Hi Nicole.
Then I assume that your shapefile data contains large coordinate values ( xy values with z height component ) and not (lat / long values). That way, the huge values are interpreted as lat / long coordinates, which is indeed far away.
Thus, export your data specifically unprojected ( non-cartesian lat / long values ) for import in CE. in most cases, a shape file contains projected xyz coordinates, with the .prj file just indicating from which projection system the data was exported from.
Hope this help...
M.