On Monday morning, October 2, 2006, a gunman entered a one-room Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. In front of twenty-five horrified pupils, thirty-two-year-old Charles Roberts ordered the boys and the teacher to leave. After tying the legs of the ten remaining girls, Roberts prepared to shoot them execution style with an automatic rifle and four hundred rounds of ammunition. The oldest hostage, a thirteen-year-old, begged Roberts to "shoot me first and let the little ones go." Re...

Make your websites more dynamic by adding a feedback form, creating a private area where members can upload images that are automatically resized, or storing all your content in a database. David Powers has updated his definitive book to incorporate the latest techniques and changes to PHP with the arrival of PHP 8. New features include named attributes, constructor property promotion, the stricter and more concise match expression, union types, and more.The proble...

Although Muḥammad had no natural sons who reached the age of maturity, Islamic sources report that he adopted a man named Zayd shortly before receiving his first revelation. This "son of Muḥammad" was the Prophet's heir for the next fifteen or twenty years. He was the first adult male to become a Muslim and the only Muslim apart from Muḥammad whose name is mentioned in the Qur'an. Eventually, Muḥammad would repudiate Zayd as his son, abolish the institution of adoption, and send Zayd to ce...

Misunderstandings between races, hostilities between cultures. Anxiety from living in a time of war in one's own land. Being accused of profiteering when food was scarce. Unruly residents in a remote frontier community. Charged with speaking the unspeakable and publishing the unprintable. All of this can be found in the life of one man--William Pynchon, the Puritan entrepreneur and founder of Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1636. Two things in particular stand out in Pynchon's pioneering li...

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.The global populations have drastically decreased due to terminal diseases and nuclear warfare. Julie and Jules shadow Alice through America’s decimated Southland, ultimately uniting forces under a cloud of evil intentions. A series of perilous obstacles bind the three closer together in their quest for redemption. Each broken soul they meet along the rocky path adds to the band’s collective resolve. Is Jules truly the person she claims...

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.When Paul Crutcher’s father dies and his wife, Jennifer, finds a PRIVATE PAPERS envelope in his mother’s belongings, the fledgling author resists all temptations to see what secrets are hidden inside. Eventually, curiosity kills the cat, and he can’t help himself from tearing open his past.Paul’s shocking discovery takes him on an “Origin Journey” to the Deep South. He meets a pair of brothers he never knew existed, who drag him...

"It's not often that you read a fantasy that feels as epic and original . . . Clever, well-paced, and full of intrigue, it's a superb read." —James Dashner, #1 New York Times–bestselling authorAll his life, Nels has wanted to be a knight of the kingdom of Avërand. Tall and strong, and with a knack for helping those in need, the people of his sleepy little village have even taken to calling him the Knight of Cobblestown.But that was before Nels died, ...

Capture the simple peace of the Amish in your own life. You don’t have to become Amish to make personal peace a reality. Organized around five central themes in Amish life, Amish Peace shows you how you can cultivate a simple life of love, gratitude, and faith in the midst of a very complicated world. It includes real-life stories and examples of Plain People, Amish proverbs, and fascinating facts about Amish communities. Each section also contains questions for reflection and act...

Two friends from different worlds—one Old Order Amish, one Englischer—share the truths that bring them together.Best-selling novelist Cindy Woodsmall might seem to have little in common with Miriam Flaud, a woman immersed in the culture of Old Order Amish. But with nine children and almost 60 years of marriage between them, Cindy and Miriam both have found the secrets to facing life with strength and grace. Whether enduring financial setbacks, celebrating ...

Meg Hobart has everything: a happy marriage to a handsome, successful husband, a beautiful home in Charlotte, North Carolina, and three wonderful children. But it all comes crashing down around her the day she learns that her husband, James, has been living a lie—and has brought the family to financial ruin. Penniless and homeless, the Hobarts pack up what little they still possess and leave behind their golden life for good. But it’s not the material things Meg finds herself mourning. Ins...

Lydia King is suddenly a widow and moves her son and herself to Charm, Ohio, to be close to her mother and help with her grandfather. But is her heart ready for romance when gifts begin appearing on her porch from a mysterious source? Menno Troyer, a furniture store owner, is also recently widowed and the father of four energetic boys. He has come to realize that, though he doesn’t think he’s ready to love again, his sons need a mother. Levi Stutzman, another newcomer to the area, is the o...

Bess Riehl is preparing Rose Hill Farm for her Christmas wedding, but her groom isn't who she thought it would be. Billy Lapp is far away from his Amish roots working as a rose rustler for Penn State and wants nothing to do with Stoney Ridge, his family, or Bess. And that suits Bess just fine. Why should she think twice about a man who left without a word, without any explanation? It's time she moved on with her life, and that meant saying yes to Amos Lapp, Billy's cousin and best friend. ...