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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 | |