A will is a critical part of your estate plan, but it is only useful after your death. To protect yourself in the event that you are unable to speak for yourself, you must do more.

Did you know you can save money with Trust planning? And that a revocable living trust is not simply for the wealthy?

A woman recently wrote about how exhausted she is about the Trying stage. Several IUIs, an IVF, lots of money spent. She was tired, out of money, and wondered if she should give up what has been an obsession to become a mother.

Long-time midwife, and Choice Mom, Michelle Brechon can be found through this website.

One of our Choice Mom-friendly legal experts, Chris Tymchuck, of Unique Estate Law, used third-party reproduction to build a family with her partner. Here is her special insight on what to know about the process of using a known donor.

How do we celebrate Father's Day?

A San Francisco Choice Mom wrote to me recently, asking how to address the half-sibling topic with her son. She's been in contact with two lesbian couples on the East Coast who have sons from the same donor.

If you're thinking of using a surrogate -- and I know a few Choice Moms who have -- there are important legal considerations. Here is advice from Choice Mom-friendly attorney Chris Tymchuck (Minnesota) about this method to motherhood.

This has come up so frequently lately that I want to focus our attention again on responses to these topics: What do we tell our children, and others, about how they were conceived? About why they don't have a dad?

This week I learned in conscious conversation with a fellow church member/realtor that maybe I should NOT sell my house after all. I've had this mindset that to simplify my life I need a smaller house. Ultimately, I discovered while sitting down frankly with my 2010 spending habits, that it's NOT the expense that is draining.

From new Choice Mom-friendly estate planner Chris Tymchuck, of Unique Family Law: When we saw a man on the side of the road asking for money, my 3-year-old daughter asked, "what is he doing with that sign?" I braced myself for a difficult conversation.

This post comes from Vera, co-editor with me of "Choice Mom Guide to Adoption," as she examines the probing questions she and her now-13-year-old twin daughters, adopted from Russia, have been asked over the years.

So often in our busy, over-scheduled lives we overlook taking care of ourselves. I heard about this holistic event, which will benefit the Avenues for Homeless Youth in Minneapolis.

This list was offered by Carrie Crompton at Cultural Care Au Pair, who is offering a great $500 discount to the Choice Mom community.

From Jennifer Colletti of Fertile Grounding:

We worry about being stressed before we become single moms. Then when stress hits big-time, there's nothing to worry about anymore. We're just busy dealing. Here's Laura's story about coping with three major events in less than a week.

I went to a talk by a well-respected neighbor of mine, Dan Buettner, whose latest book, Thrive: Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way, is about tips he gleaned from worldwide research, database correlations, and conversations with individuals in the happiest cities in the world.

More Choice Moms are looking into embryo donation these days, perhaps because international adoption doors once open to single women seem closed right now because of protracted governmental regulatory issues. Here are a few things you should know about this growing family-building option:

I've been reminded in the last week just how fragile life is. A Choice Mom friend unexpectedly lost her younger sister last week -- a mother of three -- in a tragic accident. And a neighbor couple are BOTH battling cancer, one of them terminal, with 7- and 9-year old daughters at home.

I've been hearing from more Choice Moms of twins lately, and it reminds me that we need to offer more on this website for single moms with multiples.

Some years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Dan Buettner, a noted explorer with a special interest in healthy living and a particular gift for making things happen.

There are 20 major markets where Choice Moms live. There are Choice Moms everywhere, of course, but I'm focusing on 20 communities where this website gets the most traffic from single women. I'm building resource guides for the cities listed below, with your help.

When embarking on parenthood, we often become ready to explore new pathways to health, including acupuncture, energy healing and natural health care. These practitioners have actively worked on behalf of the Choice Mom community.

Krista Post, who launched a series of support group discussions for Minneapolis Thinkers and Tryers, is starting another group.

When you are feeling isolated, angry, depressed or confused about the Choice Mom path, the discussion boards have become a good place to vent and share. But sometimes we need someone who not only understands the Thinking to Being stages, but is specifically trained to talk with us about our emotions.

A woman on the discussion board reported that she'd found a doula she loves...but the doula has some specific requests she's not comfortable with. She asked women in the community for their input.

When you are preparing to deliver a child on your own, finding the right pre- and post-partum doula can be vital to a Choice Mom. Listen to this podcast about finding the right one for you. Read more about doulas on this website. And recommend yours here in the comments field.

