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Where Passion & Purpose Collide

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At The Well, Guest Post {Filled With His Glory}

Happy Sunday, friends!  And what a gorgeous day it is up in our neck of the woods. You’ll find this week’s guest post right here, At The Well

Designs, Guest Post, Photography, Quotes and Scriptures

At The Well, Guest Post {Teach Them}

When we pick up gorgeous, deep red leaves from the ground during fall, or catch the intricacies of the perfect snowflake on a black-sweatered arm in the chill of winter, it is here that we cultivate an awe for our Creator in their tender hearts.  In chalk Bible stories sketched out on the driveway, alongside scribbled hop scotch squares.  Or… Read More

Designs, Guest Post, Photography, Quotes and Scriptures

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

A Daddy’s Lens & Some {Killer} Photography Tips

When asked what we had hoped for during those first few months of pregnancy, gender wise, of course we delivered the customary, good parent response…”a healthy baby!”. But if we had been brutally honest, I would have totally whispered…I’d love a girl!  And I scored with our sweet Bean. My hubby was just thrilled with his healthy baby girl –… Read More

Photography, The Kiddos, Tutorial

At The Well: Guest Post

Check out this week’s guest post here, At The Well

Guest Post, Photography, Quotes and Scriptures

ATW Guest Post & Conference

Check out today’s guest post here: At The Well And while I’m on the topic of love, join me at the Replenish Your Soul Marriage Conference, hosted by At The Well, on Thursday, November 3rd at 1:00pm.  I’ll be speaking about one of my husband’s and my absolute favorite topics to challenge couples on…intimacy!  I even get to answer questions… Read More

Designs, Guest Post, Photography, Quotes and Scriptures

Rhubarb Sour Cream Pie

I must confess, I was a little intimidated when a friend handed me a bundle of rhubarb and my husband’s face lit up. He adores rhubarb sour cream pie.  His mama made it.  His grandma makes it.  His wife had never even laid her hands on rhubarb.  And we know how horribly things went last time I tried to make… Read More

Food, Photography

Excuses, Updates and an ATW Guest Post

Contrary to what a lack of posts for almost a week may depict, I’m alive and semi-well.  Emphasis on semi. Our wee babes and I are all fighting colds, a sinus infection and an ear infection {nicely distributed between the three of us}.  Life is peachy!  Speaking of peaches…our little tree is dropping gorgeous, juicy peaches daily and I’ve been… Read More

Complete nonsense, Daily Life, Family, Guest Post, Photography, Quotes and Scriptures

Guess What Today Was…?

And she was as ready as can be.  Happy dance ready!  And loved every minute of it.

Motherhood, Photography, The Kiddos

At The Well: Guest Post {2 Ears, 1 Mouth}

I get that mixed up on occasion.  I tend to live the Picasso life…as though my face boasted two mouths and one little ear.  And I mean little. The book of James is a fabulous {challenging…convicting} reminder to tend to the often malfunctioning filter on my flapping tongue, and to open my ears instead… {read this guest post here}

Designs, Guest Post, Photography, Quotes and Scriptures

At The Well: Guest Post {Perfect Peace}

Yes, you’ve seen this photo before!  I love it!  And I couldn’t wait until this guest post was published, so I turned it into August’s desktop wallpaper and shared it 2 weeks ago! Impatient…who me? Do you struggle with trusting God?  With every thing? With the big things?  And the small?  And the everyday, seemingly-trivial details of life? Marinade your… Read More

Designs, Guest Post, Photography, Quotes and Scriptures

Fish: From Lake to Plate in 12 Hours Flat

My hubby and I spent the day at Michigan’s Adventure with fabulous friends yesterday, while our kiddos stayed home with nana and papa.  I got entirely too much sun, ate entirely too much food, and had entirely too much fun on the rides.  Going down water slides, over and over and over again – just us adults – was just… Read More

Food, Photography, Travels

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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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