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Simply Bloom Co.

Where Passion & Purpose Collide

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When You Feel Like A Train Wreck {Hope For The Weary Mom}

When You Feel Like A Train Wreck {Hope For The Weary Mom}

To the mom who is weary and overwhelmed, painfully aware of her short fuse and tired of the sound of her own voice… I get it. I’ve become really good at saying, “I’m sorry” since becoming a mom. Learn to embrace grace.  This is one of the most important things you can model for your children.   To the mom… Read More

Daily Life, Family, Grace, Keepin' it Real, Motherhood, Printables, Quotes and Scriptures, The Kiddos

4 Ways to Love Your Husband {When He’s Being Unlovable}…plus Printable

4 Ways to Love Your Husband {When He’s Being Unlovable}…plus Printable

This post is alternately entitled:  “You’re Being A Punk…But I Still Love You”. A sweet friend of mine texted me a couple of months ago with a plea that read something like this…”please write a post on loving our husbands when they’re being unlovable.  I need it and know a few women who could really use the encouragement right now”,… Read More

Designs, Grace, Keepin' it Real, Marriage, Printables, Quotes and Scriptures

*UPDATED Family Rules Printable for LE Families

*UPDATED Family Rules Printable for LE Families

I’ve been amazed by the response to the Family Rules {Printable} I posted a while back.  It’s been repinned more than any other printable I’ve ever posted, and I continue to hear from wives whose hearts have been captured, or rather tugged, by it. Why?  Because it was designed specifically for Law Enforcement families and because, well…this is a unique… Read More

Designs, Faith, Family, Grace, Keepin' it Real, Printables

5 Things You Should Know About Spanx

5 Things You Should Know About Spanx

We attended our very first Policeman’s Ball a couple of weeks ago, and while the exquisite $14.60 thrift-store dress was a highlight of my night, what loomed beneath was not… 5 Things You Should Know About Spanx 1.     While you may anticipate spanx becoming your new best friend, it will not.  It can rather be likened to the fickle friend… Read More

Complete nonsense, Keepin' it Real

The Evolution of {an unwanted} Design

The Evolution of {an unwanted} Design

While you may find this hard to believe, what with my mad design skills and all {cough cough}, I occasionally design something for a client that doesn’t inspire shrieks of joy and spontaneous outbursts of the Harlem Shake. Sometimes they hate it, but graciously say, “I’m…just…not feelin’ it, sorry”. And then there are those times that I design something that… Read More

Complete nonsense, Designs, Keepin' it Real

2013 : The Lost Art of Sacrifice

2013 : The Lost Art of Sacrifice

I realize this renders me a freak of nature, but I really like Mondays.  Less freakish is my adoration of the new year. You see, I love new beginnings. I live for fresh starts. Do-overs rock my socks off. And my muffin-top, if done correctly. My hubby thinks I am a dork {albeit a “cute” one} and is not a… Read More

Faith, Goals, Grace, Home, Keepin' it Real

How to be a Royally Obnoxious Christian in 15 Easy Steps

How to be a Royally Obnoxious Christian in 15 Easy Steps

A Tongue-in-Cheek Message to {Churchy} Church Folk 1. Talk the Talk : Speak in King James lingo with awkward familiarity, boasting a heavy dose of “Christianese”. Be sure to mention “being washed in the blood of the Lamb”, while dropping words like “sanctified”, “righteousness” and “cleansing” like cheerios in the hands on toddlers. Throw in a few “amen”s and “bless… Read More

Faith, Grace, Keepin' it Real

To the Scrumptious One

…whom my heart adores! 9 years ago today, I stood before you in white – adorned with miniscule pearls, an annoyingly poufy veil, and a tan so dark it appeared my head couldn’t possibly belong to the same body – excited beyond belief to become Mrs. McMillan. And the sound of those two words together…”Joy”, followed by a sing-songy “McMillan”…still… Read More

Faith, Keepin' it Real, Love, Marriage

12 Things I Have Learned While Potty Training A Boy

1.  Do not crouch down beside the gunslinger, no matter how much encouragement and assistance you feel it necessary to deliver.  High velocity urine ricochets off open toilet seats.  And burns eyeballs. 2.  The perimeter outside which half-read magazines could lay open beside the loo, in wait for the next 2 second bathroom break, has increased by 3 feet. 3. … Read More

Complete nonsense, Keepin' it Real, 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

{Smile}

…because your teeth can’t possibly be more rebellious than his.

Complete nonsense, Keepin' it Real, Photography

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

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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.
Follow @SimplyBloomJoy

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