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Simply Bloom Co.

Where Passion & Purpose Collide

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Project: Declutter, Simplify & Maintain {31 Days}

“Our life is frittered away by detail… Simplify, simplify”                                                         ~ Henry Thoreau This mildly neurotic, type-A, control-freakish, list-loving organized gal has a thing for, well…organization.  I love it!  Cleaning house, especially without little loin-fruit under foot, is wildly therapeutic to me. With the right music, the right tools {gotta love Mrs. Meyer’s cleaners} , a little sunshine and a… Read More

Designs, Frugal Living, Home, Printables

Happy Valentine’s Day

This is my first Valentine’s day as a mom who cares about Valentine’s day. Did you get that? I didn’t either. What I was trying to say was this…I’ve never strung a heart…dyed anything pink…or sprinkled heart-shaped anything onto another something tinted a horrific shade of pepto-bismol…in the name of Valentine’s day…until now.  Apparently I’ve crossed over. And I like… Read More

Cute Stuff, Family, Home, Keepin' it Real, The Kiddos

Here’s to 2011

We cannot believe we have come to the end of yet another year…and what a fun, full year it has been! We’ve enjoyed our first full year in our new home, along with all the fun ‘firsts’ that come with it… like taking in the beauty of the ice-covered lake from our kitchen window {a far cry from the partially… Read More

Daily Life, Family, Home, Motherhood

Crumbling the Silence {with Cookies}

We’re having a grand ol’ time here in the McMilli-vanilli home.  I have no idea where that came from.  You’ll have to pardon me, I’m heavily sleep deprived {sick kids, design deadlines, cookies to decorate, you know…the usual} and mildly medicated {it’s that time…and my uterus hates me}.  And apparently my TMI filter is broken. {sigh} I wanted to take… Read More

Cute Stuff, Family, Food, Home, Photography

Letting Go of Super-Mom

It occurred to me last summer, while slathering my child from head to toe with diaper rash cream, summoning every ounce of determination I could muster to rub the white paste into her sweetly resistant skin, that motherhood didn’t look much like I envisioned it would. Come to think of it, it doesn’t smell much like I had planned, either…. Read More

Family, Home, Keepin' it Real, Motherhood, The Kiddos

Ramblings & Us {Through the Ledford Lens}

I’ve had a deliciously full week; opportunities to connect with girlfriends I don’t get to see even remotely often enough, dinner with a wonderful friend I haven’t seen in over 7 years, an out-of-town conference with my hubby {which boasted paradigm-shift-inducing teaching by Carl Medearis…he rocked our world}, and was sprinkled with precious family time {my favorite type of “busy”}…. Read More

Complete nonsense, Daily Life, Family, Home

‘Tis the Season…

…to eat obscene quantities of apples, apple-inspired dishes, to throw left-over apple cider into pancake batter, and get the low-down on gettin’ cozy between the sheets. Okay.  So there is no formal season for doing all this, it just so happens that this is what’s happening in my house right now. The hot topics on my mind: apples and intimacy. … Read More

Food, Home, Marriage

The Pierced Bean, An Escape & Other Such Nonsense

Meet Bean.  The Rockstar. Sporting jeans, a tutu, and cowboy boots, and rocking the glittered hair, tattooed arm and pierced nose, she was quite the sight to see, riding along on her preschool “Little Rockstars” parade float.   She rocked!  And I was one proud mama. Speaking of piercings and pride, miss Bean got her little earlobes pierced on Saturday. … Read More

Complete nonsense, Daily Life, Home, Marriage, The Kiddos

Poppin’ Up!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled {thoughtful} post… to bring you this {rambling} drivel: In addition to the massive quantity of squash we have poppin’ up in our veggie garden, there are a few other fabulous thing-a-ma-bobs poppin’ up around here. Namely… The first 4 of 125 giant wind turbines nestled nicely into the fields of the farming communities near us…. Read More

Complete nonsense, Daily Life, Home

Lettuce Be Real

It came up in conversation with a precious friend the other day…the difference between how cool and confident we may appear on the outside, and how insecure and fearful we may be on the inside. And, as it often does when I process ‘life’, my garden came to mind. I’ve never grown lettuce before, and was quite delighted at the… Read More

Daily Life, Faith, Home, Keepin' it Real, Motherhood

{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

Empty Nest Syndrome {Sad Fern Interview}

Hello sad fern. Howdy. Tell me…why “sad” fern”? {awkward silence}…have you looked at me lately? Ri-ight.  Sad.  Very sad. Hey now, I was on clearance at SAMS, you know.  Cut me some slack. You got it.  So…I hear you’ve been busy over the past few weeks. Why yes, I have been.  Just a few days after I was purchased, some… Read More

Garden, Home, Keepin' it Real, Photography

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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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May you remember that God is not only the God of d May you remember that God is not only
the God of destinations, but of detours.

