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Simply Bloom Co.

Where Passion & Purpose Collide

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The Soundtrack of my Day

“Mommy, I’m hungry” {this usually happens 2.3 seconds after getting down from the table after a meal}. “Can I have something special?  Because you l-o-v-e me?” {What?  Boy, do I ever regret giving her a little treat for no reason, punctuating it with…”just because I love you, sweetie” and a wink.  6 months ago.  This child has a selective memory… Read More

The Kiddos

Baby Bug: Heart Update

  The only way someone – not acquainted with our little fam – would ever know this little babe has a heart anomaly, is the occasional glimpse of an electrode or two peeking up from the holter monitor strapped to his chest, beneath his shirt.  And he is only required to wear one every few months.  Thankfully.  Keeping 5 little… Read More

The Kiddos

Vote for {Dirt} Bug

Click here to vote for our little warrior in the Parent’s Magazine “Best Facial Expressions” contest.  You can vote daily {hint hint}.

The Kiddos

Snakes and Snails, and Lego Raptor Tails

Little boys are somewhat foreign territory to me.  Okay, fine…totally foreign territory. I must confess I was just a little terrified when I found out we were having a boy.  I just don’t know how to do boy stuff.  And I must say, I’m quite comfortable with the lack of flaunted bodily functions, daily need for superglue, and pain infliction. … Read More

Family, Motherhood, The Kiddos

Play Make-Up for Little Ladies

  To wrap up the estrogen fest that has been my blog during my daughter’s birthday week…I present you with this super-easy, slightly-nasally-offensive tutorial {aren’t I sweet?}. Around the time my daughter turned 2, she started getting more eager to apply make-up alongside mommy in the mirror.  And while the thought of primping with her at my side delights me…the… Read More

Crafts and Activities, The Kiddos

Our Girls Ghana Wild

These little ladies are the best of friends. They also happen to be cousins.  Just 8 months apart. When we lived with my parents for 11 months last year, these two spend almost 4 days of every week together.  And they still couldn’t get enough of each other.    There’s nothing quite like belly laughs between friends on your birthday…. Read More

The Kiddos

Assembly Required: A Birthday Story

{alternately entitled: the things we do for our kids…} Good morning, sweet birthday girl. Your daddy bought you flowers!   He also happened to bring in your massive birthday present from the garage. {please notice the Christmas wrapping paper, for that was the plan…had we not all been sharing one room at my parents house with no room for enormous… Read More

Motherhood, The Kiddos

3 Years of Cricket Love

2 years ago we gathered to celebrate your life.  Your first year of life. What a glorious day of reflection. Your sweet spirited, delightfully fun, {painfully} strong-willed sassy self was turning 1 and we couldn’t believe how time had flown. And then… before we knew it, you were turning 2…and falling in love with a boy. We made you half… Read More

Family, The Kiddos

Sugar and Spice and all things…Oxytocin?

You’ve heard it.  We all have. Boys and girls are drastically different in their wiring. As mommies, we see it daily. But something I didn’t realize until today {when I popped open my November 2009 Parents magazine – yes, I’m way behind – for a much anticipated moment of mommy-is-on-the-loo-leave-me-alone-for-just-2-minutes reading} is this: Little girls tend to produce more oxytocin,… Read More

Family, The Kiddos

{Love}Bug

I just go buggy for this boy! {how could you not…just look at that toothy grin}

The Kiddos

{enough said}

 

The Kiddos

Need I say more…?

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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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.
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