Hey Brett, I'm so happy you enjoyed the article! I actually just published one on getting started with SAM: https://medium.com/better-programming/a-beginners-guide-to-the-serverless-application-model-sam-271aed3a236a

I unfortunately don't have one for AppSync, this project was my first attempt at it as well :)

But I'm happy to offer any guidance that I can, just let me know!