I can't believe it...

So I just got the email about CBC closing and I'm so sad! I guess I just believed that it would be around forever. I've been trying to get my students to go there for years, but it's so far away, and they have no contact with it, so it's just never worked out.

I'm going to try to get up there for commencement. It would be great to get as many people there as possible. Let me know if any of you want to share a hotel room or have any other ideas for lodging, etc.

You can reach me at amyhillberg@hotmail.com.

Amy

Happy New Year!

Hey everyone!

So I came across our blog the other day and realized that I hadn't checked it in probably close to a year! And I don't think anyone else has either...but I'm posting a new note anyway.

So last March I became Auntie Amy when Nicholas Oliver arrived. He's the cutie in the pic below. He's my favorite person on the planet and I would spend ALL of my time chasing him around if I could!

In July I went on my first foreign mission trip to Bolivia. It was an incredible experience. I put a couple pics below of me with a couple of boys from the orphanage we worked on/stayed at as well as one afternoon during our Sidewalk Sunday school.

In October I had another first: first trip to Manhattan! It's totally cliche, but I LOVE NY! My friend Lisa is living there, so I went to visit. She took the black & white shot of me in Central Park.

There's my highlights of the last year. I'm still in school for Graphic Design - I should be done sometime this summer. That's all for now - hope you're doing fine!

Amy

Amy's pics

The Oliver's

Wow, what a great idea!
So let's see... CBC was a long time ago. Spent a year apart after CBC while Ben did North Park and Amy sayed home and did community college for a year... then Amy transfered to NP as well. We were married summer of 98 with like a whopping 44 of you in attendance. Finished NP and Ben followed with a year of Seminary while Amy taught her first class of Elementary students.
Ben started a youth internship in Olympia, Washington so we did that for a year while Amy taught 3rd grade. Then.... we started popping out kids. Left WA hugely pregnant the summer of 2001 with Ethan and moved back to Minnesota. Ethan was followed a year and a half later by Isaac, then Noah arrived last year and baby number 4 will be arriving in a few months. Yes... we're busy around here....
God has been good to us here in MN- Ben started a contracting company a few years ago and loves his job. We have moved a few times but are just finishing a house in Forest Lake and hope to be somewhat settled before the baby arrives. Our lives feel truly blessed... and not only because life is good. We are thankful for each day as it comes and are truly happy with all God has given.
Would love to see any of you if you end up in Minnesota!
5729 220th St. N. Forest Lake, MN 55025 (651)982-4845

Love,
Ben, Amy, Ethan, Isaac and Noah
(and we'll send more info on the baby as it happens...)

*** Josiah Truman Oliver arrived on March 19th. He is healthy and happy... and Amy is going to be very busy...

Aimee's update

Hmmmm….graduated from Trinity Western in 2000 with a degree in Geography and set off to explore the world. Studied Spanish in Spain, got lost in Morocco, drove 180k on the Autobahn, moved to London for a while, hiked the highlands in Scotland and in Amsterdam smoked…oops. Anyways, my travels led me back to Calgary for a few years, but had to set off again. Currently I am living in the Caribbean. I am a Corporate Trainer for Carnival Cruise Lines. I train all shipboard personal in safety, environmental and hospitality matters. If people smile and the ships stay afloat, then I have done my job.

The fam is still in Calgary, so plans to migrate back there or Vancouver one day are in the works. Loving my office, but do miss skiing. Still not sure what love is, but do believe that it does exist. There was a blond who decided to eat cereal for breakfast one morning. She poured a bowl of cheerios into a bowel, added the milk, took one look at what lay in front of her and said, ‘oops, this is not cereal, these are donut seeds!”

Good to hear your stories!

