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Simply Bloom Co.

Where Passion & Purpose Collide

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Zucchini: The Sassy Edition

Yes, I’m back.  With more zucchini talk. But you’re going to love this dish.  It’s absobloominlutely delicious!  And healthy.  And sexy. Besides.  I’m breaking out the summer squash this time too, so it’ll rock your palate in green and gold. Penne, Veggies & Sausage in Garlic Cream Sauce          Ingredients: 1 box of whole grain penne pasta 5 chicken sausages… Read More

Food, Garden

Zucchini Pizza on the Grill

My squash plants are going strong yet again this summer, achieving their unstoppable mission of complete garden domination. And once again, only quadrupled in quantity this time around, are my happy little zucchini plants…surprising us with magic green missiles overnight. I pluck them.  And low and behold the next day, they’re back! I love it! And yes, there’s a slight… Read More

Food, Garden

Fish: From Lake to Plate in 12 Hours Flat

My hubby and I spent the day at Michigan’s Adventure with fabulous friends yesterday, while our kiddos stayed home with nana and papa.  I got entirely too much sun, ate entirely too much food, and had entirely too much fun on the rides.  Going down water slides, over and over and over again – just us adults – was just… Read More

Food, Photography, Travels

{Triple}Berry Shortcake

As berry season forges on, full throttle, I couldn’t help but give this quick {and anti-oxidant packed} dessert a whirl!  As easy as it is to make, eager little hands actually make great helpers on this one, and the catching and devouring of runaway berries is welcomed too! We’ve become big fans of pulling the last-minute strawberry shortcake card when… Read More

Food, Home

Luscious Lemon Pie {oh my!}

Knowing my sweet sister is on the mend and no longer stranded on a mountainside in Botswana with a broken ankle (you know, the important stuff), I can share this frivolous fabulous recipe without feeling like a poopy big sister {thanks for all your prayers and kind words, our family has been blown away by the outpouring of love for… Read More

Food

{Incredible} Beer Bread

{Disclaimer: this bread is wildly delicious and may cause a spirit of gluttony to overtake you.  Double the batch} My hubby stumbled upon this scrumptious recipe last week while trying to find excuses to use my birthday present: a sexy, black Kitchenaid Mixer. He purchased it for me with purely unselfish motives, of course {cough, cough}.  It only took me… Read More

Food

Cake Pops for Africa

I heart Africa, it’s no surprise. It’s been almost 5 years since I was ‘home’. So until we can return, as a family {with children old enough to endure appreciate the journey over the ocean}, to touch her soil and kiss her people, we will live vicariously through my baby sister who has just landed in Kenya, will be working… Read More

Faith, Food, Travels

{Homemade} Bubble Tea

If you know me at all well, you’ll know I love tea.  No, let me rephrase that.  I adore tea. Make that: hot, black {British blend}, milky tea.  An entire pot of it! I also happen to be quite partial to chai and earl gray. Yes, indeed…tea + me = one happy girl! I’m {only mildly} embarrassed to admit that… Read More

Cute Stuff, Food

Baked Tilapia with Dill Sauce

There is no question: I loved being pregnant, and so enjoyed nursing my little ones.  The downside, however, is that they officially sucked my brains out. And I’m only sort of kidding. I combat this miserable truth by eating as much yummy fish as I can!  While salmon remains my fav, tilapia is considerably cheaper and when done well, is… Read More

Food

Cute. Fruit.

I love fresh fruit.  And I love pretty things. So it would stand to reason, that I love it when my fruit is pretty. Yes, I realize, it is pretty…all by its delectable lonesome…but there’s something delightful about lining up vibrant hues of juiciness on a pointy little stick and displaying them in a vase. {oooh aaaah!} And, as evidenced… Read More

Complete nonsense, Food

Mini Stromboli {an Italian Trial Size}

We like pizza around here, and eat it every other week or so. The catch: it’s almost always homemade! I tried making pretzels with the dough…I want to try cinnamon rolls…and we love to turn it outside-in and make Stromboli. {We buy our dough at SAMS – just 16 smackaroos for 20 perfect balls of frozen dough.  It’s awesome!} I… Read More

Food

{Slater’s} Turkey & Black Bean Burritos

{Slater’s} Turkey & Black Bean Burritos

If you’re a child of the 80’s, you’ll no doubt recall the drool-worthy A.C. Slater from Saved by the Bell. Well, I sort of had a crush on him when I was an awkward, pubescent adolescent.  So, naturally, when I see a little blurb in my Good Housekeeping magazine entitled, “Mario Lopez’s Turkey & Black Bean Burritos”, I just had… Read More

Food

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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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What if grace has been waiting for you where perfe What if grace has been waiting for you
where perfection never could take you?

This week on Oh, Good Grief, we wrap up our exploration of the 9 Enneagram types, and how each one engages grief, with Type One: The Reformer.

We'll explore the gift of integrity, the burden of the inner critic, and the freedom that comes when we stop striving to earn what God has already given.

The Enneagram may reveal the stories we've believed to survive.
But only grace tells us who we've been all along.

🎧 Episode 038 is available wherever you listen to podcasts.
From the front, our little apple tree is living he From the front, our little apple tree is living her best life: laden with fruit and bursting with life.

