Annie Leigh Edwards

Annie is often found hiding from the monster that is her laundry pile while frantically searching for her car keys. Her goal in life is to be part of a flash mob and/or a back up singer and dancer for T-Swift.

She Did it Again When Britney Hurts My Body Image

She Did it Again: When Britney Hurts My Body Image

Yesterday I was in the checkout line, hiding unwashed hair beneath my baseball cap, pretending that I was not reading the current gossip magazines… But I just couldn’t help myself when I saw the “BREAKING NEWS!” Yep… Britney Spears got her body back. No more crazy-rock-bottom-shaved-head-Disney-star-gone-wild Britney. Now, it is the HIT-ME-BABY-ONE-MORE-TIME-I-can-rock-a-slightly-inappropriate-schoolgirl-midriff-after-having-kids Britney! I am happy for Britney. She worked hard to get those abs! But when I saw this article, my first reaction was to throw it down on the ground and stomp all over it. I kept my composure, of course, because I am from the south… But I did want to drop kick that article. It is not fair. I look at my body in the mirror (after three kids) and it […]

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Scared of the Dark

Scared of the Dark

I used to be scared of the dark. The kind of scared that—even as a sophomore in high school—I would carry my little sister (who was five years younger) into bed with me at night. Simply hearing the sound of her breathing helped me fall asleep. Some of us know what it’s like to be afraid of the dark. Not being able to see in front of your face can be a horrifying reality. Depression is like that. It’s a darkness of the soul, and it doesn’t play fair. In the midst of depression, it can feel like heavy smog that makes it impossible to see clearly, even in the light of day. It has the tendency to pollute every crevice of

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The-Runner-Up-Crown

The Runner Up Crown

There we were. Another contestant and I, hands embraced tight, waiting to hear whose hard work had paid off, whose “resume” had been accepted—who was the greatest. Then, it happened. My world was turned upside down, and my mirror was shattered as I heard my name called as the first . . . runner . . . up. Let’s face it. There is the winner, and then there are those who are, umm . . . losers! No, we are not all winners. There she was, the winner; there I was, the loser. Sorry little league baseball people, but not everyone gets a trophy in life. Thanks for lying to us. There I was, rejected—once again. The judges refused to accept all

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hiding-behind-spiritual-spanx

Spiritual Spanx

“Why is it a girl has to be so silly to catch a husband?” Scarlett O’Hara complains as she is being tightly laced into the barbaric contraption known as the corset. In order to catch the attention of a man, women of the Victorian Era believed that they must conceal their true shape. This seems ridiculous to the progressive women of the 21st century, but I wonder how many of us are still hiding? I have spent a good portion of my life hiding my truest self. As a former pageant girl (Miss America reject), I learned how to conceal aspects about my body that were…ummm… unpleasant. For example, right before the swimsuit competition, I would forget to watch where I walked

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When Someone You Love is Depressed

When Someone You Love is Depressed

It was a forced friendship from the beginning. Boldly, she announced that every single Wednesday she would be coming to my house. I could see her resolve. I was scared, and I started to squirm. Every Wednesday? Generally, I leave this thing kind of open-ended, “penciled in,” if you will. I rarely do firm “commitments;” after all, what if I decide to change my mind? Somehow, she must have known that. This unyielding pit-bull type proceeded to clamp down on me even harder stating the only way I could cancel is if I had a doctor’s appointment (even then I believe she would have required a written doctor’s excuse)… “Okay, are you my principal now?” Starting to hyperventilate. Next, if I were

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From Pits to a Palace

From Pits to a Palace

Before Joseph the dreamer arrived at the palace he was stuck in a pit. Talk about sibling rivalry! I may have tied my sister to a pole when she was little and left her in the dark, but I would never throw her in a pit! As the story goes, God gave Joseph the gift of interpreting dreams but before Joseph was the dream guru, he had a bent towards a cocky misinterpretation of God’s gifts. Often God gives us gifts and within our sinful nature we abuse them or use them for our own glory, much like the dreamer. In the play-by-play of his early dreams, Joseph’s family was bowing down to him. How nice. If we continue to read through Genesis, we will

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I Was Gonna Rock This Parenting Thing

I Was Gonna Rock This Parenting Thing

I was totally going to rock this parenting thing… And then I had children. I read all the books on getting my baby on a sleep schedule and what to expect when expecting. But then I had children. I realized it is all a bunch of nonsense and everyone is a liar because God gave me the children that are divergent, the ones that all the books call “the exception to the rule.” I would have appreciated a book that covers topics like “what to do when your 3-year-old decides to go streaking through the neighbor’s yard”, “how to keep your child from going all Jedi with a lightsaber on the neighbor’s statue of Mary”, and “how to keep your toddler from

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When-Fear-Keeps-You-From-living

When Fear Keeps You From Living

Last summer, my husband begged me to go to Montana. I told him I would go as long as we could have a professional tour guide and go “GLAMPING.” Instead, as life would have it, we ended up in Southern California (with a free place to stay; sorry Montana, maybe next time). These are my kind of people. Beach. All Day. I was thoroughly enjoying the beach with the rest of my people when my husband, Jamus, a.k.a. Indiana Jones, decided he wanted to go on a hike. (He just would not let it go.) Some dreams need to die. I said, “Okay honey, see ya when you get back!” He gave me the puppy-dog face—the one layered with guilt and much

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