Aimee.

added pic from the Panama canal...notice the sexy tanker in the back!

reidarang@hotmail.com

Janesta;s (AKA Nar) thoughts

10 years huh? Shouldn't I feel older at least? It must be because I got my hair cut today that everything seems fantastic. Well, what have I been up to? I've been working as a registered Massage Therapist for the past 6 years. I have my own on-site seated massage biz www.onsiteedmontonmassage.com and work contract at a clinic in a fitness club, doing mostly table work. I did some massage training in Thailand in 2003. Go there if you can someday, you'll like it. I bought a condo 3 years ago (yup very grown up of me) and Lisa Jo is currently my roomie/tenant. I've been singing with the worship team at church and hosting an occasional coffee house too. Last time, I spoke with a trashy Irish accent and wore a kilt with fishnet stockings. Things get pretty weird at Edmonton Covenant. Other than that, which keeps me plenty busy, I'm still working weekends at Zellers (WAL-MART's Canadian competitor) and watching too much anime. Miss you guys. Drop in if your every nearby.

Janesta Augustson
6073 35A ave
Edmonton, AB
T6L 1G7
780-436-7623
janarnar@yahoo.ca

Mike Langer in the house!!

Hey all,

I need to make this short b/c I should be studying right now. I'm going to do this Tarantino-style and start here and work backwards. I'm currently in the M.Div. program at North Park Seminary. Prior to moving downtown for seminary, I worked in the "business world" for a couple of years and, before that, teaching high school Spanish. Along the way from CBC to finishing my undergrad work, I traveled several times to Latin America and became fluent in Spanish.

It has been crazy to see how all of this has worked together to bring me to seminary. I had a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to CBC and tried to keep one foot in the church and the other in the world for a long time. God worked through that by bringing a couple of people to Christ, but I was deteriorating a bit from leaning a little too heavily on the "world" side of the fence. So, after going through a number of hard experiences, God redirected me to seminary. It's been a humbling and fruitful experience. I'm excited about how my faith has been renewed and revitalized and, most importantly, authenticated. I am sorry to say, friends, that I had become a very inward and selfish person. Now, I'm not...yeah right. But seriously, God has led me through some ugly things to really prepare me for ministry and I'm charged up and humbled at the same time. Two years ago, this would've been a rather bitter update, so I'm very grateful.

Oh yeah, so I finally gave up on the rock-star pursuit after about six years of performing. I'm still writing songs and doing some studio work here and there. My old drummer owns a music company, doing mainly childrens songbooks. He wants to eventually break into the more pop and progressive scene and would like to sign me as a song-writer. That could be sweet...but we'll see. I've got enough material now to put out two full albums, but I'm a little short on time and cash now that I'm studying like crazy.

I have a wonderful girlfriend named Melissa. She is 26 and is a nurse at the University of Chicago Hospital's medical ICU. We don't have big news to report as of yet, but it is likely that we eventually will.

Okay, so much for short. I've got a lot of reading to do. I hope everyone is well. My contact info is below and you can listen to a couple of old recordings at the myspace website.

Mike Langer
5139 North Christiana Avenue #3
Chicago, IL 60625
H: 773.649.7182 - C:630.842.3426
E: mrlanger@gmail.com
Web: www.myspace.com/michaelryanmusic

Amy Hillberg's update

Hmmm...the last 10 years...

The year after CBC I did an internship at a Covenant Church just north of Seattle. I learned alot and LOVED living in such a beautiful part of country. The other intern and I would spend our days off hiking the mountain trails near the beach and taking the fairy to the San Juan islands. So fun!

In January '98 I moved to West Palm Beach, FL to be with my family (my parents moved here to pastor the Covenant Church in Royal Palm Beach). I only intended to stay for a year or two to save up money for school (I was going to go to North Park). Then I started working for Youth for Christ and really liked it. I've been on staff now for 7.5 years! I started as the Office Manager, and have worn a number of different hats. It's been a great place for me to learn about ministry and has really challenged me to grow deeply in my relationship with Jesus. Such a blessing!

