Wyckoff, New Jersey is home for Diane Stelling and her husband, Doug. Formerly a software engineer with a Master's degree in Computer Science, Diane's career has been varied and interesting. She originally worked for IBM for ten years designing software and then as a technical consultant for three years.

In order to preserve her three sons' childhood memories, she captured the joys and frustrations of their early school years in two entertaining volumes of poetry, The Giant and the Mouse and One Little Voice. Diane has toured elementary and middle schools throughout New Jersey working with tens of thousands of students motivating them to read, to write, to believe in themselves, to care about each other, and to persevere. She has also guest lectured at graduate courses for teachers demonstrating how to inspire children to love reading and writing poetry. More than 20,000 copies of her two poetry books have been sold in northern New Jersey alone. Find out more about her poetry at www.dianestellingpoetry.com.

In 2000, Diane received the New Jersey Woman of Achievement Award presented by Rutgers University and the New Jersey State Federation of Womens' Clubs for her contributions to society, not only via her poetry, but her dedication to promoting literacy in the schools. A dozen of her poems were selected by the Holocaust Education Commission for inclusion in a character education curriculum that was distributed to every school district in New Jersey.

Diane's career has once again taken a new turn with the publication of her autobiographical narrative, Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother: Understanding the Spiritual Needs of Abuse Victims, and a practical manual for church workers, ABUSE: How to Help/A Guide for Pastors, as well as a Bible Study, You Are Not Alone. As a survivor of childhood physical/verbal abuse and adult sexual abuse, Diane struggled for many years with her faith, Christianity, and the Bible before she received counseling and made peace with God and her past. There were not many materials available for her that dealt with the spiritual concerns of abuse victims.

In order to help others in the same situation, as well as those who minister to abuse victims, Diane wrote Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother which describes her spiritual struggles, her journey to eventual healing, and the effect that Jesus Christ has had on her life. She now lectures nationally to groups of clergy, counselors, teachers, church workers, nurses, social workers, and congregations regarding abuse. Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother has been accepted for use in the Deaconess Program at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO. Diane is currently serving as a member of the Lutheran Advocates for Safe Families Advocates' Council. This Council consists of members from both the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LC-MS) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Their vision is "a society where homes, families and churches are places of peace, mutual respect and non-violence, where physical, sexual, emotional and spiritual safety are experienced by every person."