Well I made the template for the navigation based off of this (http://vbadvanced.com/forum/showpost.php?p=11825&postcount=3).Then customize it the way you want and go to "Add Modules" and adjust those settings however you want to. The welcome block's code is:
<table align="center" border="0" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" class="tborder" width="100%">
<tr>
<td class="tcat"><span class="smallfont"><strong>$vba_options[portal_blockbullet] Welcome to Budgie Boards!</strong></span></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="$getbgrow" width="100%">
<p>Welcome to Budgie Boards! Budgie Boards is an online community and website dedicated to one of the most popular pets in the world: budgies! Budgies, also known as parakeets, are small, cute, friendly pet birds owned by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. We are here to make your experience with your budgie the best it can be! So please join us and become an active part of our community and help spread the joy of taking care of budgies!</p><br /><center><strong><a href="http://www.budgieboards.com/community">Click here to go to the forums!</a></strong> <if condition="$show['guest']">or<br /><strong><a href="$vboptions[bburl]/register.php">register</a> / log in!</if></strong></center>
</td>
</tr>
</table>
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Use that and create your own welcome message. I just named that emplate adv_portal_welcome. Then I edited my main page's settings as follows:
Page Template: adv_portal_welcome
Be sure custom page content is checked for modules in the center column.