I am so glad you decided to keep your kids at home. I have an older gentleman who comes to my house and sits, takes the boys for 3 walks a day, gets the mail, answers the phone etc. that I use every time I am going out of town. In fact - sometimes I think the boys love him more than they do us!

I don't like 'strangers' in my house either, and had to really get to know Max before I would let him stay in my house and take care of my kids. But this is now a great situation for all - he gets out of his small apartment (where he lives alone) and the boys get all the 'Max' attention they can handle.

I would check with a local college (vet college if there is one near you) or the Petsit.com to see if there isn't someone there who you can interview to see if they can help for the future. Then the FIL can come and check to make sure that all is going well until you are really secure with the 'new' person.

Just MHO!