Teri Fode Photography / Blog

merry christmas...

from me to you...(yes, you)!

So...here we are...Christmas Eve Eve, as we call it in our house...and I'm up to my elbows in Christmas paper, bows, ribbons, scotch tape and tissue paper.

I've been off all week, and it's been a fun week. Prepping for Christmas, shopping, eating out during shopping trips (yes, I've been eating a few naughty things...but hey, it's the holidays and all in the name of moderation, remember? More about that later...).

I had grandiose plans of emailing each and every one of you, those that have posted to my blog over this past year, and wishing you a very Merry Christmas personally. But time slipped away, and here I am, with one day to spare. Great plans gone awry. But it's the thought that counts, right?

I sifted through my emails this week, catching up on pages and pages of emails from you...I sure hope I didn't miss anyone...lots of fun questions, wonderful comments, unbelievable testimonies that you've shared along the way. Thank you so much for that. I give God the glory for the wonderful emails that you send my way and nice things you've said about me...really. He gets the credit. Without Him, I am nothing.

So, seeing as how my plan to email each and every person that has ever posted on my blog in the past year has somehow eluded me, I'm taking a "Christmas present-wrapping break" to wish each and every one of you a very MERRY CHRISTMAS (I refuse to say "Happy Holidays" as so many are trying to get us to say these days...after all, this holiday was created to celebrate the BIRTH OF CHRIST)...a Christmas that is simply filled with...love.

It's so easy to get caught up in the rush of it all...the Christmas tree, the decorations, the wrapping and trim, the shopping, the "I want this" list, the meal planning, the family gatherings and figuring out where to go and how to divide our family holiday time...etc.

At the base of it all, it's really just about one simple, very important, very significant thing.

Love.

May this holiday season be Christ centered for each of you...may we all remember that the true meaning of Christmas is to "Love More"...

The origin of:

CHRIST = "love"

MAS = "more"

Love More.

Merry Christmas.

mary, did you know?

Today I'd like to share the song lyrics and story behind my all-time favorite Christmas song...

Mary Did you Know?

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Did you know
That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
That your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered
Will soon deliver you.

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Did you know
That your baby boy will calm a storm with His hand?
Did you know
That your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little boy
You've kissed the face of God.

Mary, did you know?
The blind will see
The deaf will hear
And the dead will live again
The lame will leap
The dumb will speak
The praises of the Lamb.

Mary, did you know
That your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Did you know
That your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know
That your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding
Is the Great I Am.

-Song lyrics by Mark Lowry

Every time I hear this song (we love it in the version sung by Michael English), it gives me chills to imagine what Mary must have felt, knowing that she was carrying the Great I Am...knowing that He would one day rule the nations...that the baby she delivered, would soon deliver her?

Amazing song.

Amazing story.

Amazing God we have, that the world would be saved in this very incredible way.

STORY BEHIND THE LYRICS (copied and pasted from Christianitytoday.com):

Mark Lowry is best known as a singer and comedian who spent more than a decade as a regular fixture of Bill Gaither's vocal band. But years from now, when all is said and done, Lowry's most enduring legacy will probably be the beautiful little song that he wrote 18 years ago as a meditation for a Christmas program at his church.

In 1984, the leaders at Lowry's Nashville congregation asked him if he'd be willing to write a musical for Advent. He gladly agreed.Inspiration came as Lowry focused his heart and mind on the wonder of Christmas.

"I tried to picture Mary holding the baby Jesus on the first Christmas morning and wondered what she was thinking about that child," he says. "She knew he was special—the Virgin Birth was her first clue—but could she ever imagine all the things that he would do while he was here?"

Soon, Lowry came up with a series of questions that he would like to ask Mary: "Did she know he would walk on water? Raise the dead? Give sight to the blind?"

Lowry decided to use the questions as a monologue to be recited between the scenes of his musical. But the profundity of those questions lingered in his mind long after the church musical was done.

Six years later, harmonica virtuoso Buddy Greene supplied just the right music and "Mary, Did You Know?" was complete.

Since then, Lowry and Greene's tune has become a modern classic. It has been recorded by more than 30 different artists (besides Lowry), including Kenny Rogers, Kathleen Battle, and Reba McEntire.

"I hear from a lot of people who have sung it in the church choir for Christmas and Easter programs," says Lowry. "When I wrote it, I felt there was something special there, but I never imagined how wide-reaching it would become."

artistic impressions

warning: another artistic impression...

Sharing a photo from a recent photo-session...very dramatic with a high-impact edit technique...

The funny thing is...neither of these lovely ladies think they are photogenic!

I beg to differ...they both are photogenic and they both look *fabulous*.

I say there's beauty in EVERYONE ...it's up to the photographer to *see* it...

And I can *see* it in everyone...beauty is in the heart...and I can *see* it through the eyes...I always look in the eyes and try to capture it in my images...

:)