Katie Cruice Smith is our guest today.
She wrote a book called “Why Did You Choose Me?” and she’s here to share the story behind her story.
Most adoptive and foster children struggle at some point in their life with knowing who they are and where they belong. They want to ask questions, and parents need to be prepared with an answer that helps their child feel loved and secure.
After searching for adoption storybooks to read to her own adopted children, Katie Cruice Smith decided that there was a need for more books that parents could read at bedtime to connect with their adopted and fostered children.
In Why Did You Choose Me?, Katie Cruice Smith answers that question in a way that young children can understand. Drawing from her own experience as an adoptive mom to three children, Katie uses the questions her own children have asked to help them see there never really was a choice she knew right away that they were hers.
With beautiful illustrations by artist Sarah Strickling Jones, Why Did You Choose Me? lovingly demonstrates the uniqueness that each child brings to a family.
Learn more and purchase a copy.
What inspired you to write this book?
When I became an adoptive mom, I knew that I never wanted to hide the story of how my children came to me. I prayed for them, longed for them, and cried for them, and I am 100 percent their mom. But when my oldest was five years old and we were about to adopt our third baby, the questions began to come in full force.
During that time, we were trying to raise money to fund our adoption. I was researching adoption grants and loans when I came across an essay contest. The question posed was, “If your child should come to you one day and ask ‘why did you choose me,’ what would you say?” I’m happy to say that I won the contest, and a seed was planted in my mind to write a poem to my unborn child to tell her about how we came to be able to adopt her.
One day, I was gardening with my friend, Sarah Strickling Jones, and complaining about how hard it was for us to raise the money for this adoption. I told her about the essay and the subsequent poem, and she had an idea. She would illustrate it, and we would put together a book to sell to raise the rest of the money for my adoption.
She created several sketches for me, but then we had no idea how to go about getting it published. So, it sat on a shelf for four years, and we raised the money in different ways. Then, one day, my friend Anna, who happens to work for a small publishing house, said that she believed that I had a story that needed to be told and wanted to set up a meeting with her boss. He saw that I had a story to share because the questions are based on what my own children have asked me, and he agreed to publish my book.
My purpose is to help other adoptive families spark the conversation with their young children and to start answering the difficult questions their children may have.
Awe. What a sweet and compelling adoption story! It’s amazing how your real-life story inspired this book.
Katie Cruice Smith is a freelance writer, journalist, and editor. Her book, Why Did You Choose Me? is currently available on Amazon, Christian Book Distributors, and Barnes and Noble. She is currently working on a devotional book to accompany Why Did You Choose Me?
Katie resides in the Upstate of South Carolina with her husband and three adopted children.
Katie is an adoption and foster care advocate, and she and husband are licensed foster parents.
Follow Katie on social media:
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/katiecruicesmith/
Twitter- https://twitter.com/authorktcsmith
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/authorkatiesmith/
Katie is giving away a copy of Why Did You Choose Me?. Follow the directions below to enter.
After years of trying to have a baby, the old-fashioned way, my niece and her husband went the other route, which didn’t work.
Their prayers were answered in the form of a little girl who has captured our hearts.
She is almost a year old and her smile lights up a room.
Avery is proof positive that God does answer prayer.
Janet,
What a beautiful example of the Gospel in real life! God truly does create families! Thanks for sharing and congratulations on being a great-aunt!
Katie Cruice Smith