six weeks (still figuring that one out), but those are small sacrifices we are glad to make in order for the gospel to go to a people group who have never heard it before.When he’s gone, I can tell you we will miss him.But if there is something more important to us than being together as a family, it is preaching the good news of Jesus Christ to any who will listen.It is going to where there is no preacher and being one.It is writing down a language for those with none written down and translating the Bible into that language so that they can read it!That is who we are. That is what we are about.