Every soldier should have a welcome home parade to celebrate his return. James did. Yellow ribbons were tied on all the old oak trees and children lined the street with brilliant red balloons. Even the newspaper reporter and photographer showed up to interview the brave warrior as we pulled into the driveway.

• Click to view the 2005 television news report

But the reporters missed another really big day - the day the donor mom, Donna, rang our doorbell, sat on our couch and snuggled close with James. We played games, munched cookies, exchanged gifts and swapped stories as if it was perfectly normal that the heart nestled inside of our son once pumped life inside her daughter's chest. Overhead, fireworks should have exploded, a 21-gun salute should have been fired and the blimp should have sailed by with words of celebration blinking brightly for all the world to see. But in the stillness of our kitchen, without paparazzi or fanfare, I watched this mom place her head against James' chest and listen to the beating of his heart. The miraculous framed in the ordinary.

That's a moment worth celebrating still.