Wow! What a stir!!  I couldn't figure out why our Messengers of Faith Dolls were flying off our shelves and into the mail truck yesterday. I called the company to order more today. The receptionist asked me if I saw the articles. I replied, "What articles? Is that why we're selling these?" She replied that they're flying off store shelves and if we had any in stock we were lucky.

Toys for Tots rejected a 4,000 doll donation  from the company based on religious reasons.

VALENCIA - A local company that makes talking Jesus dolls that quote the Bible donated 4,000 of its dolls to the U.S. Marine Reserves' Toys for Tots, only to have the toys rejected.

A spokesman for One2believe, a division of the Valencia-based Beverly Hills Teddy Bear Co., claimed the Marines, in turning down the 4,000 Barbie-size dolls that the company values at $80,000, violated their own mission "to help needy children throughout the United States experience the joy of Christmas." The company's Messengers of Faith collection also includes the Virgin Mary, Moses, David and Esther dolls.

"I don't understand why they can't accept a toy that promotes good values," said Michael La Roe, who runs the One2believe division. "I just think that it shouldn't be that big of a deal."

The Marines thought long and hard about the decision, but in the end determined religious items aren't appropriate because the program donates to children of all religions during the holidays and doesn't have the mechanism to match kids to toys, said retired Maj. Bill Grein, vice president of Toys for Tots.

"We have to be everything for everybody," Grein said Monday. "We don't know if the kids we help celebrate Christmas,