enjoy every season // days like today

11. Mornings to sleep in and recover/stock up sleep for the rest of the week. 

12. The fact that its okay when there's still laundry piled on the couch that needs folding and dishes in the sink that need washing - but that he loves me just the same. 

13. Days off which means late morning brunch + coffee getaways. (Thank you, Labor day!) This veggie breakfast wrap was AMAZE. Eggs, grilled veggies and exxxxxtra avocado. :)

14. Spotify playlist on. like. ALL. DAY. ERR. DAY.

15. Too many errands to do, but have a random itch to practice some calligraphy? This is my favorite kind of multi-tasking. :) I am sucha newb (+ weirdo!)

16. My reflexes are getting faster. I killed 8 fruit flies in a 45 second period today. That moment was gold. I was so proud of myself. Those fruit flies have nothing on me! 

17. Finally having a full day off to attempt oxtail pho at home. Only took 6 hours :) Cooking with oxtail is always an adventure. Recipe on the blog this week!

18. My responsibilities as Eugene's wife (pharmacy school edition) is back. I am, once again, the nap-waker-upper, motivational snack provider and "stop-playing-with-the-iPad-and-get-back-to-work" accountability partner. It's only been one week but it's lovely.

19. Fun adventures and extravaganzas to try to figure out how to pack make-ahead spring rolls that won't dry out or become too soggy overnight. Keeping my fingers crossed that these still stay fresh til tomorrow at 3pm. please, oh please! (The key is damp towels and wet paper towels in between each spring roll, apparently. I guess we'll find out tomorrow!) These spring rolls are amazing by the way - recipe on the blog this week, too!

20. Eugene had to urge me to pick a place for dessert tonight. He insisted. I never thought I'd have to be urged! We chose a nearby tea shop and picked up this nice "captn' crunch" macaron ice cream sandwich. It was amazing. Ended the day with a happy heart (+ tummy).

Always so much to be thankful for.
Starting a long stretch of work tomorrow - pretty excited!

xoxo

enjoy every season // life lately

A constant battle I have within myself is to find contentment in every season.

Something I'm realizing is that you don't have to look too far to find reason for discontentment in your day-to-day life and there's always a sense of longing for the next best thing. No matter how hard we try, it's almost our natural tendency to take for granted things/moments/people most precious to us. Lately, I've been praying for eyes to see the beauty in the ordinary and the glory in the mundane;   to see that God is purposeful in every season of my life (especially when it's most difficult!) I'm learning that if I take a moment to look deeply into the fine, intricate details of my sometimes-ordinary life - there are a million reasons to rejoice and give thanks every day. I'm trying to make lists of all of the wonderful things I can be thankful for every day. Even in the hardest days, under the most challenging circumstances - there is hope when you know that your God is always in control and that he can use any and everything to bring glory to Himself. I'm learning to enjoy and embrace every single season that God has given me.

In future seasons -  the challenges will look different but the core of my struggle will be the same. I may need to fight be to find joy and a heart of thanksgiving for things like diaper changing - driving to soccer practice, ballet rehearsals, PTA meetings - routine meal-planning -waking up in the wee hours of the night, etc. but here are a few things I'm thankful for today:

1.  Morning Starbucks runs  - and how waking up at 5:30am and driving in semi-heavy morning traffic can be done with excitement and anticipation.

2. My 6:00am accountability group - and our (almost) daily picture texts. It's amazing how much these girls keep me in check and spur me on to be faithful in guarding my time in the Word and in prayer even if we don't see each other face-to-face or engage in conversation on a regular basis. (hi peggy and hmc!)

3. Eugene and his creative, make-shift meals with our super limited pantry items - he has been so patient and gracious to me as I transition into this double-duty, double-job life. My favorite has been his salmon fried rice! My husband is truly the best!

4. Costco - our current obsessions have been chia seeds, Activa yogurts, Acai frozen packets, Cottage cheese and pre-packed salads.

5. Spotify - and for the amazing amount of joy and fun it brings me when spending hours upon hours in the car. I love singing to musical songs, learning harmonies for all my favorite slow jams and rocking out with my windows down! 

6. Pretzel Crisps, to-go hummus cups, fig bars, apple slices, string cheese and the sustenance it provides during my 10-12 hour-day on the road seeing my hospice patients!

