Marriage isn't easy. That's why thousands of couples have asked the counselors at Focus on the Family for insight into money, communication, and a host of other issues. Their collective wisdom is now available in one handy reference guide. The Complete Guide to the First Five Years of Marriage was designed to help spouses build a strong foundation for a lifetime partnership filled with genuine love and joy.

Introduction: Why Are the First Five Years So Important?	p. 1
Getting to Know Each Other
How Well Do I Need to Know My Spouse?	p. 9
How Honest Do We Have to Be?	p. 14
How Can I Get Used to Being Two Instead of One?	p. 17
Should I Tell My Spouse About My Past?	p. 21
How Can I Get My Spouse to Open Up?	p. 24
How Can I Understand My Spouses Personality?	p. 27
How Can I Adjust to My Spouse's Personality?	p. 31
What Can I Do About My Spouses Irritating Habits?	p. 34
Expectations
Why Isn't Marriage the Way I Thought It Would Be?	p. 39
Are Other People's Marriages Like This?	p. 42
Why Isn't My Wife the Person I Thought She Was?	p. 45
Why Isn't My Husband the Person I Thought He Was?	p. 48
Why Isn't My Wife More Like Mom?	p. 51
Why Isn't My Husband More Like Dad?	p. 54
Why Isn't My "Blended" Marriage Blending?	p. 57
Did I Marry the Wrong Person?	p. 60
How Can I Change My Spouse?	p. 63
Do I Have to Settle for Less?	p. 66
Roles
What Does It Mean to Be a Wife?	p. 73
What Does It Mean to Be a Husband?	p. 77
How Should We Divide Up the Chores?	p. 80
Who Should Take Care of the Kids?	p. 83
Who Should Earn the Money?	p. 87
What Does It Mean to Be the Spiritual Leader?	p. 92
What If My Spouse Won't Take the "Right" Role?	p. 96
What Roles Should We Have in a "Blended" Family?	p. 100
Money
Why Does My Spouse Spend So Much?	p. 107
Do We Have to Have a Budget?	p. 111
How Much Should We Spend?	p. 114
How Much Should We Save?	p. 117
How Much Should We Give?	p. 120
How Can We Stay Out of Debt?	p. 123
How Can We Get Out of Debt?	p. 127
How Can We Cut Our Expenses?	p. 131
How Can We Survive Unemployment?	p. 136
Should We Buy a House?	p. 140
What Investments Should We Make?	p. 146
How Far Ahead Do We Need to Plan?	p. 149
Sex
What About Birth Control?	p. 155
How Often Is Normal?	p. 158
What If We Don't Like the Same Things?	p. 161
Are We Doing It Right?	p. 164
What Does He Want from Me?	p. 168
What Does She Want from Me?	p. 171
Where Did Our Sex Life Go?	p. 174
What If My Spouse Is Using Pornography?	p. 178
How Can We Have Sex When Kids Are in the House?	p. 181
How Can We Put Our Sexual Pasts Behind Us?	p. 184
What If We Need Help?	p. 187
Communication
Why Won't My Spouse Talk to Me?	p. 193
Why Won't My Spouse Leave Me Alone?	p. 196
Why Don't We Speak the Same Language?	p. 199
Why Does My Spouse Keep Hurting My Feelings?	p. 202
How Can We Make Time to Talk?	p. 206
How Can We Talk About Feelings?	p. 209
How Should We Talk About Sensitive Issues?	p. 212
How Can I Start a Conversation?	p. 216
How Can We Communicate Without Talking?	p. 219
Resolving Conflict
Is It Okay to Fight?	p. 225
How Do Other Couples Handle Conflict?	p. 229
Why Does My Spouse Avoid Conflict?	p. 233
Why Does My Spouse Overreact?	p. 236
How Can We Work Out Disagreements?	p. 239
How Can We Make Decisions Together?	p. 244
How Can We Handle Racial and Cultural Differences?	p. 247
How Should We Handle Friendships with Others?	p. 252
When Should We Agree to Disagree?	p. 255
What If We Have a Lot of Unresolved Conflicts?	p. 258
What If an Argument Gets Out of Control?	p. 260
Do I Have to Forgive My Spouse?	p. 263
How Can I Get My Spouse to Forgive Me?	p. 266
What If the Same Conflicts Keep Coming Up?	p. 270
What If My Spouse Abuses Me?	p. 273
Spiritual Issues
How Can Faith Keep Us Together?	p. 279
What If We Don't Like the Same Church?	p. 282
Do We Have to Pray Together?	p. 285
What Does a Christ-centered Home Look Like?	p. 288
How Can I Help My Spouse Grow Spiritually?	p. 292
How Can We Serve God Together?	p. 296
What If My Spouse Seems to Be Losing His or Her Faith?	p. 299
What If My Spouse Isn't a Christian?	p. 304
In-laws
What Do I Owe My In-laws?	p. 309
How Should We Handle the Holidays?	p. 312
How Can I Cut My Spouse's Apron Strings?	p. 315
What If the In-laws Aren't Christians?	p. 320
What If an In-law Tries to Run Our Lives?	p. 323
What If an In-law Doesn't Accept Me?	p. 326
Children
Do Children Really Change Everything?	p. 331
When Should We Have Children, and How Many?	p. 334
Is It Okay Not to Have Kids?	p. 338
What If I Want Children, But My Spouse Doesn't?	p. 342
Why Can't We Have Children?	p. 345
How Can a Doctor Help Us Conceive?	p. 348
What About Adoption?	p. 351
How Will Pregnancy Affect Us?	p. 355
What's Childbirth Really Like?	p. 359
What Can We Do About Postpartum Depression?	p. 362
What If Our Child Has Special Needs?	p. .365
What If We Disagree over How to Raise the Kids?	p. 370
How Can We Get a Break from the Kids?	p. 374
How Can We Help Our Kids Grow Spiritually?	p. 377
How Can We Make Sure Our Kids Succeed?	p. 381
Should We Put Our Child in Day Care?	p. 385
Sticking with It
Are We Falling Out of Love?	p. 391
How Can We Keep Romance Alive?	p. 394
How Can We Avoid Infidelity?	p. 397
How Can We Keep from Drifting Apart?	p. 400
How Can We Make It Through a Medical Crisis?	p. 403
What If My Spouse Needs Psychological Help?	p. 407
Is It Ever Too Late for a Marriage?	p. 410
What About Marriage Counseling?	p. 414
What Makes a Marriage Last?	p. 417
Recommended Resources	p. 421
Notes	p. 423
Index	p. 427
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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The First Five Years of Marriage

9781589970410

1589970411

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