Fearfully & Wonderfully Made (U-NEEK by Dayspring Review & Info)

A few days ago, we were out grocery shopping when Lizzy spotted someone with an eye-patch. "Look! She looks like a pirate!" Lizzy yelled. This is actually not the first time that we've had an encounter with an eye-patch, and it hasn't always ended well. Thankfully, this woman totally rolled with the punches and gave a good "Arg!" and reference to The Pirate Fairy movie (Lizzy was thrilled).

We've talked to Lizzy quite a lot lately about how everyone looks different, and that's okay. The world would be a really boring place if we were all the same. But still, she's just at that age where she's really noticing the differences a lot. She couldn't care less whether someone has long hair, short hair, or no hair, but you better believe that she notices, and she definitely intends to let the whole store know that she notices. Still, we've been working lately on kindness, and have basically told her that it's only okay to compliment people that we don't know on their appearance.

Recently, Dayspring came out with a new line of product called U-NEEKS that really affirms the idea that everyone is unique and wonderfully made, which really aligns with some of the things we've been working with Lizzy on lately. We were offered the opportunity to review some of the products, and although you may have noticed that I've majorly backed off the number of reviews and giveaways that I've done in the past year, I said yes to this one because I really and truly love everything about it.


The line is based around a group of characters called the U-NEEKS. Each individual character has a name (Indigo, Wally, Alliebird, & Dweeber are pictured above), and comes with some info about their favorite things. Each character has their own favorite Bible verse, but the overall message for the whole line is "Fearfully & Wonderfully Made!" Each character's tag says "We are fearfully & wonderfully made, a little bit quirky, a little bit strange, and completely U-Neek!"

Thus far, I have really let the girls decide what toys they want to play with, but sometimes I get sick of all the perfect princesses and baby dolls. We all know that's not reality. I like that the U-NEEKS  dolls are a little more funky and a lot less perfect. We have already spent a lot of time counting eyes, ears, teeth, and comparing hair, etc. It's a good starting point to talk about all those issues we've been working on with Lizzy, and helps me break it down in ways that are meaningful and understandable to her--these dolls may not look like her princesses, but they are just as fun to play with! Not only that, but that there's only one Lizzy in the world, and it's okay that she's not going to look or act just like any of the other kids in the school--God made her just the way she is, and he did it on purpose, FOR a purpose! 





I thought my girls would be most excited about the dolls, and while they do love them, I was surprised that Lizzy's favorite part of the collection has been the greeting cards.

Earlier this summer, Lizzy's aunt Renee broke her foot playing soccer. One of the first things Lizzy said when she heard was, "I want to make her a card!" Sweet Lizzy busted out the Alliebird "Owl be praying for you" cards, and went right to work. Now, anytime she hears that someone is hurt or sick, she asks to make them an "owl card". I have to admit that I am NOT great about sending cards to people, and I always wish that I were better about it, so I love that Lizzy has this desire already and am trying to do my best to foster it!

We also received these sweet Encouragement Notes, which I have been saving with the intention of sending them along with Lizzy's snack to school this next year. Each card has a sweet note of encouragement, and it has really been incredible how much of an affect they have on Lizzy--she really lights up whenever I read them to her! The card that Lizzy is holding above says, "Never frog-get, I think you're amazing." So simple, but such a good thing for kiddos to hear affirmed regularly!

These coupon books to reward kids for good behavior are also SO AWESOME. Another thing that's really simple, but really effective, for Lizzy in terms of her behavior and attitude. Again, she totally lights up at the recognition.

The U-NEEKS collection is available on the Dayspring website, but you can also see them in-store at Hobby Lobby and Wal-Mart stores until July 15th. I really suggest going and checking out the coupon books and encouragement notes--they are awesome, and can definitely be used independent of the plush toys above!

Disclosure Statement: I received the U-NEEKS product from Dayspring in exchange for my honest review and thoughts.  All opinions and photos are my own, and all links above are non-affiliate links.