Lisa M. Buske's Blog, page 118

A Day at the Fair on the 4th of July

I live in beautiful Oswego County, located in Upstate New York where the grass is green and the people are friendly. Today I join other local authors at the annual Oswego County Fair located in Sandy Creek. The fair runs through the weekend.

I don't have  a listing of the others I will spend the day with but I know of a couple:
*The lovely and talented Miss Alyshia Hull, author of One Thousand Miles
*A friend dedicated to raising awareness through her writing, Mrs. Amy Quonce, author of Breaking the Silence

Who knows, a second blog today might occur once I can share the different authors nestled in the Domestics Arts Building. Stop buy and support your local authors ~ your words of encouragement are always a blessing to me, so I know personally, I look forward to seeing you today. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. This a schedule of events you can enjoy through the day today. In addition to these scheduled events, there are exhibits, displays, contests, rides, and competitions all day too. It is a fun-filled and great place to spend a little family time this week.

For a complete listing of events for the entire fair this week, click on the photo above or the one to the left for a direct link.

If you can't make it to the fair but want to purchase a copy of either of my books, click on the covers below for a direct link to Amazon to place your order today.

My name is Lisa M. Buske and Heidi Allen is my sister. She remains missing but never forgotten. A sibling's journey after loss may vary yet the pain, grief, and need for hope are similar. This is my story of discovery, healing, and hope from the moment I learn of Heidi’s kidnapping until today. Life after loss is a rollercoaster ride of memories and emotions. Will you take this ride with  me?

To Order Where's Heidi? One Sister's Journey, click on the cover or visit me today at the fair!



"When the Waves Subside: There is Hope" is written by a daughter for her parents  out of appreciation for their strength, love, and perseverance since the  disappearance of their youngest daughter, Heidi M. Allen.

To Order When the Waves Subside: There is Hope, click on the cover or visit me today at the fair. Happy 4th of July! Come out and enjoy some family time at the fair!
I'll be there 10 - 5, along with other local authors in the area.

An Video Interview with Dr. Mary...A Total Wellness Doc

As a child and even as a teenager I remember my parents telling me, "Be nice to everyone and treat them the way you want to be treated. You never know when and where you'll see them again." I'm so thankful for this philosophy in life because it has brought many blessings to me. They range from a hug at just the right time to invitations since I started this new journey as author and speaker. One such blessing and friendship is with Dr. Mary Starr, the Total Wellness Doc and Mom. (To Visit her Facebook page, click on the above photo) Mary and I met years ago through one amazing person...my sister, Heidi Allen. I continue to be amazed and encouraged by Heidi's friends. Instead of saying "Heidi's friend....", I'm proud to call Mary and many others, MY friend too.

Mary is only one of many friends I'm blessed with in my life and only one who shares her gifts and love of the Lord to encourage me on this amazing journey. There isn't enough blog to list them all, isn't that an amazing thing to be able to say? I think so. Although Mary started as Heidi's friend in high school, Mary and I connected after Heidi's kidnapping when I attended a Young Living Conference with my friend Laurie. I am avid user of Young Living's essential oils and I like their supplements too. I signed as a distributor and Mary Starr was one of my mentors and a friendship blossomed quickly and comfortably.

After a couple years of Mary's insightful and educated training, I decided to take a break from selling the oils in order to dedicate more time to my writing. Mary remembers me sharing this with her, to learn more, you'll have to watch the video below. God works in such cool ways.

Mary's marketing know-how helped to prepare me for the world of marketing my first book, Where's Heidi? One Sister's Journey. Only God saw this coming. Mary and I haven't seen each other in a few years yet thanks to social media, we have kept in touch.

I was humbled and grateful for Dr. Mary's heart to help me share hope and Where's Heidi? with a broader audience. Once again God placed an angel in my path, thank you Mary. We enjoyed an afternoon of laughter, marketing pointers, taking turns snuggling her beautiful baby girl, visiting with my beautiful teen girl, and making a video. We're thankful for Mags willingness to assume the role of videographer. Not only did she run the camera, she captured an assortment of still shots to highlight our time together.

To learn more about Dr. Mary and ways to improve your health in a natural way - click on any of the above photos for direct links to her Facebook page, blog, or website.

