Cara, Team Tadsen, Bridal Crack & Ongoing Legacy :)
Sunday, July 25, 2017
Dear Reader,
Please see this as a journal written to bring God glory and to honor my dearly-loved friend Cara Tadsen. I'm compelled to write this journal because Cara never sought the spotlight. Never. Ever. She was a very private person who radiated the love of Jesus.
What comes to my mind is the verse, "Let another one praise you, not your own mouth."(Proverbs 27:2). So here is my little journal -- with ongoing, dated entries -- giving glory to God for the beautiful life and legacy of Cara Cashin Tadsen.
Saturday, April 15, 2017
Pray 4 Cara
My beloved friend and sister in Christ, Cara Tadsen, has been hit with a storm and it's turned into a tsunami of cancer.
photo copyright Kevin Trotman
Cara is the type of Christ follower who is always taking care of everyone else around her. She has always been like the Proverbs 31 woman who "works vigorously with her hands" and her "lamp does not go out at night." She is loving. Tenderhearted. Unselfish. Insightful. Athletic. Joyful. She takes care of her large family, most of whom have started their own families. She loves her Lord.
I met Cara decades ago when a homeschool mom prayer group spouted in our local community of Union Hill. We'd meet in different homes and pray for each other, our families, our community and country. We have been blessed by God with a special, lasting sisterhood and that is what is driving me to write this post.
Our prayer group at Cara's home, circa 1990. My youngest daughter Mary is leading against me in this photo. Cara is sitting next to me. Who would have dreamed at that time, Cara and her family would be hosting/catering/beautifully decorating Mary's wedding at their beautiful Chukkar Farm Polo Club????
For years our home school mom group prayed for each other and for others. Now Cara needs everyone to be praying for her! She's tired and she's fighting and praying. Those close to her know all of this to be true.
Two years ago Cara and her family spectacularly catered our daughter, Mary's, wedding at her family's Chukkar Farm Polo Club & Event Facility. When "The Happy Song" was played Cara came out from the kitchen area in her apron and danced with a couple of us. We rocked it so much no one was willing to step on the dance floor with us. Yep. That's Cara.
No one wanted to dance with us to "The Happy Song" at Mary's wedding reception!
World-renowned Pastor Charles Spurgeon, also suffered greatly in his life and wrote several sermons fueled by his own serious afflictions. He wrote and preached on the power of prayers through pain, the grace of God being comfort and help in His chronic suffering.
In one of his sermons Spurgeon said, "The storm has a bit in his mouth...[Christians] know that the storm has a bit in it's mouth, and that God holds it in, and nothing can hurt them; nothing can happen to them but what God permits."
Will you pray for Cara and her family?
They've set up a website for updates to help all of us target our prayers for the glory of God. https://www.caringbridge.org/signin
"The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective." (James 5:16).
I am honored to be Cara's friend/sister.
Thank you, God, for this faithful warrior. Keep sustaining her, Lord.
Polly
Anyone who surrenders their life to Christ and becomes consumed with living for the glory of God, can't help but bear a lot of fruit. All the gifts God plants as seedlings in us will begin to take root and will blossom and thrive if our hearts become attached to His. Sometimes we develop gifts we never knew we had until we take our focus off ourselves and draw near to God. He promises when we do, when we "abide in Him we will bear much fruit." (John 15:5)
My dearly loved friend Cara Tadsen was called to her heavenly home June 14, 2017. Her legacy is like a branch on a prolific fruitful vine reaching far in every direction. She didn't make the fruit bud and blossom and grow. No. God did it when Cara surrendered her life to Christ many years ago. She intentionally answered God's call to "follow Me."
A holy fire was ignited in her heart and she set her sights high to do everything with excellence. She had her priorities right: God's will & glory, deeply and dearly loving her ever-growing family, and loving others.
She followed Jesus alright, with a humble, joyful, fiery passion whether she was competitively riding on the polo field...
(Cara in white)photo copyright Susan Elizabeth Talbot 2011
hosting gorgeous, classy weddings
(as for our daughter Mary & Matt, her husband)...
...or whipping up a healthy meal for her family of
two sons and four daughters, from left back row: Dane, Joy, Brekken, Joy, husband Kellum; front row, Tate, Cara & Helen....and...
.... the blessed family including spouses and grandchildren!!!!!! (2014)
...or checking vegetables, flowers, & weeds in her garden!
God filled Cara with the fruit of the Spirit of God, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness and self-control. Not perfectly, of course, but Cara was full of integrity and kindness, love and laughter...and dancing...and worshipping her God.
She was tenacious about having integrity, kindness, faithful, hardworking, Her passion to glorify her Father in heaven and her leaned her heart to His voice and His word so she could bring Him glory every day. He wrapped His powerful, loving arms around her every moment of her life; through agonizing painful situations and as well as joyful blessings.
