I enjoy talk~g with people who love their spouses and<br >consider their ~arriages to be quality unions. I usually<br >find that the comfnon denominator behind their happiness<br >is the principle of working hard at their marital relation-<br >ships. Such people will tell you that good marriages take<br >time. They will also assure you that there is no quick fix<br >idea you can buy and no new， slick technique you can<br >employ to immediately relieve the pain of a struggling<br >relationship. Happily married couples provide encourage-<br >ment and hope by reminding us that marriage can be the<br >most intimate and satisfying relation we can have with<br >another human. But good marriages don t just happen.<br > This book was written to help couples of all age groups<br >regardless of their current circumstances. This isn t a<br >book filled with answers. Instead it is packed with encour-<br >agement and ideas which can help make your marriage<br >either a little or a lot better than it is right now.<br > The strength of your marriage depends on the choices<br >you make to improve it. My hope is that you will read this<br >book from cover to cover and allow the ideas to be a spring-<br >board from which you start taking action. Don t leave<br >Creative Romance lying around with the hope your spouse<br >will read it and "shape up." Begin with yourself! Start<br >making choices to enjoy one of God s greatest gifts to<br >you..， your spouse.<br > Though this book has one author， several people played<br >significant roles by reading the manuscript and contrib-<br >uting comments and ideas. Special thanks to Jennifer<br >Hughes-Adams， Loreen Leake， Scott Rachels， Todd Temple，<br >Rand Tucker， Noel Veale， Linda Vujnov， Dan York， and my<br >incredible assistant， Karen Page.<br ><br >