Intercultural Marriages.  Do you consider yourself in one.  My husband and I are.  We may have similar skin tones, but that has little to do with our different backgrounds.  He is Dutch and I am a mishmash of Canadian heritages that have caused us some extreme upheaval throughout our 17 years together.  .  How we view life differently in general because of our cultures. How we spend money, Christmas, and view other events in our lives.. from cooking to how to sweep the floor!  Slowly we’ve been learning how to deal with some of those issues, but wouldn’t it be great if there was something you could read to help work out some of those kinks before you have to go through unnecessary pain?

That’s what this book is about.

Your Intercultural Marriage  by Marla Alupoaicei

On the back of the book:

You’re adventurous, inquisitive, and you prefer the road less traveled.  You are fascinated by the differences in your and your partner’s ethnic and cultural backgrounds.  But you also know challenges lie ahead because your values, ways of communicating, and views of the world are very different.  Marla Alupoaicei has navigated these waters and serves as your guide in this exciting and rewarding journey.  Sharing stories from her own marriage and those of numerous intercultural couples, she gives practical and biblical advice for handling the most common intercultural conflicts

Okay, let me stress the part written above… her wording.. the most common intercultural conflicts.  Yes, I totally agree with this.   I was surprised that someone who has only been married for seven years would attempt to write a book about marriage because they haven’t even hit the “eight year hump” yet (and  those who’ve been married for over 10 or so years know EXACTLY what I’m talking about!).  Surprisingly enough I found Marla’s work encouraging and did cover EXACTLY as she said.  THE MOST COMMON conflicts… I’m stressing this because I want to be straight up about that.  This is a Christian book that will encourage newly weds or engaged couples mostly.  I read a few reviews on this book and was shocked about a few because they apprently DID NOT read the back cover or they’d be well aware of what the book is about (and I hate reviews like that!) 

I like how Marla’s straight-forward chat is in chapter one “The idealism and naivete that caused us such euphoria on our wedding day has been replaced by deeper wisdom and a commitment to love each other despite difficult obstacles.  We’ve laughed over misunderstandings–and we’ve cried over them , too.  My desire is to share our experiences and the stories of hundreds of other intercultural couples with you so that you’ll be equipped with the blueprint and the tools to build your house on the Rock as well.”

This is an interesting book for couples that aren’t married to deal with some of the basic issues intercultural marriage brings up.  It is also a book for those who Christian couples that are still working through some of these issues. 

Marla provides her readers with 12 chapters of interesting and useful information.  Some of the chapters are:

• Discovering the joys and benefits of intercultural marriage
• surviving (and enjoying) your engagement, wedding, and honeymoon
• coming to terms with faith and values
• avoiding food fights: resolving food and mealtime issues
• finances
• children
• illness and grief

just to mention a few.

She provides resources that you can look up further for help. I like that she even provides examples of movies to watch and Biblical quotes that reflect marriage and multiculturalism (not necessarily in the same breath lol).  She does provide a lot of questions to ask yourselves before marriage and gives some interesting stats on multicultural marriage.

Marla’s easy writing style is inviting and her informative chapters will keep you reading.  She provides a great wealth of information for Christians on intercultural marriage.    I know this would be a great book to give to any of your newly wed friends or soon to be wed friends.    Thanks Marla for providing an innovative and much needed resource for couples!

Learn more about the author, Marla at http://marriageleap.com/

Curious what others have to say?  Check out The Blog Tour Spot  participants :  http://www.blogtourspot.com/intercultural-marriage-tour/intercultural-marriage-tour-stops/

This book was provided for review by Moody Publishers