Beyond the Box
Beyond the Box with Monica Kelsey is a powerful podcast dedicated to raising awareness, educating the public, and advocating for change in the fight against infant abandonment. Hosted by Monica Kelsey, Founder and CEO of Safe Haven Baby Boxes, this podcast dives deep into real stories, expert insights, and the life-saving impact of Safe Haven laws and baby box programs across the country.
Each episode features compelling conversations with firefighters, legal experts, healthcare professionals, policymakers, adoptive families, and even mothers who have used Safe Haven Baby Boxes. Together, they shed light on the challenges, victories, and ongoing efforts to provide safe, legal, and anonymous surrender options for parents in crisis.
From heartwarming rescue stories to policy discussions shaping the future, Beyond the Box is a must-listen for anyone passionate about saving lives and supporting vulnerable infants.
Beyond the Box
From Radio Waves To Rescues: Pat Miller On Championing Safe Haven Baby Boxes
Sitting with our longtime friend Pat Miller, we unpack how Safe Haven Baby Boxes transform a desperate moment into a safe handoff—alarms triggering on door open, climate control keeping infants secure, firefighters trained to respond in minutes without confronting the mother.
We go deeper than headlines to tackle the “now what” so often missing from pro-life debates. Our work meets women where they are—planning an adoption, handing a child to trained staff, or choosing anonymous surrender—without scripts or shame. Pat shares stories from the field and from his radio career, including the weight first responders carry when they recover deceased infants and the hope they feel when a box alert ends in a living child. We also talk growth: 396 baby boxes across the United States, each one a local system built on training, clarity, and compassion.
Faith runs through the conversation as a compass, not a slogan. Pat recounts the quiet conviction that led him to Christ; we reflect on choosing faithfulness over fame and letting open doors set our route. Looking ahead, we announce a first-of-its-kind retreat for birth mothers who surrender—distinct from traditional adoption services—and gatherings for families raising surrendered children, to normalize their stories and anchor identity in love. It’s about building structures that turn care into outcomes: faster responses, safer babies, and supported parents.
If this story resonates, share it with a friend, subscribe for future episodes, and leave a review to help others find these life-saving conversations. Your words amplify the mission—and might open the next door.
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This is Monica Kelsey from Beyond the Box. We are in the studio today with a friend of mine, Mr. Pat Miller, that has literally been a champion for us uh since we started just supporting us along the way. So welcome to Beyond the Box.
SPEAKER_01:I can't believe this is the first time I've been here.
SPEAKER_03:This is, I know. It's it well, when people walk in here, they're like, what is this? Like we thought you were a little hole in the wall place in Woodburn.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. Um, and then when they brought me in as a guest, that kind of nailed that down.
SPEAKER_03:So you're so funny.
SPEAKER_01:Um, but uh no, it's it's great. You know, I've I've been with you at some, you know, some uh openings of a box. I when we did the park bench at the firehouse in New Haven, I was there. And uh then when we had the the little one, um Gracie.
SPEAKER_03:Gracie, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um and when when the family that adopted her, that that is one of the greatest miracles I've ever seen. Because here you had an his Hispanic mom and dad.
SPEAKER_03:Yep.
SPEAKER_01:And they adopted Gracie, who was Hispanic. You can't tell me that that girl doesn't look like her mother.
SPEAKER_03:Oh my gosh. Well, I got so I gotta tell you. So we just did a podcast with them, and Gracie was in the room. Okay. And so um Jennifer starts crying when she was talking about Gracie's birth mom. I'm not even kidding you, Pat. This was one of the most real moments I've ever seen. But Gracie walks over to her mom, uh, wipes the tear from her face. I'm not kidding, wipes the tear from her face, kisses her mom, and then puts her head to her mom's head. I sat here and watched this and I thought, this little girl like is just amazing. Like, um that's crazy. Yeah, yeah. She is such a loving individual. Like, and she's so smart. Like her mom and dad were like, I think she's way smarter than what we are. You know, and I'm like most of our kids are actually.
SPEAKER_01:She's the one that'll grow up and run the business.
