I understand that having a wireless router is leaving an opening in my network but that can't really be avoided due to the inherent insecurity of the medium. I was assuming that if somebody connected to my network they would most likely be trying to use my internet as well, hence the firewall/ids in between the router and the modem. However I do see your point in that this does not prevent them from safely targeting local machines and using a different nic/seperate internet connection. So how about this:

[DSL] --> [IPcop/Snort] --> [Wireless Router] --> [PC1]/[PC2]/[PC3]/[IDS]

In this scenario I am filtering traffic at the source as well as actively scanning for intrusions, then once inside the wireless network I have my workstations and a seperate IDS box for scanning inside the local wireless network. Am I missing anything?

Also, somebody mentioned using a VPN? I've never set one up but I may as well give it a try.

Thanks for being patient.