Votes for Women!

Brisbane Ward--love this group of women so much!

Most people know that boobs in our house are affectionately called "votes".  This stemmed from a line in the classic movie, "Mary Poppins".  When Syd was little, she loved Mary Poppins (still does) and whenever the suffragettes would march with their banners across their chests stating "Votes for Women!" and sing all about "votes"--for some reason, this translated differently in her mind. The banners across the chests and the marching and the female power just all evolved in her mind to mean that girls' chests are proudly called their "votes".  So the saying "Votes for Women" takes on a very feminist, empowering meaning in our house-- above and beyond suffrage!  Anyway, that explanation was mostly to cover my post title choice.  Let me explain this picture.  Yes, it is what it looks like a clothes line stretching across the church building's cultural hall full-- and I mean chuck full-- of bras!!  Our ward here did a service project for women in Africa called The Uplift Project.  It's a worldwide organization that collects bras, swimsuits and underwear for women in villages in Africa that don't have access to "vote"-support if you will!  Our ward collected over 300 bras (new and used) at this project!  It was so awesome!  I didn't have any used ones I could spare, so I took my girls and told them all about the project and we hit Big W (Aussie's version of Wal-Mart) to see what we could find.  The girls loved picking out their favorite bras to donate to the project.  We hit up a clearance rack and found heaps for cheap as!  Oaks picked out some cute pink flowery numbers and Syd opted for stripes and polka-dots.  The girls were so happy to help these less-fortunate women. It was fun to hear them thinking of how a flowery, pink bra might ."..really make some lady happy". And I know they're right!  I believe a cute bra really does have the power to lift one's spirits! It was a great project.  I loved offering our "support" -- ;) to our sisters that are in Africa trying to fish the rivers and feed their babies.  I'm a mom too, and while our trials are different our dreams and love for our children are most likely very similar.  The Relief Society is such an amazing organization that connects women of all faiths worldwide.  "...The errand of angels is given to women, and this is a gift that as sisters we claim..."  I love that part of our calling in life!