Amira and her Kuwaiti Cousins
In preparation for Cousin Kiira’s 1st Birthday, we got all of the Kuwait Cousins together to take some pictures. It was quite the fiasco trying to get all four kids to stay still long enough to take a picutre. It actually took two mommies, two nannies, and one fantastic, fast-action camera to get these pictures. It was the first time I used Paulo’s fancy camera for something like this and am quite proud of how the pictures turned out. 
Now I understand why child photographers make so much money!!!
Special thanks to Amira & Tate Valenza, our nanny Mina, Kiira Ghosn, her nanny Chintha, and Aidan Cauley for being such willing participants. And also to Jennifer Cauley and Paulo for all of their help.
http://www.valenzalife.com/flv/With%20the%20Kuwait%20Cousins.flv
Amira Meets Tate
She couldn’t have been any cuter!
Amira was extremely gentle and well behaved - thank God - as she held Tate for the first time. Enjoy these photos of Amira as she meets her baby brother for the first time. We’ve even included a short video for you to watch.
Even though this video is all about Amira meeting Baby Tate, half way through this song you’ll hear a great song called “Son of Mine”. This provides a perfect backdrop for a very tender moment as I hold Amira and Tate in my arms. Everything this song says is true for me and my new son. Thanks Ralston Bowls for such a great song!
Ralston is a personal friend of mine and you can learn more of Ralston’s great music by heading to site.
Our New Addition
What a great day. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. It was a smooth delivery that took only 3 pushes during one contraction. We tried to get our family up on iChat for a video conference but it happened so quickly no one made it. That’s alright though. We have great photos and video of his birth.
After much thought, we decided on two names that carry significant meaning to us. Paulo’s close friend way back from High School is Mike Tatu. He has really been there for us all the way and is a creative and godly man. It is with great honor that our son’s name is inspired by him.
Laurence is the first name of Paulo’s favorite Jazz piano player, Laurence Hobgood. He plays for Kurt Elling, Paulo’s most favorite singer ever. If you really know Paulo, you’ll know Elling and Hobgood! Larry is also the name of Karin’s step-dad who has been there for her throughout the years.
http://www.valenzalife.com/flv/Tate's%20Birth.flv
Born March 24, 2009 10:40 am
Weight: 3.18 kg
Height: 50 cm
Blue eyes, brown hair
Amira Turns 2
How it goes fast. Hard to believe all that has happened in the past two years. As we celebrate our little girl’s big day we can’t stop thinking how much we have grown up in the past two years! We love Amira deeply and really wanted to do something special for Amira on her second birthday. And we did. It ended up being a great day with lots of friends, food, and trash?
Yeah, I had a great idea of having a party at a local park near Fintas. Lot’s of trees, green grass and a playground area. I wish I knew when the cleaners picked up all the garbage around the park. One would hope it would be constant - but I guess they had the day off or something. I just happened to swing by the park in the morning and discovered it was a landfill! Garbage everywhere! So I quickly went to the store and bought some cleaning gloves and trash bags. I managed to kind of clean the area where I thought we would be hanging out the most and then roped off our piece of land.
In general, it all worked out. We ended up having a great time. Ordered McD’s for lunch and just let the kids run around. The weather outside was gorgeous and the company of friends was great! Over all, despite the dirty park, I think everyone had a real nice time - and most of all Amira really enjoyed herself.
Happy Birthday Amira!
http://www.valenzalife.com/flv/Amira's%202nd%20Birthday.flv
You’ll find two great short videos I’ve posted. One is video footage taken from our new HD Canon video recorder and the other is a fancy slideshow of all the photos I took with my Canon D30. Hope you enjoy!
Amira Playing
Here’s a quick video that I shot of Amira playing at the mall. I shot it on my iPhone while I was watching her play. It’s actually two different days over the weekend. The first is her playing at the Avenues store called Borque. It has a giant play area - sandbox and all! The second location is another mall in Kuwait called Al-Kuwt where they have this little play area in the food court. She played for hours and finally in the last 15 minutes figured out how to climb up, go around, and down the slide! Glad I could get it on video.
http://valenzalife.com/flv/AmiraPlaying.flv
Visiting China and SCIS
Who would have thought we would ever be visiting China? How great it has been. Last minute we thought we would take advantage of our recruiting days off to visit our new home in Shanghai China. Let me just say we loved it. It was so good to get a feel for what the big city had to offer. Modern, clean, efficient are all ways to describe Shanghai.
