Amazon - Starbucks Natural Fusions Coffee Deal

Hey everyone. I just heard about this deal on Amazon for Starbucks Natural Fusions Coffee for $6.50 for a 2pack shipped.

Go to Amazon and add either one of the following products to your cart:

Starbucks Natural Fusions Ground Coffee, Cinnamon Flavored, 11-Ounce Packages (Pack of 2)

or:

Starbucks Natural Fusions Ground Coffee, Vanilla Flavored, 11-Ounce Packages (Pack of 2)

The coupon codes to be used at checkout are: FUSIONC5 and STARBUK3 which should bring your total down to $6.50 for a 2pack.

You can get free shipping if you aren't currently a member of Amazon Prime by applying for Amazon Mom, which is a program for caregivers that gives you free Amazon Prime membership for three months (and with the Amazon Prime you get free shipping).

I don't drink coffee, so I haven't personally tried this one out yet, so if you do happen to try it and find that it isn't bringing the total down to $6.50 a 2pack, will you let me know?

Wow.

I'm seriously behind the times when it comes to blogging. I have to admit that I spend much more time keeping up with Facebook than I do keeping up with the blog.

One of the reasons I wanted to post tonight was to let you know that I'm getting setup as an Amazon Affiliate which basically means that if you plan to purchase something from Amazon, and you follow my link, I get a small referral fee.

This is a new adventure for me and I'm looking forward to seeing what potential might be there. You know how it is - in this economy, you have to do everything you possibly can to make those ends meet. I'm also trying to work to save some money aside for our ten year anniversary, which is only about 2.5 years away. CRAZY. We want to do something special since we never went on a honeymoon, so I'm setting aside for that a percentage of the profit from various endeavors I tackle.

Feel free to spread the word to any of your friends who might consider purchasing something from Amazon. All you need to do is follow the link from the sidebar. Thanks!

The Big Meeting

Thanks to those of you who prayed for our meeting with Jonathan's birthmom. This was the first time we've seen her in person since she was discharged from the hospital after he was born. We've sent pictures all throughout the past 15 months. After his birthday, our agreement only required us to send pictures once annually, but we asked her what her preference would be continuing forward. We want to always be sensitive to her. If she wants to see pictures, she can. If she doesn't want to see them, we won't send them. She did thank us for sending more pictures and for being willing to meet with her and let her see him even though we do not have to based on our adoption agreement.

Around Christmas we were thinking that it might be nice to ask if she wanted to see him. It took until now to find a time that worked for all of us. We were able to get some pictures with Jonathan and his brothers together as well as a few with Jonathan and his birthmom. Those are pictures that we'll be able to set aside and far down the road be able to share with Jonathan when the timing is right. Obviously I won't post the pictures here as she deserves to maintain her privacy and not have her picture out on the web.

As we walked away from the meeting, I couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. We had a good meeting. She was able to see him interact with us, ask questions and know that he is in a great home and loved beyond measure. I'm thankful that she is still at peace about her decision (something both she and her mom, who was there as well, shared with me).

We have been blessed. Jonathan is amazing and it is hard to imagine him not being a part of our lives, but that absolutely would have been true had she not chosen the route of adoption and picked us to rear him. I praise God for His leading in our lives and in her life to bring us together.

My Christmas Tree

Okay, so at this point, if you even remotely know us, you know that I love to joke around that I'm married to the Grinch. He isn't really a Grinch but mainly just rejects the commercialism that surrounds Christmas. So, for the 6.5 years we have been married, there have been no Christmas decorations found adorning our home around the holidays. This year Jonathan turned 14 months just before Christmas. I started telling Mike that this might have to be the last year he can be a Grinch and that next year I would like to have a tree since Jonathan will be more aware of what is going on around him next year. We can develop our own Christmas traditions and as a family we can make sure that our Christmas is not enveloped in commercialism and yes, we can do that WITH a Christmas tree.

So after Christmas I began looking for an artificial tree on sale. I was hoping to hit the good deals at Target or something and find one to stash for next year. Well, I was walking through Walgreens one day and saw a sign on one of their store display trees that said "Open Box Christmas Tree, $14.99". So, I asked one of the employees if that meant that they do actually have the box or if it came without the box. She asked a manager and the manager came back and said if I wanted it I could have it for $5.00. I decided I would take it and kind of assumed they would take off the decorations, but instead they just pushed it over to the beauty counter and told me I could check out there.

In the mean time, the reason I was at Walgreens is that for the month of January, using coupons from back in October, you could get 2 Bayer Blood Glucose Monitors for free and it would spit out $13.00 in Walgreens Money. I believe that over the course of the month I picked up somewhere in the vicinity of 165 meters. For those of you doing math in your head, that is approximately $1072.50 in Walgreens money that I earned last month to spend on diapers, milk, food and etc...

So back to my Christmas tree. I went to check out and my total was $5.35 and they didn't remove ANY of the decorations. Bonus. I handed her one of the aforementioned Walgreens money (AKA Register Rewards) that I got free. She didn't think she could use it on a clearance item but the manager told her that if the register would accept it, she could take it. One quick scan later, my total was $0.35 for my Christmas tree. Almost giddy with excitement, I handed her the change and with one hand on the cart containing my son and one hand carrying my artificial tree, blissfully walked out to the car. I did have some fun getting it in, but the fact that I had a Christmas tree and even more so that I only paid $0.35 in real money for it completely made my day.

Oh yes, and my favorite Grinch's response? He claimed that I defiled his house by bringing the tree in it. I think he really is okay with it though. Now if I could just find a box to store it in for the next year...now if I only had a garage to store the box in for the next year...oh well. Today I choose to be thankful for my tree.

PS...for the life of me, I can't get the paragraph spacing to work, so you'll just have to imagine they are there. It is actually driving me crazy...

A Few Christmas Pictures

Here are some pictures of us the Sunday after Christmas. I love Jonathan's little outfit. I found this outfit at Sears a few months before we even knew about Jonathan. It was normally $30.00 on sale for $14.99 on CLEARANCE for $1.49. WHOHOO. I picked it up thinking that maybe I would use it as a shower gift or something. Little did I know at that time that God had already planned the little man who would perfectly fit this outfit this Christmas. Praise the Lord.

Family Portrait

Mike's mom was with us for Christmas, so we had her take a family picture before we went on a walk with the dogs. Here we are - all seven of us - getting everyone to look at once - virtually impossible.

He's WALKING

Hey Everyone, sorry that it has been so long since I updated. I tend to do a lot more updating on Facebook nowadays since I can better control who sees our information. However, I know a few of you don't use Facebook, so just for you, here is little man walking:

Yes, I know there is no video to see yet. I tried uploading it and it thought and thought and thought and never finished. I finally gave up. The video isn't that long, so I'm not sure what the hold up is. I'll try again tomorrow. Instead I will give you a picture of him that I love - this is my current favorite...