7. Google maps - and the fact that it re-routes itself when I miss freeway exits because I'm too busy acting out a scene from a musical. Woops!

8. My awesome college staff team - I'm truly blessed to be able to serve with such a faithful group of people who have such a passionate love for God and for His people. They are truly one of the biggest blessings in my life and a huge source of encouragement to me. 

9. Pho 2000 in Artesia and the amazing late-night runs we're able to do because Eugene is in the middle of his summer break. Actually, thank God for pho - period! 

10. A short but sweet summer vacay to look forward to (We're going on a cruise in a few weeks!) and excitement and anticipation for all the ways that God will use Eugene's third (and hardest) year to grow us in our trust/dependence on Him!

Hopefully the first of many posts.

Let's always rejoice and give thanks!

 "Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus."

- 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 -

A tribute to all neuro nurses and 5 reasons to be thankful today.

Working as a nurse is hard work. I don't think there is anything else in my life that tests my patience or my ability to be thankful/joyful. Don't get me wrong - I love being a nurse! I've dreamed about being a nurse since I was 7 years old, so some might say that I am living my dream. But, as with any other job, there are always things/people/circumstances that try us, test us and teach us how to work unceasingly, to love unconditionally and to serve wholeheartedly.

This might be biased - but I think working on a "neuro floor" requires a lot more patience than any other field in nursing. (Don't throw the tomatoes - I know I'm probably being biased!) We take care of some really sick people, and whenever the brain is involved - things can get a little cray-cray if you know what I mean.

We deal with things like expressive aphasia  - and spend 12 hours not understanding what in the world our patients are trying to say even though they are jumbling thousands of incomprehensible words at a time. A lot of our patients have dementia or some sort of underlying neurological disorder which is only exacerbated by every little thang (i.e. infection, a small heart attack, etc.) If you are a night shift nurse on a neuro floor - you know that "sundowners" and "hospital psychosis" is FO' REAL.  You run around 80% of your shift yelling "MR SMITH, STAY IN BED!!!!" because the bed alarms are going off constantly because patients forget they are at the hospital and are looking for their glasses, or watch or purse, etc. Sometimes you are medicating patients with narcotics/sedatives/mood stabilizers every 15 minutes, or 30 minutes or 2 hours for the entire shift because they have such a high tolerance.  Sometimes you have THREE of these patients and by the end of the day you feel like you did nothing but give pain medication. Sometimes you get pooped on, spit on, slapped, kicked, peed on - you name it.. and you are usually not all that surprised. Lastly, its a good day when none of your patients fall, stop breathing from oversedation or pull out all their drains/IV's/sutures.

It's no joke, people.

However, amidst the busyness and the frustration of working in a challenging floor like ours - it really takes a little bit of extra effort to step back and realize how many blessings are tucked away in all the chaos. I'm thankful for my commute home from work that forces me to reflect on each and every work day and give thanks to all the little and big things that often go unnoticed during a crazy, overwhelming, emotionally-draining, physically-taxing shift.

During my drive back home today, I was trying to think of reasons to thank God for my job today. I thought of at least 50 but here's 5. (some of them are simple, but it's always important to give praise for even the simple things!)

give thanks:

1) I'm thankful to work at a place where I am constantly learning new things. Every day I learn something new from the patients, doctors, physical/occupational/speech therapists, pharmacists, case managers, etc. It's the best kind of place to work.
2) I'm thankful for co-workers who forgive/tolerate me when I sing the "cups song" all day long. Also, for not judging me for using every possible type of "cup" to practice the song at work - i.e. patient coffee cups, medication cups, sani-wipe containers, etc.
3) I'm thankful for patients who say "I love you" back. and for the occasional "thank you!"
5) I'm thankful that I have officially been de-sensitized to all most body fluids (except saliva/mucus). For some reason, I don't mind the stinky things but anything that comes out of the mouth/nose - yuck!
4) I'm thankful and super honored to be working with one of the best stroke programs in the nation! There is no greater feeling than coming to a place where you feel confident about the care your patients are receiving. I love our stroke program!

The above picture is a really awesome picture that one of my co-workers posted. :) I think it really symbolizes the heart behind our work. We really are a family that works to take care of our patients together.  I am truly blessed!

