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Simply Bloom Co.

Where Passion & Purpose Collide

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{My} Snow Babies

           {they’re my favorite frozen treats!}

The Kiddos

Garam Masala & Indian Apricot Chicken

I may have become disenchanted with eating meat, but I have fallen in love with spice{s}.  And spices with quality meat equals one happy girl! First it was cumin.  Then coriander.  And I’ve always loved curry {but hey, I’m South African…it comes with the territory}.  Now…it’s Garam Masala. We purchased a little bag of this […]

Food

How to Catch the Moon

To say I’m still figuring out how to use my new camera would be an understatement of lunar proportions. But, playing with shutter speed is proving to be quite fun!    What exactly am I trying to photograph here…{while making hearts in the sky}? Why, the gorgeous full moon, of course!

Photography

Revisit: Discombobulated

You’ll find a previous post of mine over at Inner Fulfillment today…

Faith, Guest Post

A Soapbox Moment from a Meat-Lovin’ Girl

If I wasn’t a South African, meat-lovin’ girl, I would seriously consider becoming a vegetarian {gasp!}. I pulled off our first official Meatless Monday yesterday with a rave review from my hubby and kids {they ate it…does that count?}.  Who knew northern beans could put on such a sassy show outside of a pot of […]

Frugal Living, Health, Keepin' it Real

Loin-Fruit Love {it’s Black and White}

“Making the decision to have a child is momentous.  It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body” ~  Elizabeth Stone Cricket: “Mama…you are best!  You are my favorite!  I have fallen in love with you…and we will be married in the morning!”

The Kiddos

{Homemade} Granola

I’m addicted to granola.  Absolutely. and completely.  hooked. But I’m not a fan of the price. The solution?  I make my own.  And then eat ungodly healthy amounts of it with our homemade yogurt.  Bliss! {Divine} Granola                 Ingredients: 12 cups of old fashioned oats 1 1/2 cups of wheat bran 1/2 cup of flax […]

Food

Messy.

The vacation bag sits.  Unpacked. Totes still sit, in this corner and that, filled with papers, cords and frames without a home.  Sitting, since our move last May. Dust collects.  Colonies of bunnies abound. Handprints multiply on unwashed windows, giving an almost 3D appearance to the greasy forms. Dirty laundry piles grow outside of laundry […]

Faith

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, […]

Marriage

Happy Day

Just checkin’ in to say… “Happy Valentine’s Day” {hope it’s sweet}

Complete nonsense, Photography

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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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