To purchase your copy of Where's Heidi? One Sister's Journey or When the Waves Subside: There is Hope ~ click on the photo below or visit Amazon.com. Both are available in print and on Kindle. Thankful for my friends...what are you thankful for?

T.O.P.'s Tuesday ~ Would You Report Your Child Missing?Disturbing Realization Pertaining to a Parent's Responsibility and the law! I'm still shaking my head...

I don't usually talk politics or stir things up as it pertains to laws on my blog but after reading an article last week, written by Assemblyman Will Barclay, it's time for a little change. I encourage you to read this article published in the Oswego County Today online news by clicking on the photo above. The article's title caught my attention, "Missing Child Case in Utica Highlights Importance of Passing Caylee’s Law"

Many of those words grab me when I see them in the news, so the combination there of in the same article, caused me to stop and read the article. Oh my gosh! My stomach tightened, anger boiled, and prayers were lifted.

According to this article, "Caylee’s Law would make it a felony for failure to report a child missing within 24 hours. In addition, this legislation will make it a felony for a parent, legal guardian or caretaker who fails to notify law enforcement of the death of a child, accidental or otherwise...According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 11 states have enacted a version of Caylee’s Law and 8 more, including New York, have pending legislation." Are you asking yourself the same questions I did and continue to ask? Why would a parent wait to report their child missing? Every second is vital to the case and recovering a missing person.

The Oswego County Sheriff's was flagged down and on the scene is less than five minutes of Heidi's kidnapping. Over nineteen years later, we still don't know where Heidi is. No time was wasted to start the search and rescue for my sister. Why wouldn't we report her missing?

There is NO reason to wait. In less than five minutes a nearly six foot, eighteen year old, strong, and bold teen disappeared without a trace. Law enforcement notified the store owners. The store owners called my parents. My parents called my Gram, aunts, and uncles. My aunt called me. The phone calls started and everyone was notified. Neighbors called each other. Family and friends stopped at all the churches for prayer requests and help. In less than an hour, a command center was formed and search teams were searching, scouring, and dedicating EVERY moment to finding Heidi Allen.

Our respect, compassion, and most importantly, love for Heidi is all that was required by any of us to do what was right. I am flabbergasted to think there are parents who wouldn't report their child missing the very moment they realize something isn't right, and their child is missing. 

A friend of mine shared a story with me that broke my heart. As parents we do our best to provide stability, knowledge, and values they will need to grow into the men and women God desires them too. But as you know, God also gave us free choice. My friend shared how she and her husband had done all they could for her daughter but she still got in to the wrong crowd of friends. Her daughter ran away repeatedly, EACH TIME she reported her child missing. 

The law enforcement filed the reports and usually in less than twenty-four hours, her daughter reappeared on her own or was found by law enforcement. BUT one time, the scene was different. Yes her daughter was missing but her mother intuition knew it was different and her daughter was in danger. She reported her daughter missing and expressed her concern and urgency to find her because this time wasn't a run away, something was different. She was RIGHT. Her daughter had been taken against her will. The happy ending to this story is that this mother and daughter were reunited, the running away stopped, and help was received. My friend didn't give up, she ALWAYS reported her daughter missing, and advocated for her return.

My friend didn't need a law to tell her to pick up the phone and report her daughter missing. My parents didn't need a law to report Heidi missing and keep searching and advocating for her nineteen years later. My friend Laurie, who still searches for her missing sister twenty-eight years later doesn't need a law to tell her the importance of reporting a missing child or to dedicate her life to helping find Rose and the families of other missing persons.

A law doesn't, and shouldn't, motivate the call to report a loved one missing. Love, care, and concern drive us to make the call, visit the police agency, and continue to advocate in the days, months, and years to follow. 

Pray no more children or adults go missing. If they do, pray they are all reported promptly and recovered quickly. Amen.
For more information on Caylee's law - click on the child's hand reaching for help. To read One Sister's Journey or the perception of a parent's journey through the remaining daughter, click on the covers below for a direct link. Thank you for remembering Heidi M Allen and all our missing persons. If your child was missing, do you need a law to make you report?
What do you think about the need for this law? We welcome honest, respectful, and thoughtful comments.
We understand this is a sensitive subject and trigger an array of emotions.
We want to hear from you, feel free to reply to each other.