SPEAKER_03:Well, hopefully Gracie will grow up and and literally like run safe haven baby boxes. I can see one of our kids one day. Sure. You know, when I retire and I leave this place and sorry, when you what? When I leave, yes. Yes. Well, and it's a nonprofit, so we I can't take it when I when I go. So uh, but my goal is for one of these kids to that would that would be amazing. I it really will. It really will. So for those who don't know who Pat Miller is, um, why are you so important to Monica Kelsey?
SPEAKER_01:Well, um, you know, once you've met me and then you see, like, for example, like who she's surrounded with, who she's married to, I'm such a great comparison. So I'm gonna get my knees broken before I get out of this building today. Um, I I've been in love with what you do from the very start. Um, you know, when I used to have a radio program and I had you on, what, 10 times probably? Um, and every time you'd have a new box, I'd have you on. Um, you're one of the few people that I I told my producers, uh, we will interview her by phone if she's out somewhere putting a box in Arizona or something, you know. Uh, because I normally don't like to do phone interviews. Um, but I I did that with you. Uh first of all, I understood in my head and heart what it was that you were doing. Um and that some people don't quite understand, and I get all the I get all the crazy things that I think you get. Well, I would be for the baby boxes, except if you put that baby in there and it's cold out, what if they're in there for hours? Okay. When they open the door, when the when the mother opens the door on the front and sets the baby in there, when the door unlatches, the first alarm goes off. So the firehouse, which is very close, or the hospital or whoever, they know something's happened. So you put that in there and then you close the door. Um, it's cushioned, it's it's a protected, like little bassinet kind of a thing that's in there, and and they're in there and it's heated or it's air conditioned or whatever it needs to be. So the baby's fine.
SPEAKER_03:Do you need a job? Because like you're like explaining this perfectly.
SPEAKER_01:So I need a job. I'll call Marlon here pretty soon and see uh Congressman, how am I doing? Um but uh yeah, but I mean I I got so sold on what it was that you did and how you did it. Because the one thing um that you answered with your organization that the right to life people don't always get around to. Okay, we're going to keep this baby from being aborted. Awesome. Now what? There has to be a now what to follow that up because there's got to be something that lays out a life for that child so that there is a life for that child. Um, and you can't just take it for granted. You know, I don't want I don't want a baby box kid uh to end up on drugs or walking the streets more than any other kid. You know, and and and I'll just say this this is taking a risk on my part. Probably less of a chance with one of those kids ending up in a broken life like that than a natural born child. And I don't mean that natural people don't love their own kids, but when when you've adopted a child the way they've adopted it, you take nothing for granted. You know, you take nothing for granted. And and it's gotta make a difference.
SPEAKER_03:Well, and you know, you Safe Haven baby boxes, we we're different. I mean, not just because of who we are, but because when people start organizations, a lot of people want to start organizations and do what they want to do for others instead of what others need you to do for them. Right. And so Safe Haven Baby Boxes meets women where they are. We we we don't tell them what's best for them. That we don't tell them what to do. We meet them where they are. And if they have another alternative, like an adoption plan or they want to walk into a fire station and hand the child to a person, we support that, you know, because we're meeting them where they are and it's their decision to make. And and some, you know, some people that oh, we're starting an organization because we want to do this for women. And it's like, have have you talked to women? Like some of these organizations, their heart is there, but it's like you have to go, you have, you have to meet these women where they are. Um, and the times are changing. Right. The times are changing. And uh, and so anonymity is so important for some of these moms. And that's why the Baby Box Foundation truly exists, is for the anonymity piece. You know, and Safe Haven Baby Boxes supports every decision a parent makes or a mother makes as long as it does not include the death of her child.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_03:We will support anything she decides to do as long as it does not include the death of her child.
SPEAKER_01:Have you have you ever been made aware? Because I I've thought about this often. Have you ever been made aware where the mother and the father put the baby in the box?
SPEAKER_03:We we have.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Because I, to me, that is incredible. Um, the the the problem that I have with so much of what happens in the life of a child that's, and I don't want to say is unwanted, but it's a pregnancy that just doesn't work in the life of that mother, is she carries the baby for nine months. She goes through the pain of the delivery, she goes through all that emotion, and the emotion at delivery is kind of amazing. They go through all that and then and the father gets off scot-free. You know. Um when I used to be a youth pastor back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Um but uh but but it always bugged me. I said, you know, I said, uh when a young lady gets pregnant, there's not a whole lot of doubt about it. It's right here, right? You know? I think we ought to put a nine-month tattoo on his forehead that says, I'm the slob that did it, you know. I mean, there's because basically they have no they have no recompense for what it is that they did.
