Emily Brown
A couple from Oklahoma have gathered up their four children and left the US after realizing there was 'no better time to leave'.
Up until a couple of months ago, Rachel, 29, and her husband, Ethan Edwards, 33, had been raising their family in their four-bedroom home in Tulsa, dealing with everyday tasks like paying bills and getting the kids off to school.
The parents had always thought about traveling, but largely got 'sidetracked' by family life until they found themselves facing a concerning future.
Rachel, who worked as a mortgage and loan officer, pointed to a number of factors that encouraged their move, including the re-election of president Donald Trump and the rising cost of living.
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She described everything being 'divided' in their hometown, saying: "If you are walking around with a red hat on, you get people being mean to you; if you have a Kamala ticket on your car you get it keyed. You are targeted on your beliefs, everyone is so stressed out because we are all living through the same crisis.
"Everyone is suffering from the cost of living."
Increasing costs of property taxes and insurance meant that the couple's outgoing costs went up by hundreds of dollars, leading them to spend '$3k a month on basis housing costs'.
"It was one of those situations, where after everything was paid, we didn't have much money left - we weren't saving a thing," Rachel explained.
"We felt like we were working ourselves to death and having nothing to show for it. We were afraid we were one problem away from going bankrupt, or not being able to pay for the house - it was terrifying."
While the cost of living was the biggest 'catalyst', Rachel also admitted she was worried about the education her children would get growing up in Oklahoma, where the new social studies curriculum may reportedly ask high school students to identify 'discrepancies' in the 2020 election.
Rachel explained: "Oklahoma schools [are] to teach pupils that the 2020 election was stolen and Trump won. I don't say this lightly, but we did not want to raise white supremacists; we wanted our children to see the world."
"We didn't want them to think that just because they are born with that privilege, they are better than everyone else," she continued. "People think because they are white, they are entitled to everything and other people are entitled to nothing - I did not want that for my children."
Wanting a life 'worth living', Rachel and Ethan packed their bags, sold their home and left the US on July 7 to head for Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
They plan to stay in Malaysia in September, before moving on to Thailand and eventually getting residency somewhere completely different to the US.
"There have definitely been some recent political events that led us to feel there was no better time to leave than now," Rachel said.
Now, the family are paying $700 on housing costs and $200 for international health insurance.
"We have loved every minute of being here, we feel comfortable raising our kids here," Rachel added.