From The Desk of COOKIE “Monster”

The 2007 Update – Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Dear Family and Friends,
Seasons greetings from the flatlands of Saskatchewan; we are no longer Bluenosers! What a year of highs and lows. We hope this letter finds everyone in good spirits, in excellent health and a little bit richer than last year. I apologize for being a little late this year but as you will soon find out, I have some very good excuses.

What can I say? 2007 has been a good year for all of us in our home and it was exciting. We cats (Isis, Chloe and I) had to take another plane ride this November as we found out we had to move back to Saskatchewan. It seems like the 4 year placement for Harvey Sr. to Nova Scotia ended just as quickly as it started. It was the summer of 2003 when we arrived in Nova Scotia and now we have returned home to Regina. The experience in Nova Scotia was absolutely wonderful and both Angel and Harvey Sr. feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to live in the wonderful province of Nova Scotia. They met so many good friends, had great working careers and seen so much of the Maritimes. They both feel like they have two homes … one in Saskatchewan and another in Nova Scotia. However, I really hope he doesn’t move again for a while. Air travel doesn’t thrill us cats!

We had another exciting start to the New Year. On January 3rd, 2007 Aaliyah Diamond was born in Halifax. The proud parents, Gloria and Harveyson and Grandmother Angel were surprised and overjoyed that “he was a she”! Everyone thought that another boy was on the way but when Aaliyah arrived on the evening of January 3rd, everyone was in tears when they knew that a new baby girl arrived. I am sure Grandma Angel will spoil Aaliyah rotten in the future. New dresses, new shoes and a diamond or two will probably be in store for her in the future.

The return to Saskatchewan for the family actually started in early 2007, when Harvey Jr. was offered and accepted a new job in Saskatoon in early April. Harveyson had to be in Saskatchewan later that month and he had to take the car back to Saskatchewan. It was decided that he and Harvey Sr. take a cross Canada road trip. It was an excellent time even though they made it back to Regina in record time. It only took them 2 ½ days even though they stopped in Ottawa to see Winter, Justin and Boh! Harvey Jr. will continue to work in natural gas construction. In September Harvey Jr. moved from the Saskatoon office to the Regina office. In July Gloria, Dustin, Demetrius and Aaliyah traveled back to Saskatchewan from Nova Scotia. Harvey Sr. accompanied everyone on this trip once again and took the time to look for a new home for us in Regina. And what a home he found! It is a beautiful house in northwest Regina that back onto a park. It has new hardwood floors and a large basement for everyone to enjoy; more on the new home later.

Winter, Justin and Bohdan continue to make Ottawa their wonderful home. Angel, Harvey Sr. and Max went to Ottawa 3 times in 2007. The first was in early April to celebrate Boh’s first ever birthday. It was a great time. Gido (a.k.a. Harvey Sr.) worked hard with Justin to install a new patio door for Boh and Winter to enjoy during the summer. Grandma Angel and Gido returned to Ottawa in August to baby-sit Boh and then once more in November, just in time to watch the Saskatchewan Roughriders beat the BC Lions to get into the Grey Cup. We all know who won the Grey Cup this year, don’t we? The Cup looks good with Green.

For Angel and Harvey Sr. the decision to move back to Regina was a difficult one, however, it was made easier on March 12th. That was the day that their lives changed forever; that was the day that Harvey Sr. received a call from his doctor to tell him he was diagnosed with an aggressive type of prostate cancer. It was a complete shock! After all the tears and after wiping away the heart stopping fear, both Angel and Harvey Sr. realized they were really blessed to be in Nova Scotia to face this illness and to recover from its cure. Harvey Sr. had the best doctors, urologists and nurses in North America looking after him. On April 25, Harvey Sr. had an extra radical prostatectomy to remove the cancerous prostate gland. Since that day he had been on sick leave and worked hard to recover from the side effects. All spring, summer and fall, Max (the yellow lab) and Gido walked and walked and walked around Lake Banook and Shubie Park in Dartmouth. It has paid off. Harvey Sr. is in full recovery. He has regained control of his “plumbing system”, his incision has healed perfectly and all post surgery signs indicate the cancer is no longer present. To make sure all the nasty cells were destroyed, the doctors in Nova Scotia persuaded him to complete radiation therapy in the fall. In 2008, he will be visiting the doctor in Regina and completing PSA blood tests every 3 months. We are all hoping that the PSA readings will be non detectable because this will mean no prostate cells are present. We all think this will happen.

Harvey Sr. will deeply miss all the friends at Heritage Gas and his Bill W. friends in Nova Scotia. The natural gas project was an engineer’s dream job and was honored to have been part of such a significant effort. He worked the best people ever … but life moves on. He is very excited to be returning home and working in the Safety, Health and Well-Being department. 2008 will be GREAT!

Angel has left behind many friends as well. She was sad to leave the Mic Mac Dental Centre, her co-workers and her patients. She cried when she left but the tears represented happy memories. She ran in the Blue Nose Marathon for the first time and ran the entire 10 kms without stopping. She is planning on returning to the Blue Nose in 2008. She is not sure where she will be working in Regina but will be looking for employment in the New Year. Hopefully she will take care of us and Max for a while … at least until spring.

Looking back, 2007 has been a very good year. Angel, Gido and Max traveled to Ottawa 3 times, traveled to PEI to see Anne of Green Gables museums, traveled across Canada twice and seen more of Nova Scotia than they have in the past 4 years. They spend a night in Pictou at a good friend’s 1830 farm house and spent a day in Chester with more friends. They went on another fantastic tour of the Chester harbour and the Atlantic coast line. They attended a fun filled Heritage Gas Christmas party and are now having sleepovers again with Demetrius and Dustin. If Boh could be here the weekends would be perfect! Live doesn’t get much better than this.

That’s a rap for this year. We wish everyone all the best in 2008. We hope you are blessed with friendship, GOOD HEALTH and maybe some additional new found wealth. If you want to get in touch with us, don’t hesitate. More Meow Mix is always welcomed!