Give thanks!
:)

hip hip hooray to having a kitchen again!

This past week we finally got the green light to use our kitchen again! We had to shut the gas off due to a gas leak we detected during our first week here. It took a few trips from the gas company and my sweet in-laws' hard work to finally get our kitchen up and running again! For the past month or so, we've been living off of cereals, salads, fruits, sandwiches, bagels (toasted via our toaster) and microwavable foods. What a blessing to have our gas turned on and kitchen working again!

Immediately after I got the green light, I rushed over to the grocery store to get my supplies. I was so excited! Strangely, more than anything else I was craving fish and veggies for the past few weeks. I've also been experimenting with my slow-cooker and trying to find tried-and-true recipes I can gather for safe-keeping. Not a whole lot of success quite yet, but we're getting there!

Here's my little cooking adventure from this past week-- actually, this was all in one day. (Sorry, not sorry.)

There was definitely some chicken-herbing going on..

..which also meant there was also definitely some chicken-searing happening. 

This was smelling really wonderful!

Then there were some vegetable cutting and layering (in my crock pot)

Chicken meets the bed of vegetables.

Chicken broth action shot.

I actually took these pictures just in case I liked the recipe enough to share it. I ended up not liking the recipe all that much so we will just enjoy the pictures for now :)

I cooked brussel sprouts for the first time. They were amazing! (Thanks for the inspiration, Amanda!)

Healthy lunch packed for him (left) and her (right). Craving satisfied. :o)

I couldn't choose between Salmon and Tilapia so we had both. On the same day. For the same meal. Yup..

One of my co-workers told me about this cookbook a few weeks ago and I was so inspired by it that I asked Eugene if I could buy it. We swung by Costco today after church and purchased it! I'm excited to use my new kitchen to make lots of tasty and healthy meals for my family! Yay! (See, I already started marking my pages.)

Another sweet thing about living at our new place is our "study room".  My very cute in-laws set up our desks so that we'd be facing each other. (Isn't that so adorable?!) We loved this arrangement so much we decided to keep it. It's nice because a large chunk of our time together at home is spent studying (for him) and reading, book-keeping, mail-organizing, budgeting, blogging (for me) so this makes our time together all the more sweet!

I love having Sundays off to spend worshiping God with my church family, spending time with Eugene (so rare these days!) and preparing for the busy week ahead. What a blessing it is that God knows our need for rest and grants us days such as this!

Cheers to many, many, many cooking adventures and recipes-sharing ahead!

Have a great week, friends!

Give Thanks -  a working kitchen, spending time with Eugene, fellowship within our church family, days to rest, sleeping in, my new cook book (!!!!), furniture searching fun, a great week of work, excitement for the week ahead, God's grace in helping us persevere through every season!

our first anniversary!

Time seriously flies!
Yesterday was our first wedding anniversary and it's amazing how fast our first year has come and gone. Eugene was at school all day yesterday and I was at work so we celebrated with some Brazilian BBQ last weekend.  We ate a lot of meat (and even more from the salad bar) and shared about the many things we learned from our first year of marriage.

A lot has happened this past year: I became a sandwich-making machine. I learned how to schedule my day around my laundry time (our dryer takes FOREVER). I cut my hair short-short for the first time since I was a child (still regretting it!). I got a Costco card. I inherited a chinese last name. I learned how to make a strawberry trifle! I became a firm believer of the slow cooker and I subscribed to the Rachel Ray Magazine (which is now to be one of many magazine subscriptions, hooray!)

This has truly been a very sweet, humbling and sanctifying year. God has really shown us much of our own sins, our selfishness and our self-seeking tendencies. We're still learning what it means to die to ourselves and to really love, serve and sacrifice for each other the way Christ loved, served and sacrificed for us. We still have a long, long way to go-- but we know that he who began a good work in us will bring it completion at the day of Christ (philippians 1:6) so we're still working hard! We've learned what it means to show grace to each other, to confess our sins to each other and to ask for forgiveness. We've learned the great comfort found in coming before the Lord in prayer and what great joy is found in trusting in Him in all circumstances. :) God is so faithful and so good.

We shared a few things we both learned this past year,  so here they are.

