The Casa Bernabe orphanage consists of a main building that houses the kitchen, school rooms, an apartment for a couple that work at the orphanage, and 8-plus girls that live with them.
In addition, there are 6 or 7 single-wide trailers, each housing parents and 10 to 15 children. The trailers are in horrible shape and are unsafe. The orphanage is working on replacing the trailers with permanent homes right now. One home is complete, and the second and third homes are under construction right now. God is really blessing Casa Bernabe with willing hands to do this work!
In addition to the new homes, plans for Casa Bernabe include a gymnasium/church building, a medical clinic and a vocational school. The ideas are there, but there is no plan outlining where the remaining homes or other future facilities will be located.
I was blessed to be a part of the team that went to Casa Bernabe in October 1999. As a civil engineer, I knew that planning for all of the proposed facilities was very important. The first thing needed was a site plan showing all of the existing buildings and proposed future buildings. That would require mapping the property. This kind of mapping requires a professional land surveyor and lots of equipment.
I work with land surveyors and felt God directing me to help get this mapping done. I conveyed my thoughts to the director of the orphanage, and he almost cried. He had been praying for someone to help them do this mapping for 6 months!
The week we returned from the October trip, I was telling a colleague (who happened to be a land surveyor) about my trip and my plans, and before I even finished, he said, "I'll go - I'll go with you in February." Wow! When God moves, hang on!
God put a team together in record time: Lupe Gamboa; Tim & Tempe McFarlane; Kraig Wees; Kelvin Anderson; Jeff Grosboll; Rick VanCleef; Clint Petty; Kent Johnson; Elizabeth Jones; and Larry Glahe, a professional land surveyor from Sandpoint.
The primary purpose was to map (field survey) the 18 acres of land on which the Casa Bernabe orphanage sits. I don't think anyone who signed up for this trip had any idea what field surveying was about, but they learned in a hurry! A crew of five or six people worked almost every day on the surveying, and the work was completed with one day to spare!
In addition to the surveying, we did a ton of other things:
 | Kent supervised the demolition and removal of one of the condemned trailers and coordinated materials for a second-story addition to a house where the infants live.
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| Kraig, who owns Loco's restaurants in Boise, gave some of the staff and older girls a break by cooking the midday meal almost everyday. He wowed the kids with home-made pizza, banana bread and oatmeal cookies. He also worked on the surveying crew and taught some of the children a square dance that they performed at a special celebration in our honor. The children made it very clear that they'd like to see Kraig back soon!
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| Lupe was God's angel to a single house-mom who was suffering greatly with leg pain. Lupe got up at 5:30 almost every morning to bathe and feed nine little boys and get them off to school. She also helped with preparing the midday meal, washing clothes and just about anything else that needed doing.
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| Elizabeth worked on the surveying team and helped in the kitchen. She also blessed us with her musical ability by leading worship a couple of times. We all agree that she has the voice of an angel.
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| Tim was unstoppable! Tim did everything from working on odd jobs around the orphanage to making banana pancakes for breakfast to helping Kent cook barbecue like these kids have never seen! His heart to serve others was used mightily by God.
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| Tempe (whom the children called "Chompie"), Clint and Kelvin worked faithfully on the surveying crew. They were tireless soldiers! What a blessing to know the work they did will bless not only the children there now, but also children who will call Casa Bernabe home in the future.
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| Jeff (a.k.a. Santa Claus) helped do everything from baby-sit to work on the foundation for one of the new houses. Whatever needed to be done, he was there.
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| Rick worked on electrical projects and built relationships with the fatherless boys at Casa Bernabe. What a blessing to see the respect they have for him.
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| It was a tiring but blessed trip! For Jeff, Kent, Rick and me, this was our second trip to Casa Bernabe. What a joy to see the children light up when they saw familiar faces. For a number of us, this place and these children are in our hearts.
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