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Simply Bloom Co.

Where Passion & Purpose Collide

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Because Parenting Isn’t For Sissies {Part 1}

Because Parenting Isn’t For Sissies {Part 1}

I’ve been waiting for the perfect occasion to use this photo I snapped at a mountain zoo in Colorado last summer.  I LOVE everything it represents…the detail it captures, and all the emotion it evokes. This little babe had been born just 6 days prior to our visit and it took everything in me to peel myself away from the… Read More

Family, Grace, Motherhood, Photography

Thoughts on Motherhood & November {Desktop} Wallpaper

How on earth is it possible that it’s November 2012 already? Next month is Christmas, ya’ll! Yay and… yikes. I realize I may be a little slow on the uptake here, but weren’t we just getting all giddy {and awkwardly terrified} by the notion of a new millennium around the corner? Has it really been 13 years already? Gosh, it’s… Read More

Daily Life, Designs, Desktop Wallpaper, Grace, Motherhood

Thoughts on Identity, Parenting & Tortilla Chips

I’m tickled pink to be sharing my messy story of redemption with another group of women this weekend.  I love, love, LOVE sharing my heart…my brokenness…His goodness with others who ache to know their Creator hasn’t abandoned them, that He is intricately involved in the details of their lives – even if behind the scenes, that He is big enough… Read More

Daily Life, Faith, Family, Grace, Motherhood, Redemption, The Kiddos

Fabulousness {in Human Form}

Meet my girls.  For almost 10 years now, the gorgeous gal on the left has been my best friend.  We have walked through newlywed awkwardness, new-mama sleeplessness, thick {waistlines} and thin {wallets}, blissful friendship and miserable disappointment {in each other}, and the sweet friendship we revel in today couldn’t be stronger, because of our rich history together. And then 5… Read More

Food, Friendship, Keepin' it Real, Motherhood

The Bridal Bean

Ever since stumbling upon the idea on Pinterest a while ago, I’ve been wanting to snap some photies of my beautifully growing Bean in my wedding dress.  For visual & nostalgic wonderment now, yes, but also for display on her wedding day.  In, you know, 35 years. To say she’s been eager to don “the dress” for the camera would… Read More

Cute Stuff, Motherhood, Photography, The Kiddos

My Children Are Going To Need Therapy

It occurred to me, while sending my hubby a desperate “pray for me…and while you’re at it, pray harder for your children” text earlier this week, that our little loin-fruit are going to require an exorbitant amount of therapy as they age.  Compliments of their mother. I have no idea what the state of your relationship with your hormones is,… Read More

Keepin' it Real, Marriage, Motherhood

Dear Unpleasant Children

This is your mother.  I wanted to clarify in case you mistook me for a crazy, grocery-cart-pushin’ gypsy– which, admittedly, is wildly tempting right now – but it’s not.  It’s just me. The little shreds of me that are still clinging desperately to what sanity is left, that is. I considered myself a roaring success when the thought of listing… Read More

Faith, Family, Keepin' it Real, Motherhood, Redemption, 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

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

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

Baby Smooches

I’m home.  The retreat was fabulous {or at least I thought it was…and I didn’t put anyone to sleep}. Our 1st annual church harvest party was a blast…we broke in our new fire pit, took 17 people on a hayride behind my hubby’s sexy tractor, taste tested 8 different pots of chili, sipped hot cider with entirely too much whipped… Read More

Complete nonsense, Friendship, Motherhood, Photography

Fun School Printables

We’re headed into our fourth week of school for our little lass and I must admit, apart from getting to spend precious time alone with my sweet Bug, one of my favorite parts of her being in preschool is getting to pack her lunch. I love it! Because I’m easy to please like that. And because I love punching cheese… Read More

Designs, Motherhood, Printables, The Kiddos

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 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.

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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 the 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 the “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 Aid 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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