SPEAKER_03:Well, and there there are a lot of men out there that really don't care, but we've seen some men though that have stepped up to the plate. Oh, yeah, you know, and and it's encouraging. It really is encouraging to be able to see that. Um, we had, you know, a dad that had, you know, worked alongside one of our counselors with with mom, and he was so supportive of whatever she that this birth mom needed. And they really looked at all of their options and they felt that this was what was best for them. And so they did decide to surrender this child after the child was born. Um, but it was encouraging to know that this man, this, this, and I say man, he really was a boy at the time, but he stood beside this girl and just loved her, yeah, you know, met her where she was and supported the decisions that that both of them made together, you know, and it's just it was incredible to watch because it was encouraging. But then on the other hand, you have, you know, men and and I have this happened in my own family right now. I have a grandson that has not seen his dad in a year, yeah. And he doesn't pay child support. She my my daughter's a single mom. And it's like those are the people that give everybody else a bad name. Right. And it's like, what's gonna happen with these kids? They're growing up without a father. Right. And that's the part that uh has our society the way it is today.
SPEAKER_01:Well, yeah, and I don't know how this would play out, but but a father like that where okay, you fathered the child and then you want nothing to do with it. Um we should put them in the military and use them for target practice.
SPEAKER_03:I don't know if we should be that harsh. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I mean that that just infuriates me though.
SPEAKER_03:Well, you know, if we let okay, so because this is just kind of like one of the podcasts that I was like excited to do because we can just talk about ever anything. And you know I was in the military. Right. You know, and so, and so I believe that everyone that turns 18 should spend two years defending our country. Every person that is 18 that they need to defend our country because that is where I learned respect for others. That is where I learned that I couldn't do everything that I wanted to do. Right. You know, and and it's I think it's a good thing for kids today to learn. I think we would be in a hell of a lot better place.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I mean, and and when you say because you learn to respect others, you're also learning to respect yourself.
SPEAKER_03:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:A lot of people come through a lot of situations of life and they come out on the other end not respecting themselves because they didn't give them a chance to respect themselves. Right. They don't even know themselves. Right. Um and and that's a sad thing that happens too.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um what is it that normally happens? I mean, they don't really, they, the the mother or the mom and dad or whatever, they put the baby in there and then they shut the door. And then, you know, maybe they just turn and run to the car or they walk to the car or they hold each other for a minute and cry. Have you ever heard any kind of a testimony where they actually heard the door open on the other side and they knew the baby then was going out? That that would just be unbelievable to me.
SPEAKER_03:You talk about the fire staff. Yes. We actually had a case where they, so the baby box was in their their um their uh radio room.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:And so there was somebody sitting at one of the desks um doing a report and one of the computers, and he seen the door open on the outside. And so when we go in and we do training, uh, I I tell them, if you encounter a mom, just act like she's not there. She doesn't want to talk to you. So you you you have to just kind of go on up with your with your whatever you're doing. He actually sat forward, kind of like got out of the way, you know. And uh, and then the door, this is the funny part, the door shut. She, the mom walked away and he looked in the box. He didn't take baby from box. He went to the kitchen to get one of his friends, you know, one of the guys, because firefighters do things in pay, do things in pairs. Right. You know, we never do things.
SPEAKER_01:Everything that they do.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, even pulling a baby from a box. It's like, and so he went to the kitchen, grabbed one of the guys because it was first thing in the morning, and then they went back. And it was just to listen to these guys talk about this, like it's it's in it, some of it's hilarious. It really is. Because one, it's like they're like, I can't believe it. And I'm like, Well, what'd you do? You think we just put a box on your wall just to put a box? Of course, it's like maybe used, you know. But yeah, we have had that a couple of times.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that that's that's amazing. It really is amazing. Um, and I would imagine the first time at a hospital or a firehouse or wherever the box is planted, that the first time it happened, it probably just shakes that place to the core.
