About a month ago Ace and I read the Flat Stanley books by Jeff Brown. He absolutely loved them! Afterward he begged me make him a Flat Stanley. So we had the one in the back of the book blown up and laminated. Then we thought about where we could send him. He immediately remembered a good friend of ours (one of the pilots from Operation Cookie Drop) who came to visit a couple of months ago when he was home for training. So later that night we asked Nick if Stanley could come hang out across the pond in London with him for awhile.

He was such a good sport and immediately suggested he go on a flight mission with him too. So Ace and I made Stanley a flight suit,

a passport (to stick a stamp from each place),

and a journal. Whoever is taking care of Stanley will write about his adventures in his journal. (I think it will make a great keepsake.)

We made him a sleeping bag so he has somewhere safe to stay when not on an adventure,

and then we typed up a "newspaper" article announcing that Stanley would be flying the skies on a secret mission with a U.S. Aircraft Commander. Then we sent him on his way.

So for the past couple of months Stanley has been enjoying the sights of the U.K. Nick has been taking good care of him, even remembering to take him to church on Sundays. I think Nick is enjoying his company so much that in the next package we send him we'll have to send him one of his very own. ;)

Next we hope to get him to friends and family in Ohio, California, North Carolina, Greece, Italy and Germany. (Anyone else want a houseguest for a few weeks?) Lucky Stanley, huh? I asked the post lady what the chances of getting me into one of those flat rate boxes were...not too good I guess.

I think it would be awesome to do an "Orthodox Flat Stanley" project. Any takers? Let's see how many Orthodox churches Stanley can go to!

Stay tuned for more stories about Stanley's adventures!!