By: Johnston Moore, Anglicans For Life, Adoption/Orphan Care Consultant

God placed adoption on the hearts of Greg and Asha Johnsen from the time they were married in 2014, though adoption was part of both their families even prior to that time. 

When Asha was 8, her mom married a man who then adopted her (unofficially at age 8, and officially at 18). “I’m so grateful for him, for his wisdom and love for me and training in the Scriptures,” Asha wrote of her dad. “Having a dad helped me understand God’s good authority. My dad is a pastor who faithfully taught me the Word of God, which shaped my worldview from a young age.”

Married in New York, Greg and Asha eventually settled in Colorado Springs, where Greg works at the United States Air Force Academy, and Asha is a full-time homemaker and educator for their two biological sons, Aslan and Braven. They are members of the International Anglican Church in Colorado Springs, a church that is home to several adoptive families. Their church, their families, and their friends all support their decision to adopt, and are willing and able to walk alongside them as they navigate life with a child the Lord brings through adoption.

A few years ago, the Johnsens began getting serious about starting their adoption journey. “We both believe, as laid out in Psalm 127, that children are a blessing from the Lord and ‘blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them,’” wrote Greg. “We also believe, like Russell Moore in Adopted for Life, that every Christian should be involved at some level in the practice of adoption, either through supporting families who are adopting or by adopting themselves. We believe our family is called to do both. Like Moore, we believe that all Christians have been adopted into the family of God through Christ and that by adopting (children) ourselves we are simply doing what has already been done for us … As Moore lays out, adoption is a profound and intimate way of carrying out the great commission.”

In 2022, the Johnsens completed their home study. Still waiting for a match in 2024, they submitted an application, and were approved, for a grant from Anglicans For Life’s Anglican Adoption Fund. Eventually they were listed with three different adoption agencies, who were all on the lookout for a possible match with a birth mother or birth parents. Still, they waited.

In January of this year, the Johnsens’ long wait came to an end as they received a call from one of their agencies saying they’d been chosen by the expectant birth parents of a baby boy who was due in mid-February. “After 4 years of waiting, you can imagine how crazy this feels!” wrote Asha at the time. “Both Greg and I couldn’t believe it was happening, but we are in awe at the handiwork of God knitting hearts together already. Much we cannot see, but the bit we do is stunning and we are filled with wonder and excitement!”

Greg, Asha, Aslan, and Braven officially welcomed their new son/brother into their home and family on February 27. “We are so very grateful for the Lord’s work in bringing baby Caedmon into our family, he is precious!” wrote Asha. “We are also incredibly blessed to have received the Anglicans For Life Adoption Grant.”

Today, Caedmon is settling into the family God has chosen for him, surrounded by the love of a mom, dad, two older brothers, extended family, friends, and church community who are all committed to helping him grow into the person God created him to be. “Our adoption of Caedmon will change our family,” shared Asha. “The waiting has shaped us, and now the walking out of this new calling as parents and big siblings to this particular child will stretch and grow us, and we trust, fashion us more into the likeness of Christ.”

It is because of the generosity of our supporters that Anglicans For Life is able to come alongside and support families like the Johnsens who welcome children into their homes. If you’d like to consider a gift to help more Anglican families adopt children in need of families, or if you know of an Anglican family in the process of, or considering, adoption, please check out the Anglican Adoption Fund at AnglicansForLife.org/AAF.