Prit and I are in Fayetteville this weekend, so we decided to attend Northwood Temple Church’s special 4th of July production. Northwood has been one of our main supporting churches for years, and it always feels like coming home when we get to be a part of their services.

After the production, everyone was treated to a special lunch of hots dogs, baked beans, barbecue, potato salad, slaw, and dessert. Knowing there was going to be a cobbler contest and that the judges were going to hand out three prizes: $25 (third place), $50 (second place), and $75 (first place), I decided to try my hand at winning one of them. My goal was to use the money for one of the many needed projects we’re working on in Haiti.

With a little help from Paula Deen, I made a butterscotch caramel peach cobbler. Prit and my in-laws were only too happy to serve as my “taste testers.” Since they all returned for seconds, I thought maybe, just maybe, I could win. I made a second cobbler, this time sprinkling in chopped pecans.

This morning, however, when I dropped my dessert off at the church’s kitchen, my heart sank. I counted 15 different cobblers on the table and knew there would be more women dropping theirs off, too. Northwood has some great Southern cooks and I knew the competition would be stiff.

Third, then second, then first prize were announced. Just as I suspected, there were other cobblers far superior to mine. Even Paula Deen couldn’t save me! However, I was happy to see our dear friend and a faithful supporter of Rehoboth Ministries, Maggie Andrews, receive first prize.

As Prit and I went to congratulate her, she looked at us and said, “Wait just a minute.” Placing her money-filled envelope on the table, she quickly scribbled, “In honor of Connie Jones for the sewing project.” Connie was a friend of hers who passed away a little over a year ago. Maggie then took it, handed it to me, and said, “Please put this towards your sewing center  project.” You can only imagine my surprise, joy, and thankfulness all wrapped up into one!

So, as far as being the first-prize winner – I wasn’t. But, having a first-prize friend donate her first-prize money to our ministry was even better!

If you would like to join Maggie in helping us with our sewing center project, read our previous post, Project #6: Sewing Center.