It was great to see Don and Jane Macmillan, our former principals at ASK, and to hook up with our friends Eddie and Eva, whom we know from TTC in London. Our new school campus is incredible. Students and teachers will be making the move to the new campus within 2 weeks. So as you can imagine, everyone was quite busy. Very tech oriented and geared towards a learning environment. All we can do is make the appropriate arrangements and simply wait for fall of 2009 for the big move!
So hopefully this video can give you an idea of what life in Shanghai will be like. Unfortunately, I did not take very good footage this time around but it will do. The first half of this video will show you Shanghai. The second part will give you a tour of the new SCIS campus where Karin and I will both teach from. I have included small captions to explain what everything is. Again, SCIS will be making the move within 2 weeks to this new campus! It is incredible.
THe Adventures of David Romero
Here is a collection of movies that you can enjoy. Filmed and edited by David, you will see Kuwait and the Middle East through a different lens. Please take the time to watch these great short films. For more photos and video from Cuban Viking Productions, head to VidaRomero
After 5 months of having our friend David with us, he has now left Kuwait and headed back to the States. We had a really great time showing him around the sandy desert and watching him dive into understanding the Middle East culture. He kept himself busy by tutoring, subbing, co-directing play productions, traveling, and meeting new friends. We will all miss you!
Renovating the auditorium
http://www.valenzalife.com/flv/Auditorium.flv
This is an interesting little video I made as a proposal to renovate our school auditorium. Currently, this large room feels more like a gym than an Fine Arts Auditorium. This will be an important year at our school as we are hosting the annual EMAC Fine Arts Conference - an event where schools from around the middle east will merge on our campus or a week long event. The response from the proposal is unknown, but hopefully this presentation will assist in their decision.
The Arrival
http://www.valenzalife.com/flv/TheArrival.flvThis video depicts one of our most memorable and joyous days as a couple. The birth of our daughter Amira.
Edited for Karin’s 2nd Mother’s Day, this footage and our little girl celebrate 14 months. With the excitement of her entering this earth, every day we are even more in love with who she is becoming.
While this short film maybe should have been placed under Amira’s website, this is more so a reflection of Karin’s love and dedication as a mom and as a wife. A Mother’s Day gift from Paulo and Amira to express how much she means to us.
Amira Walks
http://valenzalife.com/flv/AmiraWalks.flvWell, there’s nothing to say. You just gotta watch it for yourself.
Remembering Joe
Today my Grandfather passed away. In honor of him, I made a shortfilm to express how much he will be in my memories.
While the rest of my family merged on Miami in his last hours, I was unable to join them. For this reason I took time to reflect on all the things I loved about him. Fortunately I had found video footage from his 90th birthday.
He was a great man with a stubborn italian heart. We all loved him for it.
he lived to be 93
with love,
Paulo
London and Ghent
After visiting London and two hard weeks of studying for Paulo, we were off for a little R&R in Ghent, Belgium. A wonderful historical town full of the arts, historical buildings, shopping, and thriving college population.
A Princess is Born!
The Name…
Born at 2:49 pm on the 4th of February, we were blessed with a baby girl. She is absolutely beautiful and more than we could have ever asked for. Naming our precious bundle was a difficult process. We had been struggling with baby names since we were engaged, and this nine-month time crunch was compounded y the fact that we wanted the gender of the baby to be a surprise. Because we knew our baby would be born in Kuwait, we wanted it to have an Arabic name (just like Paulo has a Portuguese name because he was born in Brazil), but it needed to be one that wouldn’t be too different for people in the States. Amira means “princess” in Arabic, and this is also in honor of our good friend, Mira. We chose Grace for a middle name for two reasons: it was Paulo’s grandmother’s name and for its meaning, “getting what we don’t deserve.”
http://www.valenzalife.com/flv/TheArrival.flvThis video, The Arrival, was made as a gift for Karin on her 2nd mother’s day
My first days…
Wow! Who were all of those people staring at me?
I am so glad to be out after being so cramped up inside of my Mommy and to get to meet you all!
