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My Hacker Man and The Historical Village

In case you missed it {or thought maybe I had vanity issues and liked to talk about myself in the third person}…my husband hacked my blog yesterday.  He actually hacked it.  Compliments of Live Writer.

As a birthday surprise, none the less.

He informed me, only minutes after I woke up…and minutes before he passed out {he works nights}, with a smile and a mug of tea…that he wrote me a birthday letter…but that I would have to find it.  So I looked and looked and looked.  All morning.  In the fridge.  In the pile of papers and mail.  I even went as far as to look on the computer…in Word and Publisher.  To no avail.

When he woke 6 hours later to discover I had yet to stumble upon it…he confessed his blog hack.

{{woah baby}}

And there you have it, world.  I’m married to a rock star.  Who adores me.  Madly.

And no, you can’t have him.  He’s all mine.  But, he does like to have coffee with other men and challenge them to love their wive’s socks off.  And their pants.  But that’s another post for another day.

I digress.

Oh wait…while we’re on the topic of my wildly wonderful man…

My hubby took me to this fun, historical village the Christmas after we started dating.  It’s called Crossroads Village & Huckleberry Railroad.  I remember the Christmas-light encrusted trees and stolen kisses between sips of steaming hot chocolate.  We were 21 and smitten.

It was beautiful, romantic and heaps of fun.

On Thursday, 8 years after my initial visit, while my hubby went fishing with his grandpa on a neighboring river, I reentered the gates, loin fruit in tow, accompanied by my hubby’s sweet grandma {who our little ones affectionately refer to as Gigi – or GG – for Great Grandma}. 

It was loud, exhausting and heaps of fun.

Crossroads Collage

Same red barns.  Same $1 carousel.  Same big white paddle boat with red trim.  Same steam locomotive.  Same ol’ general store.  And delightful little classroom.  Same sense of stepping back in time for a day.

Not much had changed in the village, really.

It is amazing how little the world around us changes in 8 years…

and yet, how drastically – magically, miraculously – our own little worlds can change?

As magical as that initial visit was – starry eyed and brimming with what may be {and, if I’m honest, the clever concealment of the immaturity and selfishness that bubbled beneath the surface} – the memories that have been made, the wounds that have healed, the passions that have been discovered, the character that has been strengthened and refined, the comfort and security that have been cultivated, the love-bond reinforced, and the two precious lives that have been created between then and now, leave me marveling at the sweetness of our short history together.

God has been ridiculously kind to us as we’ve journeyed together. 

It wrecks me, in the most beautiful of ways.

 

Nothing like a little visit to a historical village to renew one’s awareness of time-treasured-togetherness.

Here’s to celebrating old memories…and to the making of the new {chink!}

 

*P.S.  It was on my birthday last year that I officially started this little blog…here’s to one year of intentionally blooming…out loud!  Thanks for taking the journey with me…it delights my heart!

Related posts:

  1. O Hacker… er um… Happy Birthday!
  2. The Man {before My Man}
  3. He Loves Me
  4. The Tale of Three Trees
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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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