Book excerpt: There's a cruel science experiment in which a frog is placed into a pot of cool water and heated slowly, one degree at a time. With such a gradual rise in temperature, the frog barely notices and is boiled alive. This is the predicament in which Annie found herself. Had her husband Ed become violent on their wedding night, she surely would have fled immediately. But instead, the marriage slowly deteriorated. She realized something wasn't right, but kept trying to make it work. If only she could have been a better cook, prettier, more fun, Ed would have loved her. It was only after a beating, in which she was thrown repeatedly against a door, that Annie finally took their 14-month-old son and left. This is a true story, written as a down-to-earth, daily journal and includes prayer, poetry, and Scripture. It's a story of faith, family, friendship, and survival.