After struggling for years to figure out what I wanted to do, I finally started back to school in the fall to study Graphic Design. I love it! It's the best decision I could've made. I'm constantly challenged to be more creative and think outside the box. It pushes me out of my comfort zone on a regular basis. The best part is that I get to use what I'm learning at school in my new role as YFC's Visual Communication Coordinator. I handle all the brochures, newsletters, website, etc. I also recruit, train and place new volunteers for the ministry.

I'm still single (so you guys can pray about that for me!) but I have a WONDERFUL church family and a great group of friends that I love to spend time with.

I still love to sing and do so with a GREAT worship band at church - they're great musicians and I feel honored that they let me serve with them! And I sing and play guitar for the student ministry at church as well. So life is good - very full! :)

The best is that God has been so faithful and draws me closer to Him all the time. My home is always open to anyone who wants to come hang at the beach!!! Hope to see you soon!

Amy

157 Sevilla Ave.
Royal Palm Beach, FL 33411
561-889-1554

Kara Walsh's (Litwinow) email update

Wow...tens years worth in a few sentences. Ok, I'll try.

So after CBC I spent a year home in Edmonton gong to a community college and Mak lived with us. That was fun. Then I escaped and fleed to Prince George, BC after discovering the wonderful world of tree planting. I intended to stay in PG only until I was done my wildlife biology degree but it has now been almost 8 years!

I loved my time at UNBC, met such amazing people and created wonderful friends. Did a little biology work here and there, my favorite work was on a moose project just east of here for three summers. I then decided I should get my teaching certificate as a fall back plan for the biology work but God had other plans.

Apparently those 8 months in Victoria and Cranbrook weren't for my benefit of more education...but to reveal to me that my current boyfriend at the time, Nathan, was to become my husband. We had the perfect wedding at a little mountain lodge on the shore of Bow Lake, not far from Lake Lousie, Alberta. I have now been married two and half years...no kids...one puppy. Nathan is a helicopter engineer and unfortunately his work takes him out of town a lot. However, we make the most of his time off with backcountry ski trips and hitting some great BC mountains for some biking.

This past summer I worked for BC Parks as a backcountry ranger and got paid to live out of a tent all summer and go hike around. Aside from the bugs and the rain in June, it was a pretty awesome summer. Right now I am reaping the benefits of unemployment and renovating our basement. God is good, my life here rocks, and I am very, very happy.

Kara

Kjerstin Thomas' (Olson) email update

Since graduating from both CBC and North Park, I've been living in and around Anchorage, AK. In 99, I moved up with Tera Cunningham and got a summer job. That turned into a desire to another year, and somehow that's turned into almost 7 years! For the first 5 years, I was living in the small ski town of Girdwood, 45 miles from Anchorage. I enjoyed the simple life of skiing and waiting tables for a few years. I also started grad school in 02, pursuing a Masters in Education.

In Girdwood, I started dating a friend and coworker, Joe Thomas, from Littleton, CO. We fell in love via many skiing, kayaking, and backpacking trips. We dated for 3 years and were married in June 04 in Girdwood. CBCers at the wedding included Tera Cunningham, Naomi Swanson, and Swanny.

Since marraige, we've been in sort of transition. We moved from that small town to the metropolis of Anchorage (if you live in a truly big city, you should laugh). I began a new career in teaching, and Joe started grad school in Environmental Science. After a rough first year with 30 sixth graders, I'm happy to be teaching 3rd grade this year. I love it, actually. I have 21 fun, kind, and enthusiastic kids.

We live downtown and I drive to the foothills for my job, which has great nordic ski trails out the back door. Joe commutes everywhere by bike, year round, which was particularly impressive this January, which was really cold. He's studying ice worms for his thesis. Yes, it's true! He will graduate in May and be looking for a job in water quality or soil science.