3 things Eugene learned:
1) "We live very differently." He likes using his towel multiple times,  while I only use it once or twice before throwing it in the laundry. He puts things away immediately after using it, while I like cleaning it up all at once after I'm done (i.e. whilst cooking, getting ready, etc) He hangs clothes that he wants to re-wear on top of his drawer, and I'm still having trouble getting used to this.
2) "You're not as girly as I thought." He was surprised that I don't PMS. (YAY haha!)
3) "Life is easier with a wife." It was not good for man to be alone ;)

3 things I learned:
1) Eugene top three comfort foods are 1) any kind of curry 2) sushi 3) ramen 4) the "big gulp" drinks at 711, if this counts as a "food". We've gone to eat sushi or ramen almost every weekend since he's started school :)
2) Eugene is excellent at saving money and is really cautious when it comes to finances. I attribute it to him being Chinese! This is a huge blessing because I can be pretty nonchalant about it. Having a joint account really serves as a good source of accountability too since he can see everything I spend my money on!
3) Eugene has absolutely no ability at reading my "girly signs." If I'm upset or hurt about something and I want him to know, my immediate "girly tendency" is to want to withdraw myself, to give him a cold shoulder, to silence myself, to not send smileys or exclamation marks in my text messages and to make it extremely obvious that I'm unhappy and I need attention. I think God was sovereign in making Eugene the way he is because Eugene never falls for these signs. If I want him to know something is wrong I have to tell him and verbalize why, what initially caused it and what I want him to do. This has been humbling for me, because I usually wish he would just know how I feel and know how to fix it but he doesn't. It's hard to practically live this out day-to-day but it definitely helps us communicate better, so in that sense its a huge blessing :) haha

P.S. For our first anniversary, Eugene bought me a sewing machine! I've been wanting one for years but didn't really feel confident enough to buy one..but I'm soooo happy and so excited to use it and start on the many projects I've planned for myself!

Hopefully I can learn how to make a few things before we have kids. I'll also try to learn how to hem/alter clothes so I can do it for my friends in the future! :)

Have a great day, everyone!

XOXO,
sharon

give thanks- pandora, sweet patients, readings in the morning, a weekend full of fellowship, a 6 hour AR to spend this morning resting/cleaning/recuperating, sleeping in, a weekend with Eugene, salompas for my poor wrist, a year to testify of God's grace and faithfulness to us in our first year of marriage :)

five things I love(d) about working night shifts

Guess what? Tonight will be my last night shift!!!!!! (maybe, ever!)

I've worked night shifts for about 3 years now (about 2 years as a nursing assistant and 1.3 years as a nurse), and let me tell ya-- my body has hated me for it. During nursing school, it was hard finding time to work during the day because of classes, clinicals, etc.. so working the night shift was the only way (even if that meant sacrificing sleep and going to class super duper sleepy all the time). For the past three years, my immune system has been a total wreck and I probably can't even count on my two hands and feet how many times I've gotten sick. Being a morning person, having to force myself to sleep at 9:00 am in the morning was an extremely daunting task. To be completely honest with you, I can't even remember the last time I felt perfectly well. It's been a very under-the-weather three years. 

But God, as always, has been so extremely gracious! He not only provided me with these jobs, but also blessed me with amazing co-workers whom I can now truly call my friends and so many opportunities to grow in my love and passion for nursing. Also, He always, always, always provided me with the strength and energy I needed to persevere through crazy, exhausting, sleep-deprived nights and the power to be joyful amidst the challenges.

He is good!

Now that my night shift journey has come to an end, I will bid thee goodbye with a list of 5 things I loved about working the night shift.

1) My Coworkers
The first thing on my list HAS to be my co-workers.

I have the most amazing co-workers in the world. Our night shift crew is a team of smart, hard-working, compassionate and extremely hilarious people. I can confidently say that I always go to work excited because of how much I love spending time with my coworkers! It has been a tremendous blessing being able to build relationships with them, learn from them, grow with them and work alongside them. They also know how to throw a mean pot luck. ;)

2) Coffee & the Word
On the nights I have work, my most favorite part of the day is when I get my dose of coffee and the Word. I usually wake up a little earlier than usual so I can head over to a local Starbucks to get a simple latte and spend time reading my Bible. I've been so blessed by these times, especially because alot of times when I'm so awful tired, I'm so desperate for God to give me the strength to survive the night. It's super awesome because I can testify how time and time again I came to Starbucks feeling so crappy and leaving the place feeling so refreshed.  It was my most favorite thing!

