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