SPEAKER_03:It does.
SPEAKER_01:Because it's it's finally happened. We actually have a live child in our wall, you know, and and and they go and they get it. That's just gotta be unbelievable.
SPEAKER_03:Well, and you know, firefighters and medics see the end of life all the time. To be able to see the beginning of life and a mother who chose something more for her child, it's incredible to see, you know. I mean, we were talking with some firefighters that actually had pulled a baby from a dumpster that was deceased. And they were talking about um putting a baby box in their fire station. The amount of trauma that these men have because they pulled this baby, this dead infant from a dumpster, um, they don't want to do that. They don't want to do that again. And so all of the time they're looking for alternatives at life-saving, you know, jaws of life, you know, anything that can save a life, they're all for it. And so I think that's why the baby box is so important to some of these stations because they've been pulling babies out of dumpsters for years and it's a it's time to stop.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's and that's gotta be what when you get a guy that's a 45-year-old firefighter, you know, and I've I've gone into blazes and I've done this and other, and then they see the remains of a baby in a dumpster and it just shatters them. It just it it it shakes them to the very core of who they are. That should tell you that what we're doing here with baby boxes is kind of a big deal.
SPEAKER_03:It is a big deal, yeah. Yeah, and well, and and for them, you know, for them, they would much rather pull a baby from a box two minutes after the baby was placed than six hours out of a dumpster deceased. You know, it's like there's no question.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I can I can't even think like that. Now what's the what's what's the total number right now? We're sitting here now and we're in November. I can't believe we're in November already, but we're in November. How many baby boxes are out there?
SPEAKER_03:Uh so we just blessed the 396th baby box in the country. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That's crazy.
SPEAKER_03:I know. I know. It's like, I just wanted to save a few babies in Indiana.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And it's like Christ had such a bigger role for me.
SPEAKER_01:Look what you did.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I know. Like, what was he thinking? Like, I, you know, and I I'm so blessed because, you know, when I first found my biological mother and learned the circumstances of my conception and then my birth, I literally like didn't want this to be my life. You know, I just was, I it was like, I can't tell people this. Like, you know, that's just it's not something that people want to know. And that's just gonna make my worth go down. And now I'm like, how blessed am I to live this life that I live?
SPEAKER_01:You know, it's kind of like bad correlation, but my head goes here all the time. It's it's it's like the Apostle Paul. Here you've got the Apostle Paul who's writing letters to these churches. I'm teaching my class right now, Second Timothy, which is the last letter he writes before he's killed. And he he himself says, I was the worst of sinners. I did this, I did this, I did this, I did this. But then Christ called me. Um when when the light knocks Paul down and says, You know, I'm I'm gonna be your Lord, okay, and I have something I need you to do. You're going to tell my story, okay, and you're gonna do it to the Gentiles. Do what? I thought you gotta be kidding me. But yet, because Paul understood his calling, right, it all came into place for him. Right. And he and he never backed away from it. He never he never second guessed it, he never took a back seat to anybody because he was the one called by the God of the ages, which is amazing. Um you know, when these when these mothers, um I I'm I'm hoping someday we have the the first baby box, the first saved baby in a baby box was how long ago?
SPEAKER_03:November of 2017.
SPEAKER_01:So it's it's not been 10 years, but we're getting there.
SPEAKER_03:We're getting there.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Um someday there's going to be a baby box child who is going to meet somebody who's gonna come in and speak in a podcast, who's going to go to uh Woodburn High School and you know give their testimony of what happened, and it's gonna shatter people, absolutely gonna shatter them. I mean, can you imagine if if her mom had chosen to do what so many mothers are choosing to do across the country right now, and they're not worried about saving the baby, they just want to get rid of the problem that they had. And when you when you look at that view of it, um I I I heard somebody one time talk about um I was getting ready to give a speech at a Right to Life banquet and they talked about they and they read that big poem about you know, if if you had killed this baby, you know, because he was limited here, limited there, if you had aborted him, we wouldn't have lights today. Or you you would never have Einstein. Are you just look, my kids are not Einstein. You know Shannon, okay? She's a beautiful child, she's not Einstein, okay? But I mean, I don't care if your kid grows up and they're constantly a nine to five blue-collar,$16 an hour worker for the rest of their life. I don't care. That's their life. And God made them in his image. I'm not in the business of going around rearranging God's image.