3) The Challenges of Autonomy
One challenge of working at nights is the fact that most of the doctors aren't there. So, when there's a patient emergency or we need some doctor's orders, we usually have to call a MD who knows nothing about our patients (which is quite an inconvenience). Even though it's hard, it's good because it really forces us to work together as a team to troubleshoot our issues, to act quickly in face of emergency and to think critically. I've learned so much from all the research, and thinking and brain power I've invested as a result of this inconvenience. I usually look like this when I'm working (I used a google pic since I can't take a picture of myself working). I learned to always bladder scan a patient if you can't figure out what's wrong with them (I took out 2 liters of urine once!), give a fluid bolus for neuro changes and extreme hypotension and to check a blood sugar when a patient becomes too lethargic. Thankful, even for inconveniences!

4) Snacks
I'm not a big snacker, but when you're working the night shift, snacks definitely keep you going. (Don't you agree, Jenny?) I've grown an appreciation for both healthy and non-healthy snacks, and especially appreciated the many times our sweet patients' families would bring us goodies to enjoy :)

5) Singing Songs

People think that night shift nurses have it easy, because all that the patients do at night is sleep. If you work on a neuro floor like me, you know that this is definitely not the case. Our patients jump out of bed, pull out their IV's and their JP drains and pick at their telemetry leads every 10 seconds. (This one night, all my patients together pulled out 7 IV's and 2 JP drains. super exciting!) A lot of our patients are agitated, anxious, restless, combative.. you name it. In this last year alone, I've been punched, spit on, slapped (in the boob, sorry TMI), kicked, peed on, pooed on, etc. Believe me, it is no walk in the park...but naturally it IS less chaotic without all the doctors, physical therapists, occupational therapist and millions of family members around. Sometimes this makes the patient more disoriented and confused, but on some nights, this gives me the opportunity to spend a lot of time with with them.

One thing I really love to do is sing songs for them (and sometimes, even with them!) When my patients are super anxious, or restless, or sad, or confused, I usually ask if they'd like me to sing a song. It usually starts pretty awkward, but there's something magical about singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" or "The Way you look tonight". It really calms them down. Nothing melts my heart more when my extremely confused, combative and agitated patient stops screaming and rustling in their bed when I start to sing to them. It especially melts me when they begin to sing verses of the songs with me and correct me when I mess up on the lyrics. :)

My job is a tremendous blessing and my year of night shifts has been amazing. I'm excited to finally have a normal life and sleeping schedule, but I'm definitely going to miss my night shift crew. They will be family to me forever. I'm so nervous for what day shift will bring but so excited for the many great things I will learn and for the many ways I will grow in my love for my job. Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow!

Time to sleep now,  before my last night shift ever!!!!!!!!!!

Give thanks: breakfast, iced water, sweet patients, hands to hold, time to read, vanilla lattes, gloomy weather and warm hearts. 

Eugene turns 24!

Last week we celebrated Eugene's 24th birthday and toasted to a new year with some close friends, steak kabobs, windy weather and a strawberry trifle. It was a sweet time of celebrating Eugene's life and God's faithfulness to him in this busy, busy year of changes! During Eugene's 23rd year, Eugene became a husband, finished his 2-year pharmacy tech career at CVS and became a pharmacy student. God is so good!

I really don't need any occasion to celebrate Eugene or feel incredibly thankful for him, but birthdays always give me an opportunity to brag about him and embarrass him, so I'll take any opportunity I can get! So to celebrate his {belated} birthday, here are 20 things I love {slash-- learned to love} about Eugene.

1. I love the horrendous amount of sweat you produce when you run, and how you chase me around the apartment forcing me to touch your shirt to see how wet it is.

2. I also love how you hang said sweaty clothes on chairs to dry before throwing them in the laundry hamper.

3. I love how much you love Chicken Katsu and Curry and the big hugs I get every time I prepare it for dinner (and the extra hugs I get when I let you have second, third, fourth servings..) 