We plan to stay here for the near future, but wonder if our feelings may change after having kids. It's far from family, and Joe's siblings live in a great area, Whitefish, MT. Perhaps we'll migrate there. Alaska is truly unique, though, and I'm afraid we'd miss it if we left. It's a great place to visit, I highly encourage you to travel this way. We have lots of pictures at:
www.flickr.com/photos/joeandkjerstin I hope to hear from others at some point, and hope this finds you all well.

Kjerstin Thomas (Olson)
email: kjelise@yahoo.com

Kjerstin Thomas
1102 C Street Anchorage, AK 99501
907.783.1126

Hello from the Fullers

Hi everybody. I've added a link to our blog on the left, so if you'd like to catch up on the exciting lives of Josh, Michelle, Toby and Alicia Fuller, check it out. God bless!

Tricia Reed's (Friesen) email update

So I guess I'll start ...

Currently we are at 152 Forrest Ave, Winnipeg Manitoba, R2V 1J8. We have only been here for a couple of months and in Canada for a little over a year.

After CBC I went to Winnipeg and spent 5 years getting my education degree. This was interspersed with a couple of summers at a fly-in lodge in the North West Territories (one season with Jamie Kachman!) and a year in Bolivia as a ESL teacher.

In Bolivia I met a pretty amazing person. His name is Stan Reed and we got married 4 years ago. He is from Indiana (but I convinced him that he wanted to live in Canada:). We went back to Bolivia and spent 3 years working together in a very remote Guaraní community (remember watching the movie "The Mission" at CBC? We were with that people group).

We learned to train a team of horses to work the fields but the technology never really caught on for the locals so we ended up working on digging wells/water systems (Stan) and in the local schools (me). Even though we have been back for a year already the experience is still at the front of our minds and we often lay awake at nights and talk about the details of life there - like getting rides on the backs of trucks piled with corn, neighbours inviting us to chicha (corn beer), the screeching of the cicadas at night... Another thing that keeps us awake at night is our daughter. Her name is Belén, and after 14 months in this world, she still hasn't figured out how great a full night of uninterrupted sleep can be. But we still like her. I don't think any other adjustment in my life has been as big as having a child. Maybe some of you can relate. That said, I am staying at home with her now and wouldn't want to be doing anything else.

The other day I was just thinking that our level of mobility (traveling etc) has taken a drastic turn for the worse. Somehow jobs and budgets get in the way. But then I guess everything has its season.

For now we are happy to be in our house (it's really more like a one room cabin), and look forward to skating on the river this winter with Belén. This summer we had fun at the Winnipeg Folkfest (Kjerstin "Olson" and Joe Thomas came!) and also got to do some hiking around the lakes close by. So I guess we are enjoying the city life.

I would love to visit with any/all of you. Also, our house is open to any of you if you ever find yourself in the area. Here is our number 204.475. 7084 ... and email stanandtric@fastmail.fm

Take much care Tricia

-oh, you can check our website if you are interested. There are a lot of pics of Belen but also a few of Stan and myself, I think? Here it is www.geocities.com/stanandtric

Email update from Grant Everitt

From Grant the Ant.

Graduated CBC 96' I think. Moved back home for 2 years. Worked and built ouses. Felt lead to leave Fort Collins Colorado and go to Nicaragua for 4 months and then off to California for a year. At that point in time I decided to move back home to Colorado. Finished my degree in construction Management at CSU. By this time the well known Aaron Moe had moved to Fort Collins and we were climbing all the time together. Aaron Everitt (my cousin) would join us too. So for a couple of years we all hung out like we used to at CBC except had more beer and wine together. Aaron Married one of those Canadian women and so he fell off the face of the earth and left Moe and I to fend for ourselves. By this time I was acking to leave Fort Collins again because as Moe puts it "I have a wild hair on my ass" So After graduating University I went to New Zealand, Fiji and the Cook islands for a year.

