Marriage is more than the uniting of two individuals. When a couple marries, they also gain a new family: their in-laws. It can seem overwhelming to try to navigate these new, complicated relationships. Couples need to decide what kind of relationship they will have with this new family. And, they need to decide which relationship will be more important – their relationship with their spouse or their relationship with their parents. In their essay, “Creating Healthy Ties with In-Laws and Extended Families,” James M. Harper and Susanne Frost Olsen state, “One of the first scriptures in the Old Testament regarding family relationships is found in Genesis 2:24: ‘Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife.’ The Oxford English Dictionary defines cleave as ‘to remain attached, devoted, or faithful to,’ and ‘to remain steadfast.’” While it may be difficult to break the habit of turning to your parents for advice, your spouse should be the one y...