We are officially going to Japan. I know I made that announcement already but something still could have changed but now everything has been approved and we should have orders in hand by the end of this week! We also found out that our transfer date has been moved up... by FOUR MONTHS!!! This has sent me into full blown preparation mode that most military wives experience when they have to pick up and move house. We will be reporting in the last week of September which means I need to ship the horses out in August and vacate our house no later than the middle of September (We were going to be reporting in December so this has definitely messed up my little time line of things to do that I had all planned out) I laugh because this is what normally happens and I have often said that our family's motto should be "Semper Gumby" or "Always Flexible"
I did find out that our dogs are able to finish their 6 month quarantine with us if we choose to live on base. I was very excited to have a chance to live in the Japanese community but my dogs mean a lot to our family and we aren't willing to rehome them due to a transfer. The past two weeks I have taken Bella and Cooper down to Washington to see the Army Veterinarian to get them all prepared. We have everything done and are just waiting to hear the results of their FAVN titer test. Since Japan is a rabies free country, they are very strict about letting pets in from county's with rabies. Your pet first has to have a microchip, then two rabies vaccines at least 30 days apart and then a after that a blood test is taken to be sure they have a high immunity to rabies. If anything is done correctly or out of order then Japan can either refuse your animal or make you start the process over again. The quarantine time start two days after the blood has been drawn. It is a pain in the rear but again, worth it for us.
We are still excited and cannot wait to report. Josh likes being out to sea and the kids and I can't wait to explore Japan once again :)