Worked with YWAM in the cooks and traveled with a buddy of mine. We did as much surfing an bumming around to last me... well should I say a year. Actually that year was very good for me and I came back to Fort Collins with my hair straight(kinda). I started working For the Family business with Aaron Claud Everitt. He finally came up for fresh air and now you can see him every once in a while if your lucky. I have been building houses now for 2 years and am keeping off the weight. The coolest thing that happened to me last September was I got engaged to a beautiful, vivacious and Wonderful woman of God. Since Moe and Aaron Were married off I didn't have any more climbing buddies, I guess it happens to the best of us (getting Married that is). I met Anne Shields at the vine yard church 2 years ago in Fort Collins and we knew right away we loved each other. Except she had to run off to Malaysia of 1.5 years first.

Anyway she is back in town and we are to marry April 1st ( no Joke ). I love her and hope to live happily ever after ( so the saying goes). I miss you all and hope you guys come to Colorado for a reunion.

Peace, Love, Airwalk. Grant

Melissa Johnson's (Krogen) email update

Hi everybody! Good to catch up with you.

Well after CBC I went got my diploma in Child and Youth Care did my practicum in a child/adolescent psychiatric ward (loved it) Tim began farming full time with his dad and older brother. He lived in Edmonton for 3 months each winter for 2 yrs. Nice to have him close by. I lived with Kara the 1st year and then moved in with 2 other girlfriends the 2nd.

Tim and I were married in June '98. We moved to Norquay then 5 months later into a duplex on the farm with his parents then a year 1/2 later into an old farm house in our own yard. I worked at a young offender jail in Yorkton. After 8 months of being a glorified babysitter I quit and opened my own dance school in Norquay and am now finishing up my 7th year. I also teach in a nearby town this year as well as Norquay. Our daughter Emma came into the world June 4th 2000. Our Big boy Salem was born May 20th 2002. I looked like I was having twins. Good pregnancies & healthy kids what more could we ask for. The same spring we also built our new house. We moved in 5 days before Christmas that year. We look back at our life that year and shake our heads and wonder how everything got done?

Tim continues to farm now with both brothers and his dad who is slowing starting to let go of the farm reins, so Tim has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders. He does a fantastic job of organizing, marketing, and carrying out the day to day tasks of running this large scale operation. I am very proud of him. This city girl was converted to the country pretty fast, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else! Dancing continues to be going well. Both our kids take lessons and really enjoy themselves.

Emma started Kindergarten this year and Salem will start pre-school in the fall. She is very excited about learning and loves school. Salem doesn't like coloring cause he scribbles and could care less about writing/drawing. You decide who each kid takes after! Haha.

We have enjoyed trips to edmonton to visit my family, trips to visit the Birch family in Canmore( Jaime Kachman Taevan 5, Sam 3, Lily 1.5 married to Shawn beautiful home in Canmore, beautiful family), we even had the opportunity to visit tim's parents in AZ last winter. Tim & I drove up to Vegas (loved it), and visited San diego. We put 1500 miles on the rental van!

Norquay Covenant Church is doing great! Our Pastor is super! We have both been very involved in the church serving on different boards and committees. A highlight was purchasing the old elementary school and renovating it into a church! God is Good!

Tim still enjoys his fishing & hunting when he has the time. We also enjoy playing Texas Hold’em poker with some good friends from church. You probably will never see the Friday night poker game advertised in the church bulletin. I have taken up a hobby I never thought I would and that is running. I completed my first half marathon last September and we are training for another in May and September again. I love to run! I have a wonderful running partner Val who has become my go to girl, accountability friend, and all round encouraging person not only for running but for life!

Sorry I went a little long. All round life is going well, God has blessed us in many ways and some we don't even know about yet! I read something yesterday that is so true. We plan and God laughs. Over and Out, mak daddy xo

In the beginning...

Hey class of 1996!

As a flurry of emails started wafting through my email account, I started thinking that there must be a better way for us to connect with one another! Hopefully, we'll all be able to check in periodically to see how everyone's doing and give updates on what's going on, as well as share prayer requests.

Amy Hillberg