Cara had many, gifts, talents and abilities! Her legacy gushes with the lasting Spirit of God, leaving a unique, creative trail of love and light for generations. Her smile was warm and very bright, as if she wanted to share the peace of God in her just like you could see the peace of God in her when she smiled. Of course she had struggles and serious trials in her life but she was strong in Jesus and was even good at persevering without complaining.
I'm sure she has no idea the massive impact her life has made in her 58 years of life. No. I don't think so. Even as the vibrant life was rapidly being drained from her body due to cancer, Cara still wasn't thinking about herself and what others thought of her. No.That's not how she lived and that's not how she died.
Cara was always concerned about everyone else's welfare first! No idea how many lives she touched with her love of Jesus, her love to worship and dance, her sense of humor, her love of gardening and floral arrangement, her humble spirit, her gifts of cooking and baking dozens and dozens of made-from-scratch cinnamon rolls and breads, and her athletic prowess on the polo field!
The inpromptu after polo dance party...Cara in white hat & white shirt, her daughter Joy in blue shirt & tan hat.
TEAM TADSEN & BRIDAL CRACK
And then there's the evidence of her creativity in hosting weddings at the family's Chukkar Polo Farm and Event Facility.
Cara knew how to create a stunning environment for weddings (and other celebrations). She offered her personal services such as catering, table settings, decorations, flowers, and even her private collection of treasures hilariously called Bridal Crack, that was kept in the Wed Shed.
Here's a close-up of the sign on the Wed Shed door. I wasn't kidding, Bridal Crack.
And here's what it used to look like on the other side of the rustic white door...
Well, Lord willing, that will be in the next journal post... where you can read how Team Tadsen (her immediate family & a few close friends) rocked the presentation of the Chukkar Farm Polo Weddings & Events with class!
July 25, 2017
Team Tadsen.
It's just my name for the Tadsen family and the few friends they call on to help before, during, and after their stunning events. And I can easily say stunning events because I'm speaking as a mother of the bride two years ago at the farm.
Everything was on point and professionally carried out! Cara was leading the very capable hospitality team and it was mostly made up of her own family! She was the overseer of the whole event because her family knew she had the vision and creativity to make it five-star celebration. For our pre-ceremony prep, Kellum and his tractor were assisting with all the heavy lifting and hauling of chairs; as well as perfectly grilling the chicken. We knew this family and wanted all of them to be a part. Their daughter Brekken, owner of Events by Brekken, was our very conscientious wedding planner; Cara's sister, Heath, baked the best wedding cake I've ever put in my mouth! Brekken's siblings Joy, Tate, Dane, and Hope were all there in their appointed roles. It was amazing and wonderful!
Kellum and Cara Tadsen ...
...came up with a generational motto many years ago for their ever-growing family:
"We may not have it all together but together we have it all!"
Bridal Crack.
Cara was the keeper of her own ongoing collection of well-organized decorations locked away in a room at the pavilion. It was an option for brides to step into Cara's Closet and choose items for decorating; whether for table tops or strings of twinkling lights, lanterns, candles, or reams of silky white material draped across the pavilion ceiling.
Okay, so the message at the bottom of the sign on the Wed Shed door was obviously the warning intended for anyone on her hospitality team to keep her Bridal Crack orderly. Ahem. It was really funny...but that part was not a joke to Cara, who had a wonderful sense of humor....and they knew it. She numbered, categorized, and labeled the decorative items on the wooden shelves. :)
Look, Cara lived a very fruitful and productive life and she knew her God as the God of order and followed His lead. That means everyone who was on the team -- whether her own family members or close friends who helped -- they knew beloved, kindhearted, conscientious Cara kept things orderly! The sign, "Please return all items to their PROPER SPOT! Clean them, allow wax to set before moving."
Her daughter Joy said, "We learned when we cleaned up after an event to put all of the decorations on an empty table so Mom could put everything back in the right place in her closet."
Everyone on Team Tadsen knew Mama Cara Mia had strict rules to produce efficiency and beauty at the Chukkar Polo Farm venue. And they caught her vision and her spirit and the family carries on the legacy. Nobody does it better.
Cara would be so proud to know her legacy lives on in her beloved family and whenever the Tadsen Team hosts an event it's gonna be awesome!
Meanwhile, anyone who knows Cara, knows she's in heaven now, free from all kinds of suffering! Yes! She is celebrating her love for her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ...doing what came easily because He has been so very dear to her heart: dancing and worshiping Him with a very thankful heart!
Link to YouTube:
For the glory of God!
Polly
"Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt His Name together!"
Psalm 34:3
--Polly
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