In the Heart of Joy....Joy, Texas that is

Or maybe that should be Joy in the Heart. I think there was some Joy put in Heart's of youngsters this weekend!

Brandon is the Vice President of the National Wild Turkey federation Red River Division. This past weekend, they held a hunt for three special kids in Joy, Texas. Which is where Brandon's deer lease is and where almost his entire family lives. We went down to Joy Friday night and met some of the boys and their dads. There was Justin, 16, who had a serious knee injury playing football this year; Caleb, 11(?), who has bone cancer; and Dustin 9 (?), who has Cerebral Palsy. Carter, Brandon, and I spent the night at Brandon's mom's house and the boys and the rest of the gang stayed at the Joy Community Center. The next morning they got up way to early for my taste and got in the deer blinds. Might I add that a cold front came in at about midnight Friday night so it was plenty cold in those blinds I'm sure! Unfortunately no one got a deer that morning (in fact, they didn't even see anything!).

Everyone gathered at the community center where Brandon had cooked Brisket (which is to die for - best i've ever tasted) and all the fixings. It was nice to get to meet all of the kids families as well. Carter loved walking around and around getting into anything he could too. Also, my brother's girlfriend is a reporter for Channel 6 news, so she brought a camera man out and they did a story on it. Here is a link if you want to watch the story:

http://www.kauz.com/news/local/13921027.html

Carter and I came back home Saturday afternoon and Brandon stayed down in Joy with the boys. They went back out Saturday evening and didn't have any luck then either. But Sunday morning, Caleb harvested a doe!! He was so excited! And I know his family was too. His mother kept saying "I don't even know how to cook deer meat!" Fortunately, one of the ladies that helped out had a magazine with recipes in it.

All in all, it was a rewarding (and tiring!) experience for everyone involved. And we were all so happy for Caleb. It will be something that he and his family will remember forever.

On a side note, Carter and I drove back down there Sunday to pick up Brandon and we waited for them to find the doe at the land owner's house with his wife, 5 month old baby girl, and Caleb's mom. So, of course he is like a wild-whobangee-indian, trying to get into everything he sees. But his curiousity is so cute sometimes! Allison, their baby girl, was in her exer-saucer, playing and Carter walked up and was playing with the toys as well, and then he just decided to stick his whole index finger in her mouth! It was hilarious! I'm sure she was like - "what is going on here!!" hahahaha!

Also, here is an article that was in the paper Sunday about the event:

http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2008/jan/19/experiencing-thrill-of-1st-hunt/