Pre marital/ dating books ??

[mamaqs4]

I would like to know what books you used that made a difference or changed your mind about getting engaged/ married.

I am currently dating someone and we are talkin about marriage in the future. I know that wea are not ready right now but I would like to prepare myself.

We have both been divorced for 5 + yrs and we have 7 children altogether. There are so many things to consider and I want to do everything in God's time. I want it to be in His will and not us rushing into something blindly.

[chosenone]

I would like to know what books you used that made a difference or changed your mind about getting engaged/ married.

I am currently dating someone and we are talkin about marriage in the future. I know that wea are not ready right now but I would like to prepare myself.

We have both been divorced for 5 + yrs and we have 7 children altogether. There are so many things to consider and I want to do everything in God's time. I want it to be in His will and not us rushing into something blindly.

If you get to the point of being engaged, or nearly engaged,then the Marriage preperation course is very good. I live in the UK, but they run them in the US as well. look up for your nearest one on www.alphana.org
My husband and I are in our second marriage, and we are just doing the Marriage course which is good also.
We have a brilliant and blessed second marriage, have been married for three years now and have 5 kids between us (all in their twenties). yes, there is more baggage, you have been married and been divorced, you are both older and have kids, but if it is Gods will that you marry eventually, then he will help you to overcome all of these things. Our marriage is far better and happier than either of our first ones and is truly a marriage made in heaven.
it sounds to me (and I may be wrong) that you are rather unsure about getting married again, well if that is the case then wait and pray and if it is right, then you will both know it I am sure at the right time.
If the children are young, it will be quite hard work I would think, so give them time to adapt, especially if they would all be living with you in the same house.

I did read a book by Jim Smoke about second marriages. He is American and is the man who started up the divorce recovery workshops, so it may be worth looking on Amazon or whatever for his book.
You have certainly both been divorced long enough to have got over that. Jim Smoke reccommends 2 to 5 years to recover from a divorce before persuing another relationship, although in my hubbys case it was shorter than that but everyone is different I guess.

God Bless for your future together

[HRoberson]

The Smart Stepfamily
Boundaries in Marriage
Saving Your Second Marriage Before it Starts

[Thunder]

I attended a seminar once by the National Institute of Marriage ( http://www.nationalmarriage.com/ ) and it knocked my socks off.  It was for couples but I went alone because I had been recently divorced and just wanted to learn, so that I didn't make the same mistakes in the future.  Their "specialty" so to speak, is saving marriages (at the time I attended they had something like a 96% success rate); but their basic principles of marriage, though logical once you hear them, are absolutely dead-on.  I own two of their books, the DNA of Relationships and If He Only Knew and highly recommend them.  If they ever put on a small seminar in your area I would absolutely not hesitate to go.