Please NOTE: This is a blog of hope, not hatred. Any derogatory comments will be removed. Thank you for respecting this and others reading the blog.

Thanks to the "Media for the Missing" Facebook page I found abduction laws across the USA.

For a direct link, click on the photo to the left. http://kidnapping.uslegal.com/state-kidnapping-abduction-laws/

Do You Support Local Farmers and Vendors?

This evening from 4 p.m. - 7 p.m. I will be at our local Farmers' Market, in New Haven, New York. In today's economic times, the need to support our community is even greater. Small businesses, farmers, and vendors struggle to meet changing policies and government regulations.

I understand it might cheaper to visit a large chain store for your blueberries, garlic, or the good you seek yet the quality you'll find at the farmers' markets tends to be much better, and fresher. I was raised to support our community and help them when we can. One way to do this, is to buy local goods.

Thank you Deb Allen, our town clerk, and the town of New Haven for the invitation to sell and sign books at tonight's farmer's market. If the predicted storm moves through and the market is canceled, I will be there next week - same times and days of the week.

The New Haven Farmers' Market, Mondays through the summer from 4 p.m. - 7 p.m.

I hope you'll stop by and stock up on your fruits and veggies, and of course this week, your copy of Where's Heidi? One Sister's Journey and When the Waves Subside: There is Hope. Weather Permitting: See you tonight 4 p.m. - 7 p.m.
New Haven Town's Farmers' Market
State Route 104, parking lot in front of the Town Hall

Sixty Symbols of Love...Just Because He Loves Her

"And now these three remain:
faith, hope and love. 
But the greatest of these is love."
1 Corinthians 13:13
"And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."
Colossians 3:14

"We love because
He first loved us."
1 John 4:19 A rose is a sign of love...
Who gave you, your first rose?

Did you know the "Vine" is more than a plant?

In today's fast-paced, and every changing, computer age it's hard to keep up. Earlier in the week I received an email introducing me to "The Vine", now available on Twitter. I shook my head and saved the email for a different day.

After spending time with an old friend and discussing the value of social media to promote God, my writing, speaking, and books, I decided to revisit the email. Within minutes I was downloading the "Vine" App to my phone and creating my first video. It automatically posted to Twitter ~ how sweet is that. My goal is to post at least one short clip on the "Vine" daily. The first two introduce you to each of my books ~ important information for those just "finding" me. 
Speaking of "finding me", if you would like to follow me on the Vine - I'm listed as "Lisa M Buske", just like my Twitter, Linked In, and Facebook accounts.

What is the "Vine"? Basically, if you are familiar with Twittter - short and sweet messages, limited to one-hundred forty characters. Characters, not words - so this includes punctuation and spaces. The Vine is a short video that posts to your Twitter account. Short, sweet, and to the point! Maybe this will help me tighten my writing a little more? ~ Today we have a social media vine ~
How will you share the One True Vine on the Vine today?

In times of weakness...where is your strength?

On April 3, 1994 my only sister, Heidi M Allen, was kidnapped while working alone at the local convenience store. She remains missing today. I believed in God when she disappeared but I didn't have a relationship with Jesus so when tragedy struck, I was weak. I did my best to stay strong for my parents, my Gram, the community, my husband, and the list could go on and on.

Instead of reaching out for help from the people in my life or fro God, I let the pressure and stress wear me down slowly the decade following Heidi's kidnapping. Thankfully one child told me what I needed to hear, "Mrs. Buske, You need Jesus." and invited me to church the following Sunday.

It was at this point I started to move forward in God's strength, not my own. And you know what, I realized no one expected me to be strong. A good and healthy cry every now and then is still beneficial because this is when I give all the stress, doubt, fear, sadness, and ick of life over to God.

His shoulders are bigger and stronger. When we are weak, we truly are strong when trusting God to get through. Through, is the key word.

I pray you find strength in the Lord too.

"For the sake of Christ,  then, I am content
with weaknesses, insults, hardships, 
persecutions, and calamities.
For when I am weak, then I am  strong."
2 Corinthians 12:10

When was your weakest moment, where did you find strength?

Take it One Step at a Time

Last year my parents gifted us a deck. Dad designed it, and with the help of my husband, brother-in-law, and a couple friends - it was completed. Mom helped to seal it and shopped for the patio furniture. We only had the new furniture for a week when the wind came up and smashed the new glass table into shards.

