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November 19, 2020Cameron and Jodi Homeyer were inspired to become certified Natural Family Planning teachers five years ago so they could share with others the amazing gift NFP has been in their spiritual journey and their marriage.
People often think Natural Family Planning is only about avoiding pregnancy.
“It’s not just focused on the physical aspects of your marriage, but on the whole gamut of what it means to be a married couple,” Cameron said. “Children are great fruits of marriage, but there is so much more.”
Natural Family Planning was a big part of marriage preparation for the couple, who met as freshmen at Texas A&M University and were married shortly after graduation. When they moved to Norman in 2014, they had been married for nearly 10 years and had two children.
Cameron is an associate professor of meteorology at the University of Oklahoma, and Jodi is the director of religious education at Saint Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church in Norman.
They wanted to educate and support couples in family planning to help spouses respect God's design for their life and marriage, so they became certified teachers of the Sympto-Thermal Method associated with the Couple to Couple League. It is one of the NFP methods offered by the archdiocese.
“It’s scientifically based, using a woman’s fertility signs for achieving or avoiding pregnancy. We’ve had success at both,” Jodi Homeyer said.
Today, the couple has four children, ages 10, 8, 5 and 1.
Each time the couple prayed and discerned and felt God calling them “to be open to another little soul,” she said.
When they married, the couple knew they wanted children, but not how many and when.
“This plan allowed us to continually ask the question. Natural Family Planning is a continual act of discernment each month for both spouses,” Cameron Homeyer said. “That constant communication is a part of making the decisions about God’s will in your life. A positive byproduct is good communication in all aspects of marriage.”
As a scientist, Cameron appreciates the evidence that NFP is 99 percent effective if practiced correctly. It has helped many couples overcome fertility issues, he said.
“It’s a very powerful tool to have in your married life,” Cameron said. “And, a powerful tool for identifying health problems that you wouldn’t see. It’s increasingly popular even outside the Church.”
Couples who want to learn about the Sympto-Thermal Method can find the Homeyers through the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City website (archokc.org/nfp), a referral from their priest or an introduction class at their parish.
The three-part instruction can be taken in private lessons or small group classes. It also is available online with the Homeyers serving as mentors, an option that has been helpful during the pandemic.
“People are sometimes uncomfortable talking about this,” Jodi Homeyer said. “Our goal is they start to see the beauty in this as not just a tool physically, but also spiritually.”
K.S. McNutt is a freelance writer for the Sooner Catholic.
