The Darrel L. and Joanne Hammon 2015 Christmas Letter

The Darrel L. and Joanne Hammon 2015 Christmas Letter

Another year has fled, and we don’t know where it has gone. But what a year we and our family have had.

Anna Rose and Christiaan, Emiline, and William

Anna Rose and Christiaan—The Johnson family still lives in Sandy, Utah. Anna Rose was promoted at Cricut and is enjoying her new position. Emiline began first grade, and William continues to attend the pre-school at the Dancing Mouse, a Montessori School where they both attend. Emiline is reading chapter books, and William can count both in Spanish and English. Plus, he knows several Spanish words that he is learning from his bilingual class. It is wonderful to listen to him speak in his shy voice. Emiline and William have spent several weekends with us this year.

Grandpa and Grandma with Emiline and Willliam at Thanksgiving 2015

We have had a ton of fun with them. Anna Rose, Christiaan, and family try to have dinner or lunch here with us or us with them at their home or our home at least once per week. Sometimes, it has stretched a couple of weeks. While they live just 45 minutes away, it is still a challenge sometimes to see them once per week. We did spend Thanksgiving in Sandy with them and the Johnson family.

Hailey and Joseph with Avonlea and Clark

Hailey and Joseph—This little family continues to grow and develop. In October, Hailey became a reporter for the Concordia newspaper, The Concordia Blade. As you all know, Hailey knows how to put words on a page and has become an instant hit in Concordia for her no-nonsense incredible writing. Some people have stopped her on the streets and have said “how refreshing” her writing is.  

Clark, first day of pre-school

 Clark turned three and is now going to pre-school a couple of times a week. He can count to twenty, say his ABCs (in singing fashion), and loves to watch movies with his dad. Little Avonlea crawls, stands by herself, dances, loves attention, and will be walking by Christmas, maybe even before. Her resplendent blue eyes captivate all of us. Her hair has decided it can grow and is now a beautiful strawberry blonde. She reminds us a lot of Hailey….

Grandma with William and Emiline

Joanne—Joanne continues to work at the BYU Health Center. She works about 28 hours per week and loves being there. She also took three cooking classes—Breads, Spices, and Desserts—from the Utah Valley University (UVU) Professional Continuing Education Department. We all enjoy her final projects and her continuing homework. Yum! Joanne’s fun project this summer was planning for and directing the Young Women’s Camp for our Church. They took 34 young women plus their youth leaders. She had a great time although exhaustive.

Grandpa and Avonlea

Darrel—Darrel continues at UVU and writes for DeseretConnect, publishing several articles, including one that had 1.9 million hits! He also took two different classes from UVU: Pottery and Watercolor. Plus, he taught a creative writing seminar at UVU’s Capitol Reef Station in May. What a great experience that was! He accompanied a group of UVU students to the Dominican Republic where they constructed prosthetic legs for 25 patients in Santo Domingo and La Vega. They worked with the Asociación Dominicana de Rehabilitación (ADR) in completing this great work. We worked with the ADR while on our mission in the Caribbean Area Welfare Office.

Joanne and Darrel at Thanksgiving (Johnson's house in Sandy)

Joanne and Darrel—We continue to volunteer at the Volunteer Care Clinic, a free health clinic for those most in need and without insurance. The majority of the patients are Latinos; so, Darrel gets to practice Spanish. We have an excellent time volunteering there. We also were able to spend nine days with Hailey, Joseph, Clark, and Avonlea in August. We had a great time with them. We helped Hailey paint her entire kitchen and spent some quality time with Clark and Avonlea.

Darrel and Joanne at the Payson Temple open house

We had some firsts this year. We went through the Payson Temple Open House. What a gorgeous and glorious edifice! It is just beautiful. We have gone to several sessions there this year since it is just as close as the Provo Temple and not as busy—yet. empanadas! Bishop and Sister Davies attended and showed us renderings of the new Concepción Temple. What a blessing it was to be able to see and feel the spirit of what is to come in Concepción.

Chile Concepción and Osorno missions

We also attended the Chile Concepción and Osorno Mission reunion. It was the first time so many former Chilean missionaries had come to a reunion in the United States. It was good to see people we hadn’t seen since we all served together. It was fun to have them come from Chile to celebrate with us. What a wonderful time we had! And, yes, we had home-made

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May the Lord bless you and your families with health and happiness this coming year!

Keith and Delaina (Hammon) Scholes, Andrew Scholes (RM), Joanne and Darrel Hammon