SPEAKER_03:No.
SPEAKER_01:And I don't want to.
SPEAKER_03:No. Well, and that's not, that's not our job.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:You know, well, and you know, the one thing that I always, because I was at a school on Friday speaking to 400 kids down in Rock Castle, Kentucky. And uh, and you know, I mean, I always talk about choices, but I also bring in the faithfulness that we have to have as Christians. You know, I mean, Mother Teresa said at best, he did not call us to be successful, he called us to be faithful. Yep. And so I think people get it wrong. I think they they work so hard to be successful instead of working so hard to be faithful.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_03:You know, and for us here at Safe Haven Baby Boxes, or even myself, I've I've just worked to be successful. I don't or work to be faithful. I don't know what the success is going to be at the end of this. You know, I mean, I'm seeing it now, but at the beginning, this was a fight for me. Yeah. You know, I fought my tail off to get where we are today. People don't see the invoice. They they see the end result, they see what's been paid, right? But they don't see the invoice that I had to pay to get to where I am today.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_03:And so, um, so I think people, instead of, you know, if we all could just try to be faithful to what Christ has called us to do, instead of trying to succeed in what we feel is best or what we want to do, this world would be such a better place.
SPEAKER_01:Too much in our society, and this even this even plays itself out in some of our secular colleges and everything. There is so much of this push of being great. Go out there and be great. You know, uh, everybody is not a Heisman trophy winner.
SPEAKER_03:No.
SPEAKER_01:Um, you know, that that's that's not reality. Some are, and some don't get the Heisman trophy that probably should have, but most of them won't. They're just not Heisman people. I need to worry less about being great and spending more time making sure I'm good because that's the stuff that happens down inside your soul.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:You know, if you're great to yourself, you're conceited. Okay. So I I don't need to be great. I just want to be a good person. I want people if five people could go by my coffin, uh, I went to a viewing last night, if five people could pass my coffee and just say, you know, he he really was a good guy. He really was. And if they give some circumstance, because someday back in 97 he did this, and because of a conversation I had with him, because he came and he helped our son who was having a troubled uh school life, and he came in and met with him every every uh every week for two months. I want to be good, I want to be a good person. And if you don't think I am a good person, just ask him because she'll tell you, well, he was all right.
SPEAKER_03:Same thing with Joe would say. Yeah, she's all right.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you know, I I wasn't gonna ask Joe because I really don't care what he thinks.
SPEAKER_03:So um Oh my goodness. Uh so uh so what's next for Pat Miller? Because you know, I I don't know if you want to touch on This, but you were a radio show host for a long time.
SPEAKER_01:I was I was with Federated Media for 24 years.
SPEAKER_03:24 years. So, and you know, it's interesting because my dad, you know, when my dad was alive, he would call me and say, Hey, I heard you on Pat Miller today. Is there a and and because he listened to you every afternoon, he listened to you. And and uh that was one and my dad passed away in 2020, but it, you know, it was like it was just kind of the thing, you know, listen to Pat Miller in the afternoon.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you either listen to me for the political content or you listen to me for whatever humor I had in there. Most people listen because if there were bad storms and tornadoes in the area, we got it out there first. So um I remember one time. Do you remember a few years back that we had the tornado and it started in um Kokomo and it blew down the Starbucks?
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, there were 27 tornadoes that day just in the three hours I was on the air, and we were tracking them all. And I and a guy, because I I start talking about storm chasers. This guy calls in and he was from Iowa and he was a storm chaser, but he was right there in Allen County because they were tracking these storms. Um but there was this one I said, hey, if you're if you're there on the highway between Huntington and Fort Wayne, when you get to such and such a road, if you're still on, you need to find the next road and turn left and go north for about a mile because that this one tornado was down on the highway and it was just, it was like it had a ticket to ride the highway, and it was just coming. This guy calls us about a half an hour later. He said, You just saved my life and the life of the three of my kids in my car. He said, It's one thing to be in your car and you're turning around watching it, you know, and your kids are looking out the back window of the station wagon and they see it go by, and they actually literally watched it go by. He said, Then if we had been in the highway, right, and there was no way to get off at the time.
