The Power of Faith, Hope, and Relationships On September 28, 2016, school counselor Molly Hudgens was in her office at Sycamore Middle School when a fourteen-year-old armed with a semiautomatic handgun and an additional magazine of ammunition came to her in the counseling department. His plan was to kill people on campus. He told Hudgens she was the only person who could talk him out of it. After ninety minutes of talking with the young man, and ultimately praying on her knees with him, he relinquished the gun with no shots fired and no lives lost. In this memoir, Hudgens shares the story of that day and the thirty-nine years and 364 days leading up to it that prepared her for the best and worst day of her life. Her story is one of triumph over adversity and hope found in the bleakest of moments. As Hudgens walks readers through the incident, she shares how her faith, rapport with the student, and a strong school community guided her efforts and provided a positive outcome that day. How do you have compassion for a student sitting in your office with a loaded gun and the desire to kill? Saving Sycamore is the remarkable story of a woman whose compassion was stronger than the homicidal rage in the heart of a desperate student.--Peter Langman, PhD, author of School Shooters: Understanding High School, College, and Adult Perpetrators; director of Research and School Safety Training, Drift Net Securities Saving Sycamore illustrates Molly's leadership, compassion, faith, and vulnerability when the members of her school community needed her most on that fateful day and in the aftermath. This is a book about a faith journey.--Frank DeAngelis, principal of Columbine High School, 1996-2014; author of They Call Me "Mr. De" The Story of Columbine's Heart, Resilience, and Recovery Saving Sycamore is a must-read to learn how God worked to truly save lives at Sycamore Middle School.--Major General William B. Raines, Jr., USA (retired); Charles H. Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center Executive Board

Welcome to Sycamore Hill, where hearts mend, redemption is within reach, and love’s blossoms endure even the harshest storms. Landscape Architect Meg Gilmore's past resurfaces, threatening the harmony she's fought to cultivate. She's forced to confront the powerful family of Eli Martin, a friend she thought she could trust. With a 250-year-old tree—the very heart of Sycamore Hill—at stake, Meg and Eli’s goals intertwine. For now. Eli’s roots run as deep as the ancient tree, and his noble intentions clash with familial expectations. He tries to help Meg—the first woman to see beyond his wealth and status—but only jeopardizes their future. Will Eli and Meg find their way out of the weeds and let love bloom, or will their secrets tear them apart? Explore themes of trust, forgiveness, community, and the resilience of love in this stirring tale of redemption. Fans of Karen Kingsbury and Deborah Raney will love The Sycamore Standoff. Buy now before the price changes!

Welcome to Sycamore Hill, where hearts mend, redemption is within reach, and love’s blossoms endure even the harshest storms. This collection includes: Series starter - To Sweet Beginnings in Sycamore Hill: When a disgraced woman's return to Sycamore Hill entangles the lives of five couples, twenty-four hours changes everything. Book 1 - The Sycamore Standoff: He’s the small town’s biggest catch. Her past threatens the future. A gripping story of survival, community, and the power of love. Book 2 - His Sycamore Sweetheart: She wants acceptance. He wants approval. They get a catastrophic wardrobe malfunction and a disastrous church scandal. Book 3 - The Sycamore Slopes: When a family is torn apart, the battle lines are drawn and the fight to control Sycamore Hill heats up. Book 4 - One Sycamore Sunday: It starts as a normal Sunday, but one horrifying moment changes everything. Book 5 - A Sycamore Secret: His custom coffee blend paired with her social media following brews a latte of trouble.

For fifty years, William Allen White, first as a reporter and later as the long-time editor of the Emporia Gazette, wrote of his small town and its Mid-American values. By tailoring his writing to the emerging urban middle class of the early twentieth century, he won his “gospel of Emporia” a nationwide audience and left a lasting impact on he way America defines itself. Investigating White’s life and his extensive writings, Edward Gale Agran explores the dynamic thought of one of America’s best-read and most-respected social commentators. Agran shows clearly how White honed his style and transformed the myth of conquering the western frontier into what became the twentieth-century ideal of community building. Once a confidante of and advisor to Theodore Roosevelt, White addressed, and reflected in his work, all the great social and political oscillations of his time—urbanization and industrialism, populism, and progressivism, isolationism internationalism, Prohibition, and New Deal reform. Again and again, he asked the question “What’s the matter?” about his times and townspeople, then found the middle ground. With great care and discernment, Agran gathers the man strains of White’s messages, demonstrating one writer’s pivotal contribution to our idea of what it means to be an American.