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Simply Bloom Co.

Where Passion & Purpose Collide

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I’m Alive!

We’ve been a busy bunch around here over the past two weeks! Between family festivities, the dynamic food-friends-fun combination, weeding and watering our growing veggie garden, multiple dips in the lake, our first camping trip, a week of recovery from laser eye surgery, and far too many trips to the Whippy Dip to mention, I haven’t had a moment to… Read More

Daily Life, Photography, Quotes and Scriptures, The Kiddos

Peonies & Aperture {& your June Desktop Wallpaper}

This is what happens when you put fuschia, aqua and avocado green in the same square foot. It creates beauty of epic proportion. When we were house hunting 3 years ago, anticipating my disappointment at the arrival of a new Spring without the 100+ tulips that I had grown accustomed to {and waited with baited breath for} that spilled out… Read More

Designs, Desktop Wallpaper, Garden, Photography, Quotes and Scriptures

Plane Spotting

{Wordless Wednesday}

Photography, The Kiddos

Lambs, Calves & Kids…oh my!

Despite the chill and whippy wind, our littles had a glorious morn with friends and baby animals.  And a wagon ride.  And, lest we forget the food, pizza.  What’s not to love? We trekked out to a little family-owned petting farm where we got to lay eyes on the most darling 4 day old lambs and 2 day old {pygmy}… Read More

Cute Stuff, Photography, The Kiddos, Travels

Do Not Worry

“Do not worry about your life. Do not worry about what you are going to eat and drink. Do not worry about what you are going to wear. Is not life more important than food? Is not the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds in the sky. They do not plant seeds. They do not gather grain…. Read More

Photography, Quotes and Scriptures, The Kiddos

Spring has Sprung

We enjoyed a ridiculously mild winter up here in the Midwest, and despite having the chill return to the air over the past couple of days, we are soaking up a stunningly early Spring. Signs of new life are exploding on every branch, the breeze is infused with the sweet scent of blossoms, and the lush green grass is once… Read More

Faith, Garden, Photography

Busy, Busy, Bug, Butter & Bars

{If you’re here for a recipe…scroll down and avoid the dross.  You’re welcome} As I type, my loved ones are passed out in their respective rooms, drooling, quite possibly, the dishwasher is running, the yogurt and kefir are culturing in their respective jars, the kettle is boiling {hallelujah!} and the wheat berries are soaking in preparation for sprouting. I love… Read More

Daily Life, Family, Food, Keepin' it Real, Photography, The Kiddos

Paisley & Sugar

Paisley & Sugar

Oh yes…there’s more! While I realize I don’t write an actual foodie blog, there is just no denying that I’ve been bitten by the baking bug lately. I just can’t seem to get enough of making sugar pretty and colorful. So I’m dragging you along with me for the ride {good thing photos are calorie free, eh?”} Next sugar cookie… Read More

Cute Stuff, Designs, Food, Photography

Lasagna {rockin’ the Cupcake tin}

I got adventurous at the grocery store last week and grabbed some wonton wrappers as I walked by the Asian section.  I know, I’m a wild woman. I didn’t have a clue what I was going to make with them, but didn’t care.  I have Pinterest for that. Low and behold…these little suckers showed up.  And I pinned them faster… Read More

Food, Photography

Simply Soup {Pumpkin, Split Pea & Lentil}

While we haven’t experienced anything like our usual winter here in Michigan {and I am not complaining…the sunshine makes this gal one happy mama!}, if it’s not flip-flop weather…it’s soup season!  Regardless of what the temperature gauge says. Soup is cheap, easy and oh so tasty! So I have three of our favorites thick, creamy soup recipes right here for… Read More

Food, Frugal Living, Photography

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

Butternut Squash Cake {with Cream Cheese Frosting}

As if we needed more reasons to love squash…I present you with…CAKE!           Butternut Squash Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting                    Ingredients: 3/4 cup butter, softened {not melted} 1 1/2 cups of white sugar 3 eggs 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda 1/2 teaspoon of salt 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon of ground… Read More

Food, Garden, Photography

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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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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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