DOBELA -- I'm sorry to hear about your situation. It is hard these days -- for everyone! I know! My hubby didn't get his bonus this year (a tenth of his income), we had a daughter get married and now we are without power (from a storm on Friday).....so things are costing us a bit much right now --- need to go out to eat, buying lots of gasoline for the generator, things like that.......It has been a tough year for all of us I think! We will all make it! God will provide!

SIS -- I'm sorry to hear you have been ripped off. Taking checks or money orders only is ONLY in order to keep the price of the items down. I have not priced my items to help cover the paypal fees. I have paypal and like to use it, but that means raising the price. It has nothing to do with anything other than that. We are not technically allowed to charge for the fees, but rather price the items to help cover the costs. It is sad that we have come to that these days that we cannot even trust people to write them a check. Again, I am sorry this has happened to you, but that is not the reason I take only checks or money order. Sound like to me that I am just going to have to raise my prices a little, which seems crazy to me :(, in order to take paypal again. But, I do need to make something off of the books, so I can purchase the books I need. If I don't make anything, then I can't buy my books either. God bless!

I see what everyone is saying. I WILL say that I do not usually have that first line in my posts --- my original postings had nothing of the kind in it. This was only after many, many, many people not getting back to me after their initial emails. I suppose it is just part of our society today. It is not the way that I was raised, but I guess I need to learn to respond differently. In the future, I will just delete the emails and move on to the next buyer. I do like the suggestion of requesting that they get back to me within a certain time period. :iagree: But, then, doesn't that come across as being rude too? It is so difficult to 'type' things that people won't take personal....it's the devils way of getting a foothold even on the internet. Well, thanks for the suggestions. I am not trying to be rude at all, really. Sorry if it came across that way. I am frustrated, no doubt. It would just be nice if people would take a couple seconds to reply saying they don't want an item. I even had someone make me an offer at almost half the price I listed it for. I have accepted many negotiable offers in the past that were very reasonable, but sometimes people come across as 'begging' for me to give them something. Those are the ones I am referring to. It just seems it has gotten dynamically worse this year for some reason. I have not had so many issues like this in the past -- hence, my frustration, I guess. Someone mentioned the reviews. I have successfully sold loads of curriculum over the past 13 years and have had lots of happy buyers and I have successfully purchased lots of items as well. I just don't think that many people write reviews of people. I don't think it is a very accurate method of telling if someone is good to buy from or not. Just not that many people write things. So, I am not sure I agree with that so much. It is what it is and I will have to just keep my frustrations out of the posting. The way I choose to respond is totally up to me and thanks for keeping me accountable. I will continue to work on that ladies. God bless and thanks for your advice! :D

I have had several people ask about items or saying they want to know if such and such is still available. I email or message them back and then I never hear from them again. I have not had this happen much until this year. Does anyone else find this rude and disrespectful? What is up with that anyway? Am I wrong? And, then people just seem to want us to 'give away' the curriculum. I have items listed for dirt cheap and people send me emails offering to pay less. I want the cheapest price like anyone else, but I just can't afford to give items away. I have been selling items for at least 13 years and this year seems to be the absolute worst! If I don't sell my curriculum, I can't buy curriculum. Anyone else having issues of this sort? Tamra

Thanks Lisa. I did get a 'private message' from you in my mailbox on TWTM, but what is NOT working that I hope you can test is 'send email message...' to me. Can you try that for me? Thanks!

I have been posting things on TWTM for several years, but all of a sudden I am not receiving any private emails from others. This is the way I usually like to be contacted, so I have missed out on selling some items. I hope no one thinks I am just ignoring them and then I get a 'bad name', but I honestly don't know how to fix the problem. I went thru my edit options and profile features and changed a few things just to see if that would work, but I actually need someone to try to private email me first to see if it is corrected yet. Can anyone help? Has anyone else had this issue? HELP! Tamra

I am miffed about the new fees. Paypal did not inform me of any changes in their policies and that is unethical! Revolution MoneyExchange works the same as paypal used to work without fees. If everyone signs up for that, it could solve our fee problems. Here's a link to take a look at it: https://www.revolutionmoneyexchange.com/Login.aspx I don't get any benefit from telling you about it, so check it out! Just sign up and start paying others with it and receiving payments too, of course. Blessings,

When I typed it, I wasn't sure if that was right and almost put that in there, but another words.....don't get caught up in the exact wording of what something is called -- whether it's called a 'team', 'worship team', or whatever......people can really get caught up on the exact terminology of something. That should not be important.:D

I believe satan loves it when we have controversy over things purely based on verbage. Christians need to stop getting hung up on the particulars of what something is called -- like 'worship team', 'praise team', 'team', or whatever. A team is actually a good thing -- working together to achieve a common goal or purpose. But, nonetheless, having controversy on what this group of people who lead the singing on Sunday morning is called is something I believe God is frowning upon. However, I do believe that some individuals are on these 'teams' for the wrong reasons and it is up to the leadership of the church to take care of that. That is their responsibility and they will be held accountable for it. That's just Biblical. Instead of 'grumbling and complaining' about it, we should be praying for our leadership in our churches to have discernment and direction from God in these areas, as well as lifting up every 'team' member in prayer that is participating. I"ve learned that praying these things is a much better alternative than the complaining. I, personally, bowed out of our 'worship team' for about a year for some of these very reasons and took time to re-group myself and my attitude. And, I know another individual (who was becoming quite prideful) from our 'team' that God has removed from the 'team' (at least this is how my dh and I see it) to deal with her on that. She is a wonderful vocalists, but pride got in the way. She ended up having some surgery that has caused her to barely be able to speak, let alone sing. I don't wish this on anyone, but I hope she's hearing the Lord on this one. So, bottom line, let's not get tied up on petty issues and keep these people (whom God loves and wants in His will) in our constant prayer. :)

in church music, that's for sure. It constantly changes over time periods to what God wants and needs for 'such a time as this'. If you notice, even the styles are different. There's nothing wrong with any of the styles (for the most part, as long as they are truly God-centered).....that's why God did say psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs....that pretty much covers the bases on that one. I believe a team is better than a single leader to help weed out the pride that could stir up within one person. A team, just like a football team or basketball team, would fall apart without all of the parts. So, it's not about each individual person, but the team. And, they shouldn't be there just because they can sing, but they should be spiritually grounded as well. That can really hurt the unity of the team! Hope this makes sense. I have done a lot of studying on this particular subject and feel very strongly about it. So, if you're not a musician or vocalists, leave it in the Lord's hands. God bless everyone!

Praise teams/worship teams, though not called this specifically in the Bible, were actually a very important part of war in the Bible. The 'worship' leaders went out in front of the army in wars. They were a key part in winning the war! These 'teams' are not supposed to be about themselves (which obviously does happen, as mentioned in other posts below), but they are there to help usher in what God has prepared for us to receive as a congregation. It is an awesome responsibility that I, as a vocalist on a 'worship' team, do not take lightly. God has gifted musicians and vocalists for a reason, and I believe this is one of the greatest uses for them. We are fighting a battle on this earth against the 'prince of this world' and since he was the lead worshipper prior to being kicked out of heaven, worship is one of the strongest weapons we have against him!! So, worship on in song, ladies! Defeat him in his tracks!!!

This is the strangest thing -- typing some basic useless info.

YEAH!!! I've got a couple more to go. No Jack in the Box here that I know of.....what state are you in?

but, I probably could live without it if I had to. It's not absolutely necessary.

These sound pretty good. I think I do remember seeing them in the Timberdoodle catalog and marking them.