4. I love how much you love green things.

5. I love our target runs and how I always end up losing you somehow, only to find you hanging around the electronic section.

6.  I love your white shirt and jeans. and how I mentioned to you one time that your white shirt and jeans outfit was my favorite and you bought like 20 new white shirts the next day. {haha!}

7. I love coming home to you after a long night at work; even if you are still delirious in your sleep and don't give me any attention. :) 

8. I love your obsession with Mcdonalds iced coffees and how you always want to go study/read there instead of Starbucks.

9. but I also love how sacrificially you decide to take me to Starbucks instead since I don't like reading at fast food places.

10. I love how you do a silly dance when you're excited about something and how nobody else believes me that you do this.

11. I love how it only takes you 2 minutes to fall asleep at night and the immediate snoring party that follows shortly after. God was so sovereign in making me a heavy sleeper! 

12. I love that you still love me even when I'm sweaty and flushed and ugly at the gym.

13. I love how you always let me listen to my favorite song "Boyfriend" by Justin Bieber on the radio, only to ruin my favorite falsetto part every time!!!!!

14. I love how excited you are to show me that you did the dishes while I was at work because you know how loved I feel when you are thoughtful that way!

15. I love that you love discounts as much as I do! and how you always ask me before you buy something no matter how cheap it is!

16. I love praying with you and for you and being prayed for by you! It's one of my favorite things.

17. I love how we can talk about medical things during our lunch dates and still make it romantic. I love how we spent almost an hour talking about ACE Inhibitors during our breakfast date a few weeks ago and how giddy and excited we were talking about it.

18. I love how much fun we can having doing absolutely nothing and how we are both the hugest home bodies ever!

19. I love your love for the Lord and how I'm able to witness daily how you strive to live a life faithful before Him. I love how it spurs me on and challenges me to do the same. 

20. I love you just because. Sometimes I don't even know how to explain it and sometimes I don't even really need a reason why. I love you because your my husband. I love you because we made a promise to love each other through sickness and in health, til death do us part. In every season, no matter what the reason, I love you today, tomorrow and forever!

Happy birthday, Eugene! You are the love of my life and I am the luckiest girl ever.
Cheers to another victorious year!

A big thanks for the small things

On one of my days off this week, I decided to try taking pictures with Eugene's DSLR.

I love picture taking and I deeply appreciate the art of photography but it's definitely not my forte.

My eye for photography is simple and I really love capturing the simplicity of every day life.

In the middle of this warm, crisp afternoon that I spent at home, I wore the DSLR strap around my neck and just took photos of little things of my day. What a beautiful blessing it was to be able to appreciate even the smallest blessings and feel such a great sense of gratitude for them! I am truly blessed beyond measure, far more than I deserve.

I've been trying to decide whether I should start saving up for a (smaller) DSLR of my own. This idea popped into my little head once I started daydreaming about all the moments I hoped to one day capture when we have a family of our own. I started collecting pocket change for this dream about two years ago but due to some lack of motivation, my money-collecting journey did not last for too long. This day definitely rekindled my motivation! Time to start saving up again... baby steps, baby steps!

Here are some snapshots of the little things I enjoyed on this picture-taking day.

A sunshine-kissed empty dining room

Clearance deals at Target. You can never have too many plates! {Especially if they're patterned}

I strongly believe the dishwasher is a God-given gift to wives! Thank you, Lord!

Preparing our home for Easter.. home, body and soul. :)

Simple but sweet. I'm beginning to build a mini collection of decorations for every season. 

Every girl should know how to use a tool box. Especially because hammering is so much fun!

A new addition to our plain walls.

Two of my favorite things. Flowers and photography.

Trying to sharpen up my barista skills. I'm really slackin'..

Just a few minutes to lounge after an exhausting vacuuming and kitchen-cleaning sesh

Buying a loaf of bread to make sandwiches for lunch. Feelin' fancy!

Dinner time

Sore arms by the end of the day!

Hopefully I'll get me a smaller one eventually.. maybe in a few years
{I have $1.50 in my jar so far!}

Give thanks - naps before work, a beautiful sunny day to look forward to, time to rest, time to work, comfort foods, prayers in the car, opportunities to grow in patience and humility at work, my Perfect Example of Perfect love and humility in Christ.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. {Philippians 2:1-8}