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Through Thick and Thin, in Sickness and in Health…

Warning: this is not for the faint of gut

It has been a rough few days over here at our crib.

My sweet man became violently ill yesterday morning, bodily fluids shooting from every possible orifice.  This virus wrecked him so completely that he found himself crawling back to bed, muscles locking, head pounding, body screaming, nearly passing out on the floor beside our bed.

I knew when nausea started to creep into my gut that we were in trouble.

The desperate prayer {and further pleas for radical grace} commenced, and has yet to cease.

We thought our kids were in the clear until Cricket sweetly said, “my tummy hurts…” and then proceeded to hurl the entire contents of her stomach down my front.  I, in an effort to rush her to the bathroom, was holding her when she erupted.  Her lunch promptly glued my hair together, drenched my sweater, soaked my jeans, leaked between my toes, and pooled in my bra.

It was awesome.

We were so thankful our little Bug seemed unaffected by this vicious tummy bug as not being able to keep his heart meds down could cause complications with his heart.  Until…8:00pm…warm cup up milk before bed…mercilessly hosed all over the couch, projectile style.

Smashing.

Never before have all the members of my immediate family been sick at the same time.  And with this ruthless flu.

My husband was slowly recovering – staggering around the house versus crawling, dry heaving at the sight of food – and I felt like I had been run over by a Mac truck, having recently fallen asleep in the fetal position on our bathroom floor, clutching “the bucket”.

Our house wreaked of 2nd hand food. 

But here’s the beautiful part of this icky post…I zipped out a text message late last night to some of my closest girlfriends; a cry for intercession for the long night ahead, and was SO aware of God’s grace and patience enveloping my hubby and I as we dealt with our sick kiddos, changing sheets and pajamas, making numerous bathroom trips, and leaning over the bed in frantic search of “the bucket” in the middle of what had to be one of the longest nights of my life.

Even in the midst of the turmoil and pain (and boy…was there pain: every muscle in my body aches), the puke and the sleeplessness, there was a sweetness that reigned. 

God is good.  All the time.

Now if you’ll excuse me…I must go find the Tylenol.  And some tea.

 

Ps. I find it rather unfair {said with a smirk} that on the night I can actually enjoy something delectably sweet…like, at 12:01 tonight…the thought of sweets makes me want to die.  That’s just wrong.  Just sayin’.}

Related posts:

  1. Health Rules!
  2. Benadryl is My Friend
  3. Listen, I Tell You A Mystery…
  4. Ramblings of a Sappy Mom
«
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Family, Grace, Marriage, The Kiddos

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Simply Bloom exists to empower women to embrace their stories, live out their passion with purpose, and leave a legacy of love.
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Hello there! I'm Joy. Speaker, designer, author & coach, and creator of the #weROARproject. Welcome to Simply Bloom Co., where passion & purpose collide.

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I am regularly overwhelmed by the kindness of God I am regularly overwhelmed by the 
kindness of God in the small + simple.

Things like twinkle lights + Christmas jazz,
scraping out the peanut butter fudge pot
all by myself while sitting on the counter,
and walking around the corner to find my
loin fruit snuggled up together over tea.

They may fight like cats + dogs at times,
but their bond is deep and true and sweet.
Happy release day, @dralisoncook 💛 Written at Happy release day, @dralisoncook 💛

Written at the intersection 
of faith and psychology, 
this book is yet another 
soul-nourishing,
heart-healing, 
boundary-fortifying 
gift from Alison Cook
(if you’ve had a heart-to-heart
with me in the past two years,
you know how much I loved 
‘Boundaries for the Soul’). 

As an enneagram 2 who was raised 
in the church, this book was a timely
and liberating read. Pure balm for the 
weary, recovering-people-pleaser soul. 

I am beyond grateful for the wisdom, 
compassion + experience that Alison 
brings to all she shares (and it was
such an honor to be on her launch 
team for this beautiful new book).

Need a survival guide for your growth
and healing journey? Here you go! ✌🏼

#thebestofyou #thebestofyoubook #womenoffaith #healthyboundaries #healthyyou #healingjourney
Find yourself a tribe of people who will, togethe Find yourself a tribe of people who will, 
together, spend a beautiful Saturday
morning pulling this workout off:

• 20 mile run
• 340 tire flips
• 2,000 air squats
• 1,000 pull ups
• 1,500 box jumps
• 2,200 pull ups
• 600 devil press
• 3,300 sit ups

Brutal. Amazing. 
Exhausted.
So grateful for these two - their friendship, enco So grateful for these two - their friendship,
encouragement and wise counsel over the
past decade of being our pastoral couple
has been such a gift to our family 💛

Congrats on your retirement, dear friends!!
“Over the years, I have come to realize that t “Over the years, 
I have come to realize that 
the greatest trap in our life is not 
success, popularity, or power, 
but self-rejection.”
 :: Henri Nouwen

Somewhere along the journey of 
life, we start to believe the lie that - 
despite being made in the very image 
of a good and beautiful God - who we 
are is inherently bad and broken, and 
we learn to cover that deep sense 
of inadequacy (and the shame that 
accompanies it) with performance.

Because our visceral 
human response to 
‘bad + broken’ is 
‘reject + conceal’.

We think it’s the rejection of others
that cuts us to the core, but the truth
is…most of us walk around wounded 
by a constant and unrelenting sense 
of self-rejection and self-loathing.

Want to know why we feverishly seek 
out the approval and validation of others?
Why we desperately want others to like us?

Because we’re out of touch with our
inherent value and worth, and we’re
not sure that we even like ourselves.

We resent our weakness,
and abandon ourselves.

/ / /

But this good + beautiful God of ours…
He is drawn to our weakness like a
moth to a flame, swooping in to
bring strength and grace.

Paul writes in Corinthians 12:9 that 
he learned to delight in his weakness 
because it was when he was week that
“His strength is perfected in me”. 

Or, as the Passion Translation so 
stunningly puts it, “my weakness 
becomes a portal to God’s power”.

Precious ones, we can shun our tender
still-in-process places, pretend to have 
it all together, and hustle for our worth…
OR we can drop the masks, offer kindness 
and curiosity to our hurting, broken parts,
and learn to live fully seen and known.

But we can’t have both.

And yes, it’s scary.

Today may we choose
…grace over perfectionism
…curiosity over shame
…acceptance over rejection
…gentleness over judgement
…wholeness over pretense

You are loved.
And they’re off! Alathea is in 10th grade and A And they’re off!

Alathea is in 10th grade and
Aiden is heading into 8th grade.

Here’s to a year full of grace,
discovery, friendship + growth 🙌🏼
"Faith isn't the ability to believe long + far i "Faith isn't the ability 
to believe long + far 
into the misty future. 
It's simply taking God 
at His Word + taking 
the next step."

:: Joni Eareckson Tada
Day 15 | Beach Day + Travel Prep We fly out late Day 15 | Beach Day + Travel Prep

We fly out late tomorrow evening so today
has been a lazy day of laundry, laying in the
sun, a petshop visit (where Aiden fell in love 
with a cute rat + I discovered zebra finches), 
an impromptu stop for bubble tea + stuffed crepes [oh my word, were these delicious!!],
shopping [I found the best, comfiest - Joe
would argue ‘ugliest’ - romper at the thrift
store that I can’t wait to wear on our long
journey home], and Aiden is currently off
doing his thing: fishing right from the pier.
Our view from the lodge last night ✨ Our view from the lodge last night ✨
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