WT, you aint gonna like it...but this sounds like you need professionals. There must be some free legal advice service in your area. It's worth having a look. A lawyer might have ideas that could let you keep the kids, if she really is having serious troubles. For heavens' sake ask. Don't just assume you can't win.

Divorce will never hurt your kids as much as staying in a bad relationship will, provided you STAY IN THEIR LIVES. Even if you only have them every other weekend (or on holidays if you move back to Georgia), in this time of email and phone calls...you can choose to be part of their daily lives. Hell, stamps are cheap if that's your only option.

I speak as a child of divorced parents. I'm well adjusted, happy, in a stable relationship myself. Their divorce didn't ruin me. It let me have two happy parents leading different lives, instead of two miserable parents who were so busy just holding themselves together they couldn't give me what I needed.

But more than anything, do what you're going to do with a cool head. You sound frantic right now. You need to make plans, look into options, and do everything calmly. Leaving in a fit of temper is the LAST thing that's going to make you look good.

G