Denver -- Imagine trying to cope with your spouse leaving home for 18 months at a time or more. How do you cope? What do you tell the kids? 

It happens to families with moms and dads serving in the military all the time. But this week's 7Everyday Hero has come up with a creative way to keep those families close.

When life separates families, Flat Daddy helps keep everyone connected. Flat Daddies are cutouts of full-sized photographs of a deployed service person. Elaine Dumler has been making Flat Daddies and Mommies since Christmas of 2002. There are more than 5,000 of them out there, keeping children and their parents close. 

The life-sized photos of dads and moms serving in the military pop up at amusement parks and at birthday parties. They even get tucked in, and they get kisses.

Everyone assumes that Dumler must have family of her own serving overseas. Not so. She simply has a passion for bringing families together. 

She makes sure the Flat Daddies are affordable, or even free if a family is struggling.

But that's just part of Dumler's devotion to help military families keep connected. Her Web site and companion books of the same name are a great resource for families pulled apart for months on end.

"The more people I can connect, the more I can keep these families close and strong. That's what I do," she said.

To learn more about the Flat Daddy program go to Dumler's "I'm Already Home" Web site.