HOUSTON -- Rusty Yates, whose former wife drowned the couple's five children in the family's bathtub in 2001, is getting married this weekend to a woman he met at church.

Yates, 41, said his former wife, Andrea Yates, is aware of his upcoming nuptials, which are scheduled Saturday at the Clear Lake Church of Christ -- just two days before Andrea Yates' scheduled capital murder retrial.

An appeals court is considering new arguments in the case and could decide later this week to delay the trial for months or possibly a year.

"Andrea has been aware of it for a couple of months, and she wishes me the best, just as I wish her the best," Rusty Yates told The Associated Press Tuesday in an e-mail.

The church where Rusty Yates will be married is the same church where the funerals for his children were held.

Karin Kennedy, Andrea Yates' mother confirmed with KPRC Local 2, that her daughter is aware of her ex-husband's wedding plans.

Yates had said Monday that he hasn't been able to visit as much with his former wife since she was released on bond and moved to a state hospital, where she is awaiting her retrial.

He continues to stand by his former wife. Yates returned home from work in June 2001 to find she had drowned their five children, who ranged in age from 6 months to 7 years.

"People have to get on with their lives and I know something like this would obviously be a moment of pause and sadness for Andrea, but that is kind-of the way it is," her attorney, George Parnham, said Tuesday of Rusty Yates' upcoming marriage to Laura Arnold.

Rusty and Andrea Yates, 41, married in April 1993 after meeting in the apartment complex where they both lived. They divorced in March 2005, three years after Yates was sentenced to life in prison. A jury rejected her insanity defense in 2002 and convicted her of two capital murder charges.

Under the divorce decree, Andrea Yates received her gliding rocking chair -- generally used for nursing babies -- and the right to be buried near the five children. Rusty Yates also gave her $7,000 and a portion of his retirement benefits from his employment at NASA.

Andrea Yates has again pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Prosecutors contend Yates, who is presumed sane, knew it was wrong to drown her children.

An appeals court last year overturned Andrea Yates' convictions because of testimony from an expert witness about a nonexistent episode of television's "Law & Order" series.

The appeals court is now considering Parnham's claims that prosecutors knew expert Park Dietz had falsely testified and trying Yates again would constitute double jeopardy.

State District Judge Belinda Hill denied Parnham's claim earlier this month and found it frivolous. Parnham appealed and asked the higher court to halt Andrea Yates' retrial.

Psychiatrists in her original trial testified Andrea Yates suffered from schizophrenia and postpartum depression, but expert witnesses disagreed over the severity of her illness and whether it prevented her from knowing that drowning her children was wrong.