But that’s only half the story.

Take a walk around the backside and you’ll see something entirely different: a large branch, nearly a third of the tree, black and barren. Clearly diseased. Clearly dead. Clearly in need of pruning.

And yet, every time I walk past it on our evening loop around the campground behind our house, it catches me off guard. I forget it’s even there.

Maybe because I prefer to look at the fruitful side.

And isn’t that a little like us?

We’re pretty comfortable displaying the beautiful parts: the wins, the answered prayers, the accomplishments, the parts of life that look healthy and fruitful.

The broken parts? The grief. The struggling relationships. The things we’ve neglected. The places where we’re tired or hurting or simply not okay?

Those we tend to tuck around the backside, hoping no one notices.

But here’s the thing: what we hide still needs tending.

We don’t have to be ashamed of the barren branches. We don’t have to pretend they aren’t there. And we certainly don’t have to wait until everything looks beautiful before we allow ourselves to be honest.

Maybe growth does look like good fruit.

And maybe sometimes it looks like finally walking around back, taking an honest look, and saying, That needs to go.

Pruning isn’t failure.
It’s making room for what’s still alive.

And if you’ve got a few dead branches of your own right now, take heart. You are not the barren branch. You are the whole tree. 🌿

#SimplyBloomCo
If you are a Nine, my prayer is that you would nev If you are a Nine, my prayer is that you would never lose your gift of bringing calm, compassion, and steadiness into a fractured world.

Those are beautiful reflections of the heart of Christ.

But may you also discover that your voice is not an interruption, your needs are not an inconvenience, and your presence is not optional. May you become the kind of peacemaker who tells the truth with love, receives love without shrinking, and lives fully awake to the life God has entrusted to you.

May you know, deep in your soul, that you don't have to disappear to belong.
What if the peace you've been protecting has come What if the peace you've been protecting
has come at the cost of your own presence?

This week on Oh, Good Grief, we're exploring Enneagram Nine: The Peacemaker.

Nines have an incredible gift for helping others feel safe, seen, and understood.
But somewhere along the way, many learned that staying connected meant staying quiet.

What if healing isn't about becoming louder?
What if it's about believing your voice already belongs in the room?

🎧 Episode 037 is available wherever you listen to podcasts.
Permission Granted. In case you needed someone t Permission Granted. 

In case you needed someone to tell you: yes, you should absolutely make the impromptu stop at the roadside farm stand and buy the $5 bouquet of flowers.

No, you do not need a reason.

No, you do not need to be buying them for someone else (although that is a perfectly lovely thing to do, too).

Buy them for yourself.
Put them in your kitchen.
Smile every time you walk past them. 🌸

And support your local flower growers and farm stands while you’re at it.

That is all.

You may now return to your regularly scheduled scrolling.
If you are an Eight, my prayer is that you would n If you are an Eight, my prayer is that you would
never lose your fierce love for justice, your courage,
or your willingness to protect those who cannot protect themselves. 

Those are holy gifts.

But may you also discover the freedom of being protected yourself.
May you find people with whom you no longer need armor. And may you know, deep in your bones, that the God who fights for you is inviting you to rest...
not because you're weak, but because you were never meant to carry every battle alone.
The year we moved into this house, a peach tree sp The year we moved into this house, a peach tree spoiled us thoroughly. It produced more peaches than we knew what to do with—cobbler, galette, crumble, smoothies, fruit leathers, and basket loads given away.

Our expectations for peach season were high.

Turns out, that tree was throwing itself a retirement party.
It died the following year.

We’ve since planted two more. The one that has always been unproductive surprised us this summer with these gorgeous, generous peaches. The healthy, established tree that usually produces? One. Single. Peach.

Fruit-bearing is an interesting thing.
Unpredictable. Relatively unmanageable.
Sometimes delicious and sometimes disappointing.

And maybe that’s why I love the reminder it offers:
performance isn’t always a good indicator
of what’s happening beneath the surface.

Take heart, dear one.

Some seasons, you’ll crush the to-do list,
accomplish the goals and have plenty to show for yourself.

Other seasons, you’ll simply keep showing up.
Quietly. Consistently. Faithfully.

And that is enough, too. 🌱
What if your greatest strength was never meant to What if your greatest strength
was never meant to become a hiding place?

This week on Oh, Good Grief, we're continuing in our Summer Enneagram Series by exploring the Type Eight: The Challenger.

Many Eights learned early that strength was safer than vulnerability.
But what if healing isn't about becoming less strong?

What if it's about discovering that courage
and tenderness were never meant to compete?

God isn't asking you to lay down your strength.
He's inviting you to lay down the armor you no longer need.

🎧 Episode 036 is available wherever you listen to podcasts.
If you identify with the Enneagram 7, my prayer fo If you identify with the Enneagram 7, my prayer
for you is that you would never lose your capacity
for wonder, laughter, creativity, and hope.

Those are sacred gifts.

But may you also discover the freedom of staying present
when life feels heavy. May you trust that joy does not disappear
when sorrow arrives. May you find that God is not only present
in the moments of celebration, but also in the quiet,
painful places you once tried to avoid.

The One who created your joy can also hold your grief.

You are loved.
Follow @SimplyBloomJoy

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