Hi Sunshyne - to bring a post back up, just post a reply. Something like, "Back to the top." (That's what most of us do.)
For an avatar (picture beside your name) go into "my profile." Click on "my options." Scroll down to the bottom where it says "change avatar" and click on that. You'll get a bunch of pages with the different choices. Just click on the one you want, and don't forget to click on "submit modifications" when you're done. You can also find a custom avatar to apply, but if you want to do that, one of the techno geniuses can advise you - I'm not too good with the tech stuff!
Hope this helps!