We had a little party tonight that turned out to be pretty nice, especially given the short notice in which it was thrown together.  I sent out a little over twenty Facebook invites a couple days ago, figuring most people wouldn’t be able to make it.  I got confirmations that Nick and Amy Warkentien, Seth and Dana Holloman, Blake and Stephanie Konny and Kevin and Lauren Millard were coming.  On top of that, Amanda invited Cyra Sherburn and Jon… I forget Jon’s last name.  Seth called this evening and said that Gavin, his son, had had an ear infection and Dana was pretty worn out from taking care of him, so they ended up not coming.  Blake texted me, however, and asked if we minded them bringing another couple.  It turned out to be Josh and Beckah Asselin.  Josh I know from seeing him around church here and there.

We had a really good time.  The Millards knew the Warkentiens a little, and the Warkentiens knew the Asselins, or at least Nick knows Josh decently well as they work together.  Other than that, nobody knew anybody else, but everyone talked and got along together just peachy.  Half the women (Amanda, Amy and Lauren) were pregnant, so as you might guess, that was a popular topic.  It was a good turnout, and everyone seemed to enjoy getting to know each other.

After a while we played the Blake Game, and as much as I hate to admit it, the girls owned us guys.  I think the score was 70-something to 50-something.  We started on a second round, but in this one instead of everyone doing three or four names, some people, myself included, did a whole bunch.  In total, there were 110 names in the second Blake Game of the night.

Nick and Amy got a phone call early on in it and Cyra and Jon took the opportunity to take off.  The phone call turned out to be in regards to Nick’s sister, Missy.  Things aren’t going the best for her.  After the phone call Amy started a prayer and once it was done she started the game back up.  We all felt a bit somber but she moved us past that.

We finished the first round of the second Blake Game with a score of guys: 57, girls: 53.  We decided it would take too long to play through and people were ready to start heading home, so we just let Kevin do a few names of the second round, which is the charades round.  After that everybody still stuck around for a little bit, still chatting and hanging out.  Lauren, in particular, was enthralled by Amy’s big belly.  As you may recall, Amy is due sometime in March while Lauren is due just a couple weeks before Amanda.

Amanda touched Amy’s belly button, which she knows earns her a wet willy, but Amy wasn’t able to find Amanda’s ear beneath her hair.  Amy’s belly button extroverted itself some time ago.  Amanda’s has gotten shallower and shallower, and today when I ran my hand across her belly you could hardly tell it was there, so I expect hers will be sticking out before long too.

Everyone eventually took off, half of them logging on to Facebook as soon as thry got home to mention what a fun night they had.  I told Amanda that that’s the number one thing to do in America now after you’ve gone out- go home and post something on Facebook.  I’m guilty too; the first thing I did when everyone left was to go update my Facebook status.

I also told Amanda that in the future you’ll be issued a Facebook account along with your Social Security Number at birth.  She asked who was predicting that and I was tempted to act serious about it.

The big question of the night though is this: Who is Nikki Spade?  The answer is: I have no idea who Nikki Spade is.  All I know is that she’s apparently from Richlands but lives or has lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, not far from where Nick and Amy are from.  Amanda, Michael and Nick have all received Facebook friend requests from her, but none of them seems to know who she is and it seems to keep randomly popping up in conversations.  I was chatting with Michael, who said that Chris Flowers (also from Richlands) doesn’t know who she is either, so I thought about starting a group about it.  Michael suggested doing that very thing as I was moving my mouse to start it.  So now there’s a new Facebook group called “I have no idea who Nikki Spade is.”  Chris figures there will be 100 people on it tomorrow.

I’m still on the verge of being sick.  I suppose that means I actually am sick, but I started taking medicine at the first signs and have been drinking Sunny Delight and popping vitamin C.  Right now I feel stuffy with a scratchy throat.  I really am trying to stave it off.

I should mention that the month finished out strong for work.  A couple weeks ago, as I might have mentioned, I was looking at a pretty dismal month of commission.  The last week, though not crazy busy, turned things around pretty well for me.  I think I’ve got momentum going into February too, so hopefully we can keep things going well on that front.

Zach Dotsey