SPEAKER_03:Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01:So, I mean, that that's that's when you're like right place, right time, you know. And I can't I can't control that stuff.
SPEAKER_03:No, but you you took, you know, the information that you were given and you put it to your audience, and your audience listened, you know. But people listen to you. I mean, you you were you were kind of a big deal here in Allen County. Was I?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Actually, Wo-WO is heard how how far? Because I remember I remember my dad talking about WoW being like on the east coast, like like it was everywhere.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, well, they they actually did a thing where uh they reduced our wattage in certain areas because there was another 1190 in New York. And on clear nights, we would walk over the top of them. It's pretty bad when you're when you're five blocks from their station, you hear me, but you don't hear them.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:Um, so so they they had to jury rig the wattage around a little bit, but we were we were still a 50,000 watt clear voice radio station, which is huge, by the way.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um there, I think at one time there were 10 50,000 watt clear voice radio stations in the country. Okay, and you so you had DZ Boston, you had you know uh KCBS, you had uh WLW, WGN, you know, and then KCMO, go Kansas City. Uh but we but you had all that stuff, and and WoWO was in that mix, which was crazy. I mean, Fort Wayne, Indiana was in that mix, but we've we served a lot of people in a lot of ways for uh a lot of years. Um Penny Pitch was one of the highlights of my year where we would collect that money. One of the greatest things in my life was um when I met somebody from Turnstone uh because after my kidney transplant, um I'm considered disabled. Most people meet me and they go, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:But go on.
SPEAKER_01:But because of that, Kim and I were able to join Turnstone and there were these two girls that I met there that were of Asian descent, sisters, um one about as high as my shoulder, the other about as high as my navel. I mean, they were not they were not big girls, one of them weighed as much as my right thigh. Um but but I met them, and then um when they saw us out raising money for turnstone, and they I saw they had the little aprons on, and they were out there at the gas station with us collecting money and all that. When I handed over the check on the floor of Comet Ice that year and handed them a check for like$89,000, um those girls were staying there just bawling their eyes out. They couldn't, they could not believe that people that they did not know gave money for a cause that they had never really thought of before until we told them about it. Penny pitch was one of the greatest things that ever happened, I think, in the community. Forget what in the community, it was amazing, you know. And and you you meet a need and you you actually get to see the lives of people that that it's changed their life. And that to me, that's amazing.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:That's amazing.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Well, you know, we we try to get together with some of the families every year. And that's it's incredible to see. Oh, yeah. You know, it's incredible to see the families and incredible to see the kids. Um, you know, we're actually uh uh working on uh kind of a another part of Safe Haven baby boxes that has never been done in American history before. You know, I'm all about like just being the front runner across the country. It looks like, and so there is no counseling or um retreat for birth moms who surrender. There's there's retreats for birth moms who place for adoption, but not surrender. And it's different. Yeah, it's it's a different place. Yes, it is. And so we're working on uh a retreat for birth moms and also a retreat for our families that have our babies because these kids need to know it's normal. Yeah, we have to normalize this so that they don't feel like they're, you know, you know, I they are they are special, don't get me wrong when I say this, but it we don't want them to feel like they're different, you know. They're they're special, you know, they've got their own story, but we want them to know that it it's okay to be, you know, a baby that was surrendered because you have a mom that loved you so much that she she did what she felt was best. And then you have another mom that loved you so much she's raising you. Yeah, you know, and so um, and so we're we're working on a uh a retreat. Um purchasing some land and um we're we're we're gonna do it. We're we're gonna pull the trigger. And it's something that we've thought about for a while, um, and we're finally in a place where we can do this. And uh, and to God be the glory for all that we've been able to accomplish. Because if it wasn't for him, we would not be doing what we are doing. There have been doors that have been opened for us that should have never been opened. Right. They shouldn't have. There's no reason why they were opened other than because he wanted them open.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And I often get asked, you know, what is your five-year goal? What is your 10-year goal, Monica? Do you just want to be in every 50 all 50 states? And I say, I have no idea where I'm going tomorrow. I just don't because I'm not driving the bus. Christ is driving this bus I've been on for 10 years. I I don't, I didn't know I was gonna be in Billings, Montana this year, you know, but Christ is driving the bus. And has the road been bumpy? Yes. Have we made some abrupt stops? Yes. Have we made some turns? I had no idea where we're going, yes. But at the end of the day, we're in the safest vehicle out there. And and he's going to get me where I need to be to make the biggest impact on others.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you know, when when you you when you have a baby that's been surrendered and somebody's adopting that child, we don't know what that baby will do as far as education, where they will go after education, what course of life they'll go in. Here's one thing we do know they were made in the image of God. You know, and and the Lord, that's why the God is with you so much and helps you uh to to do everything that you're doing as an organization because as much as you love the babies, he loves them more. He loves He loves everything that you're doing, um, He loves what's being accomplished because He already knows what it is that kid's supposed to do when they're 25. That's that blows my brain. It absolutely fries my head when I when I get that. Um when I came to Christ, I was not from a Christian family. Really? No. Um, I was the first one in our family that came to know Christ as Savior. I got saved two weeks after graduated from high school.
