Check out the latest edition of our newsletter!
INTRODUCING MILLER — My First Grandchild Has Arrived! www.LeRoyPetersonLaw.com 402-718-8888 June/July 2024
My first grandchild has arrived! On Feb. 7, my daughter, Sam, and her husband, Trevor, welcomed their son, Miller Dean Hellman, into the world. Just a little guy, he was born weighing only 5 pounds, 7 ounces. It’s incredible to witness life come full circle as I become a grandfather for the first time and, once again, have the opportunity to witness tiny hands and feet become part of our family. Miller’s arrival has sparked many memories of Sam and Morgan’s births — how time flies. It’s hard to believe I’m a grandpa and my daughter is now a mom, but it’s truly the most beautiful and rewarding experience to witness Sam take on this new role. My wife and I feel blessed that, for the time being, both of our daughters live in Omaha, so we can visit often. As I write this, Miller is now 3 months old and has doubled in weight! So, he’s doing his job well! He’s sleeping, eating, growing, and creating dirty diapers for mom and dad to clean up. Everything is
going well. Sam and Trevor have gone through your typical new parent newborn phase with poor sleep and a lot of work. With a few months of parenting under their belts, things are getting a little easier. It brings me great joy to see everyone thriving and in good health. Witnessing him begin to engage socially is especially exciting. When he fixes his gaze on you and starts chattering away, it feels as if the world stops for a moment and fills me with excitement. Having him around adds a wonderful sense of fun and energy to our lives. My other daughter, Morgan, lives just a few blocks away from Sam and Trevor and has been taking full advantage of having her nephew so close. She stops by as often as possible to visit with Miller and get in her baby snuggles. Sam, our new mom, is re-creating herself. She has her bachelor’s in business but is returning to school to get her master’s in counseling and is currently about halfway through that journey. She took this semester off to give birth to Miller and, before giving birth, had worked part time with me at my firm while she went to school. At LeRoy Peterson Law, we introduced a new client coordinator position. We’ve long felt this role needed improvement and wanted to implement it. We’re refining and finalizing the specifics of Sam’s role. Additionally, Trevor was fortunate to receive a few months of paternity leave to be fully present with Miller during these crucial early months. Both Sam and Trevor
have both returned to work and both are able to work remotely from home.
Miller is just beautiful. We are so thrilled to embrace this new chapter in our lives as grandparents. We look forward to the birthdays and holidays to come. Watching Sam, my little girl, raise her little boy is an experience unlike any other. While Sam is so focused on Miller, I still find myself focused on Sam. I know Sam has Miller taken care of. In fact, I see Miller through Sam. I’m sure as time marches on and he becomes his own person, this will shift, but for now, I see him as an extension of Sam, and I love sitting back and taking in the joys of parenthood through her eyes. I revel in the joy this little boy creates for her.
Welcome to the world, Miller! I feel blessed to be your papa!
-LeRoy Peterson
www.LeRoyPetersonLaw.com | 1
Published by Newsletter Pro • www.newsletterpro.com
HERO HUSKY SAVES THE NEIGHBORHOOD
On Dec. 15, 2023, pet owner Chanell Bell of Philadelphia was taken aback when she noticed that Kobe, her 4-year-old miniature Alaskan husky, had dug a hole in her home’s front yard. This was a stark departure from Kobe’s usual behavior, which Bell initially dismissed as boredom and promptly refilled the hole. However, when Kobe began to dig again in the same spot, Chanell realized something was amiss. “We’ve been here at our home for a while now, and he never digs holes,” Bell told USA Today. “So, I knew something was up.” She investigated further, reviewing footage from the family home’s security camera overlooking Kobe’s newfound digspot. Then, she witnessed Kobe sniff the air around the area before digging the hole in the same spot again.
Thinking something Kobe smelled must have alarmed him, Bell phoned Philadelphia Gas Works, which sent a crew out to investigate. The engineers discovered that the gas lines beneath the Bell household were old, dilapidated, and beginning to leak. After fixing the issue, the company told Bell that if Kobe had not discovered the leak, the line would have posed significant health and safety concerns for the whole neighborhood. “They told me something as simple as a light switch turning on could’ve caused an explosion,” Bell told USA Today. After Bell shared Kobe’s story on social media, it caught the attention of PETA, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, who awarded the young husky the Heroic Dog Award. Inspired by Kobe’s efforts, Bell wrote a children’s book dedicated to him called “The Dog That Saved the Block Before Christmas.”
Maximize Your Legacy With a Living Trust A Pathway to Financial Security and Peace
Estate planning empowers individuals to maintain control over their legacy and provide for their families, offering peace of mind and a sense of security for the future. It ensures you control how you want your assets handled during your lifetime and after you pass. A revocable living trust is one of the most influential aspects of an estate plan. If you do not already have an estate plan, it’s time to create one, as it is never too early to start! A trust is like a bucket — you can put property into it and control everything while you are still alive. A trust involves three important
players: the grantor, the trustee, and the beneficiary. The grantor creates the trust, the trustee controls everything inside the trust, and the beneficiaries will receive allocations from the trust according to the wishes of the grantor (you). As the grantor and living trustee, you have control over everything you put into the trust, such as your home, cars, household items, life insurance policies, etc. After you pass away, the trust still exists, but the person you named as the successor trustee will control and distribute its contents to the beneficiaries you specify. Probate is a timely and costly public process no one wants; however, by establishing a trust, you can avoid it entirely and keep your affairs private. Start by creating a will and then, with the help of a properly trained attorney, transition to creating a trust. An attorney can ensure you fund the trust correctly, retitling property and other assets so the trust (and you, as the grantor and trustee) owns them. This is a crucial part of creating a trust: You must fund it, which is a separate process. Because a trust allows you to bypass probate, your heirs will enjoy an efficient, private, and straightforward path to honoring your wishes instead of slogging through a lengthy and potentially contentious probate process while grieving. It’s one of the most generous and magnanimous gifts you can give them — and the best way to secure your wealth for the next generation.
