Parker/Rodriguez Wedding

I should have already blogged about this, but I've slipped out of the blogging mood once again. I was hoping to have copies of her wedding pictures to post, but I may have to post those later. 

While we were on vacation Tara moved to Ohio to stay in their house and get moved in before the wedding.   We came back from vacation and didn't see her until 3 days before the big day. Things were getting crazy in a hurry. 

Thursday, we along with Tara's bridesmaids, got the church and reception area decorated. We wasn't real happy with how the arch turned out and so I called in my friend Sarah to help us out. And boy did she help!!  A big shout out of appreciation to Sarah for getting things all prettied up for Tara's big wedding day. 

Im getting ahead of myself though so let me start back at the top. There was some confusion about who Tara even was so let me do a little introduction. 

This is Tara and her Mom when Tara was about 6 months old. Tara's mom got killed in a car wreck shortly after this picture was taken. 

Tara's dad waived his rights on caring for Tara and Maynard's mom adopted Tara.   Maynard helped his mom take care of Tara. He was almost like a father figure to her. So Tara is Maynard's niece, but also his adopted sister. 

Tara was blessed to have a Grandma who loved her and doted on her like she did. It's like in a way they both needed each other. Tara didn't have a Mom or Dad and Sue had just buried a daughter and then 2 years later would bury a son. 

She always said Tara was her sunshine. Sue didn't have a lot to offer her, but lots of love. Sue turned her life over to God to seek comfort after the death of Lisa. She started going to First Pentecostal Church of London. It didn't take long for the church family here to take Tara under their wing. The church was always good to them and helped take care of them. They always made sure Tara had a good Christmas and the church family helped pay for all 13 years of Tara's tuition at London  Christian Academy. So between FPC and Sue, Tara was spoiled rotten even though she would try to disagree. 

Sue's health had continue to fail over the last few years. Tara had been dating a guy from Ohio for close to 3 years and they had begun talking about marriage. Of course Sue depended on Tara because she was so ill. Tara was put in a hard spot not wanting to leave her mom, but yet desiring to move Ohio to marry the love of her life. Tara and her mom talked about it a lot and both prayed. I'm sure Sue didn't want to see her go, but at the same time didn't want to hold her back as well. They both felt like it was God's will so Reuben and Tara began wedding planning. I am somewhat amazed at the planning of everything. 

One day in March Sue became very sick and was sent by ambulance to UK hospital. She was in the hospital for 8 days. The only thing that kept Tara going that week was knowing that Reuben had plans of coming to see her that weekend. Even before Sue had gotten sick. The night he got there is when Sue passed away. Tara and Reuben only got to see each other about once every 3 months. I am just amazed at how God works that Reuben was scheduled to be here and arrived the very night that Sue died and was there not only to comfort Tara, but also to attend the funeral. I just love how God pays attention to the smallest detail in our lives. 

Sue had already told Maynard that she was for Tara and Reuben to get married. Soon after the wedding plans began. 15 months later and the wedding day was upon us. 

Saturday morning we took Tara for breakfast before everything started getting crazy. Maynard offered to take her anywhere she wanted to go. (Other than her wedding). She insisted she didn't want to go anywhere and he decided against kidnapping her so we headed back home. 

The kids tied her up because they all decided they didn't want her to get married and leave them. 

Later on we left and headed for the church to get a few wedding pictures taken before the wedding. Everything looked so pretty. It was a simple wedding, but yet pretty just the same. 

We also made a memory table to surprise Tara with that had pictures of both her moms and gave honor to them. Kayla made a sign that said "We know you would be here today if Heaven wasn't so far away."  The Schooley family made the chalkboard sign that just finished everything off beautifully. 

Here's a picture. Maynard and I took a selfie above the memory table. Ha ha. For some reason I failed to get one picture of the reception. I had asked my Mom to hold my phone and then I got busy and didn't take any pictures back there. Trust me though that it was pretty. 

My kids were pretty excited about being in the wedding. 

She was beyond thrilled!!  Her curly hair was a fail!!  I sponge rolled her hair the night before and it barely put any wave in her hair at all. Oh well. She still looked pretty.  

Wedding time......

These will be blurry because but I'll post them anyway. 

Mighty fine ring bearer. 

This flower girl took her job seriously. 

Titus was a champ at his job too!!!

Be still my heart!  I think Maynard was being goofy in order not to cry. 

Giving her away was hard to do. 

Goodbye, Lovebirds!!!!

Maybe I can post her wedding pictures once I get them. 

I want to say a big Thank You to everyone that helped make this wedding successful. First Pentecostal was amazing at the support they gave Tara and Reueben. The ladies of the church provided all the food at the reception and also served and cleaned up when it was over.   Thank you to Wavelene Carpenter for decorating Tara's cupcakes. She worked late into the night to get them finished and refused to allow us to pay her. Thank you to Meghan Hacker for baking the wedding cake that was no doubt time consuming and tedious. It was beautiful and delicious. Thank you to Kayla Harris for all her hard work. She was the most dedicated Maid of Honor I have ever seen. She worked herself to death about it and was just amazing. She was exactly what Tara needed. Thanks again to Sarah Adams for decorating the arch and making it look so much better. I hate naming names for fear of forgetting people, but I'm just so thankful for everyone that made Tara's day so special. Also thanks for Bro and Sis Jarvis for making it back home in time for Tara's wedding. I know they would have enjoyed spending more time with their new baby granddaughter. It wouldn't have been the same without them though. 

Congratulations Tara on your wedding. We are gonna miss you so much, but we are truly happy for you. Everyone deserves true love!!