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| Introduction: Why Are the First Five Years So Important? | |
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| Getting to Know Each Other | |
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| How Well Do I Need to Know My Spouse? | |
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| How Honest Do We Have to Be? | |
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| How Can I Get Used to Being Two Instead of One? | |
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| Should I Tell My Spouse About My Past? | |
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| How Can I Get My Spouse to Open Up? | |
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| How Can I Understand My Spouses Personality? | |
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| How Can I Adjust to My Spouse's Personality? | |
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| What Can I Do About My Spouses Irritating Habits? | |
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| Expectations | |
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| Why Isn't Marriage the Way I Thought It Would Be? | |
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| Are Other People's Marriages Like This? | |
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| Why Isn't My Wife the Person I Thought She Was? | |
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| Why Isn't My Husband the Person I Thought He Was? | |
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| Why Isn't My Wife More Like Mom? | |
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| Why Isn't My Husband More Like Dad? | |
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| Why Isn't My "Blended" Marriage Blending? | |
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| Did I Marry the Wrong Person? | |
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| How Can I Change My Spouse? | |
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| Do I Have to Settle for Less? | |
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| Roles | |
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| What Does It Mean to Be a Wife? | |
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| What Does It Mean to Be a Husband? | |
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| How Should We Divide Up the Chores? | |
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| Who Should Take Care of the Kids? | |
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| Who Should Earn the Money? | |
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| What Does It Mean to Be the Spiritual Leader? | |
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| What If My Spouse Won't Take the "Right" Role? | |
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| What Roles Should We Have in a "Blended" Family? | |
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| Money | |
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| Why Does My Spouse Spend So Much? | |
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| Do We Have to Have a Budget? | |
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| How Much Should We Spend? | |
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| How Much Should We Save? | |
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| How Much Should We Give? | |
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| How Can We Stay Out of Debt? | |
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| How Can We Get Out of Debt? | |
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| How Can We Cut Our Expenses? | |
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| How Can We Survive Unemployment? | |
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| Should We Buy a House? | |
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| What Investments Should We Make? | |
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| How Far Ahead Do We Need to Plan? | |
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| Sex | |
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| What About Birth Control? | |
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| How Often Is Normal? | |
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| What If We Don't Like the Same Things? | |
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| Are We Doing It Right? | |
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| What Does He Want from Me? | |
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| What Does She Want from Me? | |
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| Where Did Our Sex Life Go? | |
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| What If My Spouse Is Using Pornography? | |
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| How Can We Have Sex When Kids Are in the House? | |
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| How Can We Put Our Sexual Pasts Behind Us? | |
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| What If We Need Help? | |
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| Communication | |
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| Why Won't My Spouse Talk to Me? | |
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| Why Won't My Spouse Leave Me Alone? | |
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| Why Don't We Speak the Same Language? | |
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| Why Does My Spouse Keep Hurting My Feelings? | |
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| How Can We Make Time to Talk? | |
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| How Can We Talk About Feelings? | |
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| How Should We Talk About Sensitive Issues? | |
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| How Can I Start a Conversation? | |
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| How Can We Communicate Without Talking? | |
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| Resolving Conflict | |
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| Is It Okay to Fight? | |
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| How Do Other Couples Handle Conflict? | |
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| Why Does My Spouse Avoid Conflict? | |
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| Why Does My Spouse Overreact? | |
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| How Can We Work Out Disagreements? | |
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| How Can We Make Decisions Together? | |
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| How Can We Handle Racial and Cultural Differences? | |
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| How Should We Handle Friendships with Others? | |
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| When Should We Agree to Disagree? | |
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| What If We Have a Lot of Unresolved Conflicts? | |
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| What If an Argument Gets Out of Control? | |
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| Do I Have to Forgive My Spouse? | |
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| How Can I Get My Spouse to Forgive Me? | |
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| What If the Same Conflicts Keep Coming Up? | |
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| What If My Spouse Abuses Me? | |
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| Spiritual Issues | |
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| How Can Faith Keep Us Together? | |
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| What If We Don't Like the Same Church? | |
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| Do We Have to Pray Together? | |
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| What Does a Christ-centered Home Look Like? | |
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| How Can I Help My Spouse Grow Spiritually? | |
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| How Can We Serve God Together? | |
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| What If My Spouse Seems to Be Losing His or Her Faith? | |
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| What If My Spouse Isn't a Christian? | |
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| In-laws | |
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| What Do I Owe My In-laws? | |
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| How Should We Handle the Holidays? | |
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| How Can I Cut My Spouse's Apron Strings? | |
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| What If the In-laws Aren't Christians? | |
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| What If an In-law Tries to Run Our Lives? | |
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| What If an In-law Doesn't Accept Me? | |
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| Children | |
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| Do Children Really Change Everything? | |
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| When Should We Have Children, and How Many? | |
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| Is It Okay Not to Have Kids? | |
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| What If I Want Children, But My Spouse Doesn't? | |
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| Why Can't We Have Children? | |
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| How Can a Doctor Help Us Conceive? | |
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| What About Adoption? | |
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| How Will Pregnancy Affect Us? | |
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| What's Childbirth Really Like? | |
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| What Can We Do About Postpartum Depression? | |
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| What If Our Child Has Special Needs? | |
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| What If We Disagree over How to Raise the Kids? | |
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| How Can We Get a Break from the Kids? | |
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| How Can We Help Our Kids Grow Spiritually? | |
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| How Can We Make Sure Our Kids Succeed? | |
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| Should We Put Our Child in Day Care? | |
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| Sticking with It | |
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| Are We Falling Out of Love? | |
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| How Can We Keep Romance Alive? | |
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| How Can We Avoid Infidelity? | |
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| How Can We Keep from Drifting Apart? | |
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| How Can We Make It Through a Medical Crisis? | |
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| What If My Spouse Needs Psychological Help? | |
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| Is It Ever Too Late for a Marriage? | |
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| What About Marriage Counseling? | |
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| What Makes a Marriage Last? | |
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| Recommended Resources | |
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| Notes | |
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| Index | |