2 | 402-718-8888
Published by Newsletter Pro • www.newsletterpro.com
DINING SOLO
TAKE A BREAK ADVENTURE CAMPING
A WOMAN’S RIGHT TO EAT ALONE
FATHER GEMINI HIKING JUNETEENTH PARK PICNIC PRIDE SANDALS SUNBURN SWIMMING
Did you know that a little over a century ago, women could not eat alone in restaurants? If they did, people would assume the woman was, let’s say, “looking for work,” and she would be disgraced, and so would the restaurant. So, women who wanted to dine alone or with other women would be turned away. Women needed to be accompanied by a man to eat out in public. How did this finally change? After being denied a ticket to a dinner event because of her gender, a journalist named Jane Cunningham Croly took action. Croly was an English- born American journalist who wrote and advocated for equal rights and economic independence for women. Croly also founded and was the first president of the Women’s Press Club of New York. One of Croly’s biggest advocacy groups was a women’s dinner club named Sororis. The women of Sororis held their first official meeting in April 1868 at a New York restaurant called Delmonico’s to protest the ban on women’s solo dining. They demanded service, and Delmonico’s agreed, making it the first establishment in U.S. history to allow women to dine without a male chaperone. When World War I began, more women entered the workforce, earning them increased independence. New restaurants and lunch counters started to open that would serve working women, and gradually, dining without a man became commonplace. Progress was slow, though; even as recently as 1970, some restaurants still barred solo women from entering. Thankfully, in today’s society, this would never fly!
SUMMER CHICKEN SALAD
Ingredients
Inspired by Foodnetwork.com
Dressing • 3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese • 1/2 cup half and half • 1/4 cup mayonnaise • 1/4 cup sour cream • 1 tsp sugar • Juice of 1 lemon
• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts • Salt and pepper • 4 ears of corn, shucked • 3 tbsp minced dill
• 3 stalks celery, finely diced • 1 red onion, finely diced • 1 1/2 cups blueberries • 1 head of butter lettuce
Directions 1. Place chicken in a large plastic bag and pound with a mallet to flatten to 1/4-inch thickness. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. 2. Heat grill, then grill chicken on both sides for about 4 minutes per side; set aside to cool before slicing. 3. Grill corn until the kernels begin browning, turning regularly for even cooking. Use a knife to shave the kernels off. 4. In a bowl, mix all dressing ingredients until combined. 5. In a large bowl, combine corn, dill, celery, and onions, then stir in chicken and top with dressing and blueberries as desired. 6. Separate the head of butter lettuce into “cups” to fill with salad and enjoy!
www.LeRoyPetersonLaw.com | 3
Published by Newsletter Pro • www.newsletterpro.com
PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT 411
402-718-8888 www.LeRoyPetersonLaw.com 11819 Miracle Hills Drive, Suite 104 Omaha, NE 68154
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
A New Bundle of Joy Has Arrived
1 2
How a Pet Husky Prevented Disaster
Using a Trust for Wealth Preservation
Summer Chicken Salad
3
The History Behind Women Eating Alone in Restaurants
Steiner’s Emotional Road to Olympic Glory
4
Olympian Steiner Overcame Adversity to Win Gold FROM TRAGEDY TO TRIUMPH
In June 2007, just one year before the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, an SUV traveling on the wrong side of the road hit 22-year- old Susann Steiner — wife of German Olympic weightlifter Matthias Steiner — while she was driving. She was rushed to the hospital, and it was there that Matthias promised her he would win a gold medal in her honor. Tragically, Susann died as a result of her injuries, but Matthias’ promise to his late love lived on. Wanting to make his wife proud, Matthias trained harder than ever before. He had been lifting weights since he was just a teenager, and though he had won medals and championships before, he had never claimed the ultimate prize: an Olympic medal. Matthias also had to compete in the super heavyweight category against the strongest weightlifters in the world. Among his competitors were the formidable Russian
Evgeny Chigishev, an Olympic veteran and champion, and the Latvian Viktors Scerbaiths, who won the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. “Weightlifting is a sport without mercy [and] it is very tough to make progress,” Matthias said in an interview with the Olympic Channel. “Every time you touch the bar, you realize that you are always alone in weightlifting, the weights are getting heavier and heavier, everything hurts.” But Matthias was not alone. His memory and dedication to Susann inspired him to attain strength he never imagined possible. As it turned out, he needed every ounce of his strength to claim victory. The competition was incredibly close. Matthias’ victory was not secure until the last lift; he needed to clean and jerk an astounding 569 pounds — more than he had ever lifted before — to fulfill his promise.
Photo: Dacoucou
Incredibly, he succeeded. He edged out Chigishev by 1 kilogram, winning the gold medal with a score of 461 against Chigishev’s 460. After he had completed his lift, he fell to his knees in tears. At the podium, he held his gold medal and a bouquet of roses in his right hand and clutched a picture of Susann in his left. Matthias honored Susann’s memory with his gold medal victory, exactly as he promised.
4 | 402-718-8888
Published by Newsletter Pro • www.newsletterpro.com
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator