Family Domestic and International Travel

Hello my name is Laura Graham and I am a wife to my husband of nearly 16 years and a mom. My husband and I met in our church that he is now currently serving as Assistant Pastor in, when we were 4 or 5 years old. We were really good friends most of our lives and even shared a locker in high school. We got married and have 8 children now. My dream before all of that was to travel. I wanted to see the world and I never knew of anything I wanted more than that, until I had children. I no longer wanted to see the world alone. I decided I wanted them to see it as well. They are in a wonderful school that hosts international trips every other year but because of the cost we can not afford to send them and I honestly don’t know how comfortable I would be sending them over seas without me. I also wanted to show them landmarks here in the US like the Golden Gate Bridge. My husband is self -employed and I am a remote worker and my title is Transit Recruiter. It’s hard enough keeping up with their needs and of course dreams like this are not one of those needs so in all honesty it will most likely not happen for them. Most families that look like ours would never have the opportunity to see the Sydney opera house as my daughter Naomi recently requested, simply because she saw the photo in a book in school. I remember seeing the Rugrats in Paris and dreaming of going their myself so I got where she was coming from. I would just like to take them a new place annually rather domestic on the West Coast or abroad. I recently tried to plan a trip to San Francisco and the plane tickets alone discouraged me from going any further with it. I figured well by the time we pay for that how will we pay for the tours and the site attractions etc. I recently took them to Chicago because it’s in driving distance of our home here in Ohio and they had never seen building so big! Neither had I. I have a daughter who speaks and writes Chinese as she was in a gifted school from 3rd grade until 7th when I removed them to homeschool for a year. She also took French and is currently taking Spanish. She attended College Credit Plus program last year but has since taken a break and now my daughter Naomi was accepted into the same program and starts Youngstown State University in the fall of 2024. They are back in traditional school now and all of them are wonderful students who have the occasional challenge with their work here and there. They normally stay on the honor roll, deans list or presidents list and I am grateful for that. I would like to expose them to at least 1 trip every summer abroad so they can be introduced to other cultures and see that the world expands outside of our small town we call home. Thanks for taking the time to read this!