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Where Passion & Purpose Collide

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Confessions of a {Crabby} Mom

There are days that I would much rather hide under the covers than emerge, and most certainly not as a friendly, perky mom.  Or even a semi alert one. I’d rather stay in bed.  Maybe sleep for 3 days.  And get back with ya later, kid. Sometimes the thought of another day, especially if it even mildly resembles the one… Read More

Daily Life, Grace, Keepin' it Real, Motherhood

I Ate A Kit Kat

{begin mindless fodder} There.  I said it.  I did it.  I broke my sugar “boycott”.  70 days without sweets {minus my single, carefree anniversary cookie}, with about 30 more to go, and then this…a kit kat, in all it’s chocolate-coated-wafery goodness. I also haven’t shaved my legs for 2 weeks, just in case you wanted to know. {Sorry. You didn’t.}… Read More

Daily Life, Goals, Health, Keepin' it Real

Snot. Tissues. Benadryl. Repeat.

My precious hubby has blessed me with lots of opportunities to sleep a little more today.  He rocks my world. The wee babes are not well, and I’m not feeling spectacular either. So, in honor of all the snotty tissues laying around, and the fact that the Benadryl has once again been dug out of our medicine cabinet, let us… Read More

Health, Keepin' it Real, The Kiddos

Coming Up For Air

In this house we do dishes, yes…   But we also do wild.  Unorthodox. We do mistakes. We do second chances. And third. And four hundred and seventy-ninth. *thankfully* We do silly. We do laughter. We do real. We do tomfoolery. {and plenty more mistakes} We do “I’m sorry’s”. {A lot of “I’m sorry’s”} We do loud. We do long… Read More

Grace, Keepin' it Real, Motherhood

We’re Back!

and as socially challenged as ever! Well, not really. We did in fact leave our beautiful little room at the Weathervane Inn {which you’ll see more pictures of soon.  Whether you want to or not}. Some highlights from our delicious 51 hours away together include: 4 solid hours of car time without so much as a second of “The Wheels… Read More

Keepin' it Real, Love, Marriage, Travels

An Upgrade

We are LOVING our new home {that we waited patiently 6 months for} and are most definitely enjoying the gorgeous, colorful, Autumn-infused view from our kitchen/dining room/family room/deck {it’s pretty open plan…you get the idea}. It’s a far cry from our neighbor’s hot tub, which sat a mere 10 feet away from our little kitchen window, which I’m sad to… Read More

Daily Life, Garden, Keepin' it Real

Sip It

 Alternate Post Title: Con{FUZE}d About What I Just Drank Warning: this post is long, but more importantly…it’s not for the faint of heart. It’s downright nauseating. {Consider yourself warned} Here we go… I was multitasking: bathing my little rascals while catching up with an old friend who I hadn’t seen for almost a year.  She sat on a stool nearby,… Read More

Keepin' it Real

Nip It

They were the prefect baby shower favors. I left happily clutching my little pots of rosemary and licorice basil; sweet {& tasty} reminders of the mommy-to-be’s blossoming belly and the promise of precious new life within. Just two simple little sprigs sat in the small containers. The rosemary I repotted in a cute little green planter on my deck.  Over… Read More

Faith, Keepin' it Real, Motherhood

The Scoop

My hubby and I started the Love & War marriage series at church last night.  We love being married.  We love marriage.  And we think everyone else should too.  This book {and DVD series} is so good.  You should read it. We then lost power late last night in a most magnificent display of lightning, thunder, wind and rain.  Our… Read More

Daily Life, Health, Keepin' it Real

It Is True

I’ve been a total slacker when it comes to recording my 100 Day progress, it is true, but I’ve done surprisingly well getting in my veggies and staying away from “naughty” food {bar our spontaneous midnight McDonalds run on the way home from the hospital, in search of a salty fry fix , and minus my 2 handfuls of animal… Read More

Daily Life, Keepin' it Real

My Doh-Called Life

I realize a little more each day that passes on this rollercoaster of parenting, just how little motherhood looks the way I thought it would. I envisioned it as hard work, “colorful” and unpredictable, yes, but for some reason, I also imagined it being…well, somewhat “controllable” and, uh…neatly packaged?  Like little balls of play-doh, sweetly nestled into their color-specific containers. … Read More

Keepin' it Real, Motherhood

Benadryl is My Friend

Alternately entitled: “Can I Get a Sick Day All Up in Here?” My kiddos are sick. And their {poor, exhausted, mucous-streaked} momma is sick too. It ain’t pretty. The past 2 days have consisted of more snot than you could ever imagine wiping from 4 rosy little nostrils, less sleep than any human being should be required to function on,… Read More

Keepin' it Real, The Kiddos

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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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