SPEAKER_02:Really?
SPEAKER_01:Yep. Um because of the a testimony of a young lady, and it wasn't my wife. I hadn't met her yet. But this young lady, I wanted to date her when I was in high school. She wasn't the most beautiful girl in the school, she wasn't the smartest top of the class, but there was just something about her. She was cute as a button and sweet, and and I I I just wanted to take her out. And she was always so nice about it, but she says, No, I really can't, and all that. And so finally one day I I said, You say you don't say you don't want to go out with me, but you say you can't. I I don't understand it. She says, I made a pledge to Christ a long time ago that if I put myself in a position to where if this goes really well with this guy, I might end up marrying to him.
SPEAKER_00:If he's not a believer, it's gonna be a disaster. I understood none of it, you know. I I'm like, yeah, okay, I get it, and I didn't get it. Um well about three months later. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:She calls me and she says, You always want to go out with me, and she goes, and I'd I'd like to do it. And she goes, I know we talked about going out and group dating and all that. Would you mind going with me and a bunch of the kids from my church? Because we're gonna go to Shaky's Pizza. Now there's an exciting evening right there, Shaky's Pizza. And I said, No, that'd be awesome. She goes, now there's one thing, we're all gonna be on a bus and we're going out to the Indiana State Fairgrounds first because there's a big revival meeting going on out there, so we're going to go out there and then we're going to go get pizza afterwards. I said, Cool. Sign me up. Yeah, so so I went. And so we are there, and and this was at the Indiana State Fairgrounds where they run the races, you know, the horse races. And so we're in the stands, we're in the next to the top row. Okay. And down there on on the ground is a stage, and the speaker that night is Jack Van Empe. Well, if you know anything about Dr. Jack Van Empe, every one of his sermons had like 111 verses that he used as references, and they were all like that because he had the entire New Testament memorized. Wow. Yeah, which was nuts. I said, I said, okay, you're cheating.
SPEAKER_03:Photographic mind, it sounds like.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but so I so we're there at the top, and the young lady I was with was here, and a guy, Rick, that I had just met on the bus on the way out was sitting here. And the longer that I listened, by the time he was halfway through the sermon, I knew if Jesus came back, or if I died right then, I was splitting hell wide open. It was no doubt in my mind. So then when it came and he said, every head bowed, and we're doing all that, and he goes, So why don't you just get up from your seat and come down? Somebody I'll meet you down here, take the Bible. And so I didn't turn to her. I turned to Rick. I said, Will you go with me? He said, Oh yeah, like that. And walked me down, you know, 10,000 people in the in the in the stands. And walked all the way down, got to the gravel, walked across, a guy I didn't know, took a Bible. We knelt in the gravel and he showed me how Jesus died for my sins. Who could have known that was going to happen? But and I've and I've said this to her because I was associate pastor at a church where she and her husband are at, and and I I said, if it wasn't for a young lady who had decided that what God wanted in her life was more important than what she might want, I probably wouldn't be here today because I would have gone ahead and become an attorney, as which was my plan, and that's where I would be, and I'd probably be a lost lawyer. So I mean, you know, so but God knows, He knows this stuff, you know, He actually He absolutely knows this stuff. And then I met Kim and I had a new boss in my life.