This was devastating at first but I couldn't let a broken table ruin my summer so I shared and idea with my Dad. Within a few days he added plywood to the table frame. We all sifted through family pictures and made a collage on top the wood - it was a beautiful table top of memories for the summer. Sadly, it didn't fair well in the sun and rain. It was a faded and torn but a remembrance of a family time spent.

"Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
1 Samuel 7:12 This spring I found a great wrought iron patio set for an amazing price, so the tattered table was stripped of the remaining photos and placed on the side of the road. A family took it to do the same thing ~ isn't that cool, our family idea passed along to another. As I stepped off the deck to flip the burgers the other night I said, "I wish I didn't have to put shoes on to get to the grill, or that I wasn't such a wimp about stepping on the little rocks." We all laughed but this gave me an idea.

We have lake stones around our fire pit and in the flower gardens, or should I say, "We did." Now they reside on top of the pea stones between the deck and the grill. Guess what, I placed a few stones between and thought, "Wow, that looks good." and a couple trips to the lake as a family created this beautiful addition to our back deck and my writing escape. "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers,
but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."
Ephesians 2:19-22 I'm thankful for parents who listen. My dream is to one day own a writer's cottage by the water. Instead of waiting for "someday" to come, my parents used their love as fuel to make this dream come true now, rather than later. A crick runs by our house so I now have a writer's cottage by the water in my back yard - the lake stones were the cherry on top of a great gift. One that keeps on giving. Thank you Mom and Dad!
" Whether we see a roadblock or a
bridge depends on our view on life. With a positive outlook, we can turn any obstacle into a stepping stone. "
~ Kemmy Nola ~ Don't focus on the wrong turns, celebrate the steps taken!

Highlighters and Stick Notes...Oh My!

Are you a creative person? Which side of the brain do you use more - that analytical or creative portion? Or possibly both? In my younger years, both sides of my brain had equal opportunities to exercise their gifts. The more I write, create words, and move forward with my writing and speaking ~ I've learned my creative side is not quite as organized as I like.

Some who read this, those who remember me when, are probably laughing so hard coffee came out their nose. Why all the laughter? Great question. If there are things that drive me crazy, then flighty, disorganized, and late are at the top of the list. I am becoming an example of these same things when I get "in the groove" of transpiring and idea from my brain to paper, or computer. I strive to be organized, on time, and clear in all that I do yet when an idea takes my thoughts captive ~ watch out because I'm no longer on the world's time but on Gods. During the school year I set an alarm to end my quiet time with the Lord, and an alarm to stop working on my blog, the next book, or an upcoming speaking engagement.

Why an alarm...because this is the only thing to pull me away from spending time with God or spending time doing what you are the most passionate about. To seek His face, write, and speak represent things that toss my pet peeves out the window.

Another way I stay organized and on task is the use of sticky notes. Assorted colors, sizes, and varieties are common in my work space, each of my bags, and even in my car. They are accompanied with a color assortment of markers, pens, and sometime pencils. One of my favorite pencils are the scented ones, my friend Aimee introduced these to me.

I'm an eclectic writer and like to surround myself with tools so when the opportunity to write arrives, I'm ready. Oh, and don't forget the one subject notebooks and steno pads, or a lap top. Have ideas, will write them down. And thanks to vacation, I have time too. Life is good... What supplies do you keep within reach when creating?

T.O.P.'s Tuesday ~ Balloons of Hope

Photo used with permission: Thank you Emilie Huxley... It's been six weeks since the Ride for Missing Children in the Mohawk Valley. As part of the ride there was a balloon release - the white represent the hope we have for our missing children to be found. I hope you'll take 2:22 minutes to watch the video because you'll realize there is a lot of hope, more hope than missing children. The colored balloons represent the missing children remembered at this year's ride, fallen law enforcement, and Sara Ann Wood.

Awhile back I shared the song, "Somewhere Out There" and its significance to Heidi and I. This is the same song the school's chorus sang for the balloon release. A powerful, positive, and perfectly beautiful remembrance. Thank you RMC/MV! Our missing will never be forgotten, your efforts throughout the year encourage the families of the missing more than you may know. May each of you be doubly blessed.

Have a great day everyone! How will you share a little hope today?