Matthew and I have talked and prayed about this for awhile now. Our plan was to move there eventually so that Matthew could join the family company, but plans have a tendency to change and our 3-5 year timeline has morphed into 6 months or so.
We are aiming to move in January or February 2015. Our biggest hurdles that we need to cross before we move is getting my mom's estate settled and getting the paperwork to get the animals to Hawaii.
Hawaii is a rabies free state and they would like to keep it that way. Luckily, Hawaii has a process called the 5-day-or-less program which means that instead of the animal spending 120 day in quarantine on the island we can spend the quarantine time here on the mainland. We just have to jump through a lot of confusing hoops to qualify for the program.
Here is a simplified list of stuff we have do before we can move the animals:
- Each animal has to have had at least two rabies vaccines in its lifetime and the vaccines must be at least 30 days apart.
- Each animal must have a microchip
- Each animal must have had a OIE-FAVN blood test done by Kansas State University
- Each animal must complete the 120 day waiting period after a successful OIE-FAVN test result before arriving in Hawaii
- Each animal must be treated for fleas and ticks by a veterinarian with a product containing Fipronil within 14 days of arrival to Hawaii
- Each animal needs a health certificate dated within 14 days of arrival (though some airlines might require a certificate dated within 10 days)
And since we are movie to Maui, which is considered a neighbor island, we will need to submit our paperwork earlier because we will need a special permit. I'll also need to make reservations for an approved Maui veterinarian to meet us at the airport to do the inspect and release procedure for our animals.
Sounds simple enough, right?
We also have to decide what we want to keep in order to figure out what size shipping container we will need for our move to Hawaii. Then we also have to consider how we are going to store the stuff we end up keeping until we get a more permanent place to live.
A lot of our sentences seemed to be punctuated with "in 6 months." Just a few examples, while changing a difficult to reach light bulb "Hopefully we won't have to done this again in the 6 months we're here." Shopping at Sam's Club, M: "We need soy sauce" K: "Do you really think we can use a gallon of soy sauce in 6 months?" M: "Probably not, we'll get it at Kroger." and M: "Do you need to go to the library? I have books on hold I need to get." K: "No, I'm trying to read through this book case because I don't want to take them with us in 6 months."
We are excited about moving and the opportunities we will have there, but we also realize that living in Hawaii will make some things a lot more difficult. I've been trying to spend more time with my friends here and planing road trips to see the ones that are further away because I know when we move it will be a lot harder to visit them. The good thing about living in Hawaii is that people will always want to visit.
