Page 2 (1/2)

He’d never heard of Quilts of Valor prior to being presented with the special gift But that red, white, and blue quilt had given hiuratively—while he was recuperating

Which hy he was in Pine Hill, to thank the quilt’s maker in person

He owed her more than a siive

A thank-you, and then he’d be on his way

Hu over the church’s intercoh a cut piece of plastic canvas The snowflakes she made each year with the pieces of canvas and yarn were some of her favorite homemade Christmas decorations

She glanced around the roo ornaments to be sold at Pine Hill’s annual On-the-Square Christmas Festival Many of the twenty or so volunteers were the sa faces who had helped with Sarah’s past projects—people she adored

With her employment as Pine Hill Church’s administrative assistant and special projects planner, Sarah was always organizing so Often, she believed their projects helped those participating as much as—and someti truly was better than receiving, which hy Sarah loved Christmas so much

She enjoyed everything about Christmas The decorations, the sood cheer that prevailed The get-togethers with fa sweeter If it were up to her, she’d arrange for Christmas to come way more often than just once a year

“I couldn’t do this without

you all,” she told the group of wo at her table The Butterflies, as they referred to the to make the plastic canvas snowflake ornaments

Sarah’s projects would be nothing without the Butterflies to see her ideas to fruition She could always count on theinning, and she loved them dearly

“Yeah, yeah” Maybelle Kirby’s old blue eyes didn’t lift fro sparkly white sequins to a finished snowflake “Use it or lose it, I always say And these old bones ain’t got ”

Maybelle was Sarah’s favorite—possibly because she had been Aunt Jean’s best friend The to military s, neither of whoh in her early seventies now, and the oldest of the group of volunteers, Maybelle was a firecracker and kne to do just about anything Sarah took a fancy to learn As the church’s previous special projects planner, Maybelle had been adopting do-gooders such as Sarah for years and was a fount of knowledge and encourageht Maybelle missed her role as planner That hy she made sure she kept the woman involved

“Besides, so a few chuckles from the others at her table “Don’t kno you think you’re ever going to meet a man if all you do is work, work, work”

So Like when it cah to be honest, it wasn’t just Maybelle All four woht it their responsibility to marry Sarah off