I was a little scared at first - there were so many people around, the lights were so bright, and it was so cold! But my mommy was right when she promised there was more room to stretch. Now I can squirm all I want!
My mommy and daddy’s friends, Mike and Alicia, came to visit us in Kuwait on their honeymoon. They were staying with my parents the night Mommy went into labor and got up with them at 2:00 am to go to the hospital! 
Mommy was awake with her first really big contraction when a huge hail storm started - it was so strange to have this kind of storm in a desert. Mommy and Daddy ran around the apartment closing vents and making sure all the windows were secure. It rained so hard, and there was even lightening! It made the drive to the hospital kind of scary.
Mike and Alicia stayed up all night with my parents waiting for me but had to catch their flight home just minutes before I was born. My mommy was in labor with me for 12 hours. She was so brave and strong! The doctor broke her water around 10:00 am, and gave her special medicine later to help me come faster. I just didn’t want to come out because it was so warm and comfy inside! But, finally, after 12 hours, the doctors and nurses got ready for me to come.
Even though most mommies and daddies in Kuwait find out if they are having a baby boy or girl, my parents wanted it to be a surprise. They both thought I was going to be a boy, but Daddy was so excited to tell everyone I was a girl Right after I was born and Daddy had cut my umbilical cord, one doctor made sure I was okay while another doctor helped my mommy. The doctor measured how tall I was and how much I weighed - which was two pounds less than the doctor had predicted!
My daddy worked some media technology magic on the day I was born. He had a camera going the whole time my mommy was in labor that put a video on the internet. This way all of my family and friends around the world could see me born! My grandparents in Minnesota and Brazil, my Aunt Janina in Michigan, and Uncle Frankie in Texas stayed up all night and talked to my mommy and daddy using the internet. I got to listen to them say hi right after I was born. I can’t wait to meet them!
This is a picture of Mommy and me! Even though she is new at this motherhood thing, I think she is doing great! She already has changed my diaper several times (sorry Mommy) and she holds me, and loves me, and won’t stop kissing me! I think I just might be spoiled… well, I don’t think I will have to work hard at making them love me!
And there is Daddy and me! When I was born he was so happy. I even saw him crying. And I heard him admit out loud that he secretly was hoping for a little girl!
Well, I know I am going to be a daddy’s girl. Both my Mommy and Daddy have g
iven me a beautiful name that they think is fitting for me. They call me their precious gift… their Amira.. their littleprincess, and a gift they don’t deserve… Grace.
The World in Your Classroom…
http://valenzalife.com/flv/ASK%202008.flvHere is a video I made for ASK to use at recruiting fairs and to place on their web site. I shot the footage in four days and spent hours editing it all down while in Dubai and Oman on vacation. In order for it to be ready in time for our superintendent to take it with him to a fair on the 1st, I had to quick throw music and final ideas together in a morning! But the pressure always helps make it better.
The thing I enjoy about this video is the life in the students of ASK. They are the biggest selling point of this video.
A Glimpse of Life …26 weeks
http://valenzalife.com/flv/AGlimpseofLife.flv
If you wish you could be a little closer to Karin during her pregnancy, here is a video that might just do the trick! You get to see the doctor who will deliver the baby, Karin being smothered with gel, and best of all - our little baby. Without knowing the sex of the baby, we are both very excited! Although Paulo still thinks that it could be an alien in her belly! 
Recap of our Travels 2005-2006
We have been blessed to see so much in such a short amount of time. From the time we left Grand Rapids MI in Fall of 2005 till now - summer of 2006. Here is a recap of our travels.
After the images of Frankfurt and Kuwait, you will see our road trip which we took over Christmas break, then our Spring Break in Thailand all the way to our 5 year anniversary in Italy… 10 countries in total.
A Contrast of Two Worlds
On return to the US after our first year of teaching in Kuwait, we thought it was time that we actually made a video showing a bit of what our life is like living in the Middle East. No, you won’t see us living in tents with dirt floors, and the people are not terrorist and radicals. Instead you will realize how modern and progressive Kuwait City is while at the same time, how stuck in the past it is also. It is truly a land of contrast.
Without attempting to show you everything about the country, you will see a 15 minute video highlighting things from our daily life, i.e. the malls, the Hilton Resort (which is blocks from our apartments), the Arabian Gulf, etc.
