• JOIN THE TRIBE
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube

Simply Bloom Co.

Where Passion & Purpose Collide

  • About
    • FAQ
    • Media & Interviews
    • Blog
      • Everyday Blooms
      • Marriage
      • Motherhood
      • Recipes
        • Breakfasts & Snack Foods
        • Lunches & Main Meals
        • Desserts & Sweet Treats
  • Speaking
    • Topics
    • Schedule
    • Conferences
    • Enneagram
    • Reviews
    • Podcast
      • Episodes
    • Booking
  • Books
    • SOZO Book
    • Penduka Book
      • Penduka Shop
    • XES Book
      • Book Reviews
      • Interviews & Podcasts
    • Launch Manual
    • R:EVOLVE Journal
  • Coaching
    • Client Contact
    • Resources
      • Coaching Agreement
      • Client Questionnaire
      • Favorite Books
  • Design
    • Client Reviews
    • Investment
    • Book in Bloom
      • Book in Bloom Bundles
  • Shop

The Naughty Cookies {viewer discretion advised}

The cookies you are about to see are not intended for your grandma’s consumption.  Nor are they intended for your 5 year old’s lunch box.  Any resemblance to actual curves or derrières or bosoms, living or dead, is by no way coincidental. These sugar-infused representations of actual body parts were crafted “purely” for the purpose of bridal shower enjoyment. Or… Read More

Complete nonsense, Designs, Food, Keepin' it Real, Marriage

Letting Myself Off the Hook

I am so enjoying life right now.  Soaking in my little ones.  Chillin’ with my man.  Connecting with family and friends.  Digging into some really interesting books {3 paragraphs at a time}.  Purging my cupboards and the forgotten corners of my house and shipping boxes off to Goodwill.  Occasionally trying new recipes – just because I want to, or sitting… Read More

Daily Life, Guest Post, Keepin' it Real, Marriage, Motherhood, Quotes and Scriptures

Let’s Talk about Sex, Baby

Let’s Talk about Sex, Baby

 Picture this… The kids are finally down and my sweet man walks through the door.  It’s been a long day for him, but he’s finally home in his haven, so his guard drops, and he’s recharged…and there stands his woman.  Halle-lujah! I, on the other hand, have been home in this ‘haven’ with the kids all day.  I smell like… Read More

Faith, Keepin' it Real, Love, Marriage

‘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

What Really Matters

“I will not die an unlived life. I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. I choose to inhabit my days, to allow my living to open me, to make me less afraid, more accessible, to loosen my heart until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise.” “I choose to risk my significance; to live so… Read More

Family, Marriage, Motherhood

My Baby Daddy: A Tribute

“The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother” ~ Rev. Theodore Hesburgh My husband, and best friend…their daddy, and hero. I overhear them in the garage.  He is guiding the little boy whose lips might possibly be the most kissable in all the world – in how to hit the nail just… Read More

Faith, Family, Marriage

Hot Diggity Dog, He’s 30!

This is him, folks {the one not wearing sporty-monkey pants, although I’m pretty crazy about him too) Oh, how I adore this guy! My sweet babe.  My funny boy.  My strong man. The one whom my soul loves, my heart adores, my flesh delights in. The one who is able to see past my unshowered, food-splattered, constant-yoga-pant-enclad, stretch-marked self…and see… Read More

Marriage

The Choices I Get To Make

I get to choose daily what type of attitude I “clothe” myself with. I get to choose whether I see my cup as half empty or half full {on the days that my proverbial cup doth not runneth over}. And get this: I even get to choose the “climate” of my home.  Wow.  What a reality check.  What a great… Read More

Grace, Keepin' it Real, Marriage

The Birds and The Bees…and Some Little Apple Seeds

While my hubby and I love talking to couples about the {regrettably under-talked about, within-the-context-of-the-Christian-community} topic of sex, and the undeniably crucial role it plays within a healthy marriage…we really didn’t know how – or when – to broach the subject with our kids.     We actually look forward to having “the talk” with them when they’re older, to… Read More

Faith, Keepin' it Real, Marriage, Motherhood, The Kiddos

Balsamic Glaze, Walmart & the Epiphany {oh my}

I just returned from a date with this hunk of scrumptious man tonight. It was most glorious. We talked about life.  expectations.  disappointments.  Work.  kids.  sex.  marriage.  How much we loved the balsamic glaze.  Friends.  The power of prayer.  Our future.  Laundry.  And how domestically inept I am.  How thankful we are for each other.  And then we brainstormed how… Read More

Marriage

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… Read More

Family, Grace, Marriage, The Kiddos

« Previous Page
Next Page »
 photo Joy.jpg

Hello there! I'm Joy. Speaker, designer, author & coach, and creator of the #weROARproject. Welcome to Simply Bloom Co., where passion & purpose collide.

Subscribe for Updates

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
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 ✨
Follow @SimplyBloomJoy

Copyright © 2025 · Designed by Simply Bloom · Theme from Restored 316

Copyright © 2025 · Darling Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in