When life takes you somewhere you never intended to go,
may you recognize that you have not been forgotten.

May you have eyes to see the people in front of you,
hands willing to gather the sticks,
courage to shake off the snakes,
a heart willing to welcome and be welcomed,
and faith to believe that even here,
especially here, God is at work.
What if the place you keep calling a detour is act What if the place you keep calling a detour is actually part of the story?

Paul was headed to Rome. Instead, he ended up shipwrecked on Malta.
It wasn't the destination. But it mattered.

A reminder for all of us: don't waste the waiting,
the detour, or the place you didn't choose.

🎙️ 042 | Make Malta Matter | Finding Purpose in Divine Detours
  The latest Oh, Good Grief Podcast episode is out now.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #MakeMaltaMatter #SimplyBloomCo
Instagram post 17924817765424628 Instagram post 17924817765424628
What if the years you thought were wasted… weren't What if the years you thought were wasted…
weren't wasted at all?

In Part 2 of my conversation with Leah Harvey,
we go deeper into what it means to trust
God when the outcome is still unknown.

Leah has spent years carrying the ache of infertility,
and she doesn't offer a tidy answer or a spiritual shortcut.

Instead, she talks about restoration.
About eternity.
About choosing Jesus over her preference.
About looking for treasure in the middle of the story.

And about the surprising realization that there
may not have been wasted years after all,
because God was present in every one of them.

He is.
Even here.
Even now.

🎧 Part Two with Leah Harvey is live now.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #StruggleWell #StayRooted #SojournTogether
Instagram post 18091972097640684 Instagram post 18091972097640684
What if trusting that God is good doesn't mean bel What if trusting that God is good doesn't mean
believing He will give us everything we ask for?

That's one of the questions my friend Leah Harvey
and I wrestle with in this week's episode.

Leah and her hubby, Jake, have walked through years
of infertility and the kind of unanswered prayer that
doesn't just hurt once—it asks you to keep
trusting God over and over again.

We talk about grief, surrender, the questions we sometimes feel afraid to ask, and what happens when we stop trying to put tidy answers over messy pain.

This is a tender conversation about choosing Jesus over our preferences, embracing the mystery of God, and learning to believe that His goodness doesn't depend on whether He gives us the thing we're asking for.

Part One of my conversation with Leah Harvey is live now
🎧  040 | The Goodness of God in the Waiting

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #StruggleWell #StayRooted #SojournTogether
Before the world told you who you needed to become Before the world told you who you needed to become...
Before fear taught you how to survive...
Before shame convinced you to hide...
God looked at you and called you His own.

Not because you had healed.
Not because you had figured yourself out.
Not because you had become your best self.
Simply because you were His.

You are still becoming.
And you are already loved.

Keep coming home.

#OhGoodGriefPodcast #SimplyBloomCo
What if the goal isn't to become a different type, What if the goal isn't to become a different type,
but to become more fully yourself?

We've spent the last several weeks exploring the Enneagram:
our gifts, wounds, coping strategies, and the stories we
learned to believe in order to survive.

Now it's time to come home.

Episode 039 closes this Summer Series by asking
what happens when self-awareness becomes surrender.

The Enneagram can help us understand our patterns.
But it was never meant to become our identity.

You are not your number.
You are not your trauma.
You are not your coping strategy.

You are a beloved child of God.

🎧 Oh, Good Grief — Episode 039 is available now.
Sitting on the front porch with a cup of coffee, m Sitting on the front porch with a cup of coffee, my Bible and a book of maps in my lap, and the sun on my face, has me thinking about how strange and beautiful life can be.

It’s no small honor to be given the opportunity to preach at our church from time to time. Had you told the broken, shoplifting, lying, giving-her-body-away-for-free teenage girl I once was that one day she’d stand in a pulpit and talk to people about God’s goodness and grace, I would have laughed at you.

But maybe that’s exactly why God delights in using the messy, the unlikely, the misfits. Because these are the stories that make His redemption impossible to miss.

One of my favorite lines from The Chosen, spoken by Mary Magdalene, sums it up perfectly: “I was one way, and now I am completely different. And the thing that happened in between was Him.”

That’s my story, too.
And if I were to hazard a guess, it's yours as well.

It’s one of my greatest joys to dig into God’s Word, share what He’s laid on my heart, offer some encouragement and conviction, confess the uncomfortable things, and ultimately point people back to Jesus.

Because there’s no denying the extraordinary power of redemption when you’ve lived it yourself.
Follow @SimplyBloomJoy

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