For too long I've ignored the needs of our moms with growing kids. As you'll notice, this website is robust with articles about the emotional and fertility needs of our community, but less for the woman who is doing the job of single parenting her much-beloved child(ren). No more. Much more content is coming for the Waiting, Becoming and Being sections, thanks to new partners.

A Twin Cities woman recently wrote to me asking if I had feedback from others in the community about fertility doctors. She was working with one recommended doctor where treatment seemed impersonal, and wondered if she was getting the kind of attention she needed at her age level.

These tips from home organizer Maureen came just as I'm midway through my own decluttering process this fall. I thought they were great ways to simplify our homes.

The latest addition to the regional guides now being offered on ChoiceMoms.org is for Choice Moms in the Washington D.C. area. Click here for the guide-to-date. I welcome your contributions to the service providers and experts in that area who you think Choice Moms should be aware of.

We had a wonderful Choice Moms Expo in Minneapolis in April 2010. Here are notes that grew out of that session.

Since I've been keeping track of website traffic for two years now, I thought it would be interesting to share information about where we tend to live, what information we tend to look for on the website, and what's been happening since I relaunched the website with its new format in February 2010.

One of the best gifts of Choice Mom networking events is when small groups of women on similar paths find each other to discuss their joys and concerns. Here's what women in the Trying stage talked about with counselor Krista Post.

A group of women at a Choice Mom networking event discussed, with the help of counselor Krista Post, the nuances of talking about taking this path with close friends, family and colleagues.

If you're thinking of adopting transracially, or are heading a transracial family, listen here for insight. The experts we assembled at a recent Choice Moms event included two Choice Moms who were raised in transracial families, a woman who parented a young woman from a refugee camp, a representative from Children's Home Society, and several Choice Moms who are raising a transracial family.

Nothing beats the recommendation of fellow Choice Moms about the doctors they entrusted to help them conceive. Following is a list of Choice Mom-recommended fertility specialists, with live links to fertility clinics that have supported in the past year the Choice Mom resources you find on this website and at our networking events. Use the comments field that follows to nominate your own favorites.

I am happy to report that we have a new option to create five informal coffeeshop gatherings in a few cities in 2011. I'm reinvigorating an inquiry into which cities have women most interested in contact that they're not otherwise getting.

We all want to live healthier lives, especially when we are getting nutritionally in shape for pregnancy, or after we become moms. At the Minnesota event in April 2010, I had the pleasure of working with sponsor Laura Bonicelli, whose Solo by Bonicelli company offers gourmet delivery and food prep services.

At the Choice Moms Expo in Minneapolis, local sperm bank director Amy Erickson-Hagen of Cryogenic Laboratories talked to women about how to select the right sperm donor.

May is "Money Matters" month on the website. This month we'll take a look at what we're learning and sharing, from each other and from experts, about financial matters. Starting with this week's Choice Mom query: As parents who might expect more help from our kids, but with one paycheck, how do we handle allowances?

At our recent Choice Moms networking event in Minneapolis, participants brought donations for the many single moms who are served by a local homeless shelter. If you'd like to do something like this in your community of women, or with your family, here's what we collected.

We usually include an estate planner at Choice Mom networking events, to make sure women understand everything they need to about protecting their child both BEFORE and after motherhood. Here's a tip that Julie, 28 weeks pregnant, learned from attorney Chuck Roulet at the Minneapolis event.

When we are trying to conceive, or keep up with our children, we often take a closer look at how to improve our health and vitality. Here are tips from Natural Health and Fertility Center, as offered at the first-ever Choice Moms Expo in Minneapolis.

We had a wonderful first-ever Choice Moms Expo in Minneapolis (April 2010), with more than 60 adults mingling with insight and support -- as well as great childcare fun for 20 Choice Kids. Here are some of the tips and connections made.

Interestingly, the most popular conversation circle at my upcoming Choice Mom Expo in Minneapolis is "Taming tantrums: yours and child," with parenting educator Denise Konen. Even 11 years into parenting, I didn't realize how important this topic is to our motherhood community. Here's one of the suggestions Denise has.

I have two primary stresses in my life. NOT my kids. But, 1) the continuous feeling that I can't get everything done that needs my attention, and 2) the fact that my large house takes more money and energy than I'm willing to invest. So I called in professional organizer Kathy Franzen, of Project Partners Organizing, who was a single mother of four for most of their childhood. Here's what I learned in one intense two-hour session.