SPEAKER_03:And of course she's the boss. Yeah, you know, that's amazing though, because it's like Christ puts us in a position where we need to be at that time. And she uh this this young girl probably had no idea that she was about to change the course of somebody's life. No, none. She was just being faithful to what Christ had called her to do, which was to bring people to Christ.
SPEAKER_01:Yep. And and she told me later, she goes, you know, the pastor the week before had told me it's not my job to win you to Christ, it's my job to get you in a position where you can be led to Christ, you know.
SPEAKER_03:And being faithful.
SPEAKER_01:There I am.
SPEAKER_03:Talking about being faithful again. Yeah, it's not our job to be successful, it's our job to be faithful.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Wow. Right. That is amazing. That that is that is really amazing. You know, I really started to I I grew up in the church. Okay. Oh my gosh, I gotta get up on Sunday. Like, can't I just sleep in? You know, that was me. You know, that was me.
SPEAKER_01:Give me a day, Dad. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And then I gotta tell you, so I joined the United States military. Okay. And um, and uh you couldn't sleep in on Sunday in boot camp. You couldn't, you know, and so um, but they offered donuts if I went to church. And you didn't get donuts, you know? And so I'm like, oh man, this is like awesome. Like, you know, I I get time away from basic training if I go to these church services.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And so and donuts. And um, and so I started going to the church services and I was in basic training for nine weeks. And every Sunday I went to this church service. And by the time I got out of there, I I knew that I had to live a life for Christ. Right. You know, and so you never know where you're gonna be or, you know, who's gonna get you there. But it it's always a it's always a challenge. And then Joe and I, you know, I mean, once once I got out of basic training and I started living my life, I I did drift away. You know, I did drift away a little bit. And then Joe and I in um 2006 got baptized here in Woodburn.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:And so uh, yeah. So it's uh it's it's kind of our journey, but you know, it also it all started with donuts and basic training for me.
SPEAKER_01:So, so when he tells the story, he talks about how you drifted away, but he reached in and Joe grabbed you and pulled you back. Is that yeah?
SPEAKER_03:Well, uh, I mean, it depends who you ask. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Well, you know, we're pretty close to Christmas, so let him believe that for at least another month because it might pay out.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I just let him believe whatever he wants. You know, he knows I'm the boss at home and I'm at my wife.
SPEAKER_01:I think you guys went to the same training.
SPEAKER_03:Oh my gosh. Well, Mr. Miller, it has been just a pleasure to to have you in here and to just have you as a friend along the way. You know, I I remember coming on your show when the second baby, the third baby, when Gracie was surrendered, and then we brought Gracie back to the show with her parents. And um, and it was you were just as excited as I was when a baby was saved in one of our boxes. And then when we had the four caramel babies, right, that was like incredible. And it was like, you've got to come on, like because we had one baby and then the second baby and then the third baby, like with all in within a few weeks. And and it was like we were celebrating that these moms had a choice and they saved the life of their child, and you just celebrated right along with us and allowed others to hear the stories of safe haven baby boxes. So thank you.
SPEAKER_01:Well, thank you. And thanks at the start because you trusted me to be a part of talking to you and coming on my program to talk about safe haven baby boxes where other people think that they understand and they want to talk to you about it, but they don't really. And I didn't want to gum up the works, you know. I wanted to be something to help you get to the next level and the next step with it. And hopefully we did that.
SPEAKER_03:We did. Yeah, you know, I I still hear from people today that say I heard you on woo woo.
SPEAKER_01:Really?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I mean, I haven't been invited back since you left. What's the problem here? I don't know what I did. Well, thank you. I appreciate you more than you know, and uh I'm I'm glad to call you friend.
SPEAKER_01:Same here.
SPEAKER_03:This is Monica Kelsey from Beyond the Box in the Studio uh with Mr. Miller. Um, and uh if you guys would like to support Safe Haven Baby Boxes, you guys can go to safe haven babyboxes at shpb.org and make a donation today to support this ministry that is saving babies across the country. God bless you guys. We'll see you guys next time.