This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

December 5, 2002
Dear Friends,
Welcome!
For the past four years, I have been restoring, and renovating - applying heaping doses of love onto these bricks called “The Old Spanish Customs House,” c. 1787. With an eye for updating and a heart for the integrity of the oldest remaining house on the Gulf Coast, I plunged headlong into the work with all the innocence and thrill of a first love affair.
Shortly after acquiring the house in November of 1989, the house was struck by a glorious bolt of lightning. This explosion determined my fate - an immediate and complete restoration of these hallowed walls.
At first it was a giddy, if chaotic, affair. Ten truckloads of debris were taken to the dump as we utterly stripped the house of everything except the original hand-made bricks. Then the real work began.
A new roof now graces the pink and white house on the hill. Great care was taken to preserve the pegged beams and all the elements that make this structure unique, such as hand hewn-hewn beams and square cut nails.
New wiring and new copper pipes for plumbing were installed. Sheetrock was being put on the walls when disaster struck again.
The fireplace that had received a direct hit from the lightning suddenly collapsed, nearly killing a worker. He is alive and well today, and bears no grudge. The fireplace was rebuilt, now being solid, safe, and functional.
While it was a labor of love, the frustrations were many. I will spare you the details of the never-ending search for good help. The good Lord eventually did send to me a good roofer, a patient plumber, a willing electrician, and several heroic carpenters. May God richly bless them!
Happily I was in the right place at the right time and was able to acquire the adjoining lot to add to the property. This gave a much nicer setting for the house inspiring more construction. A quaint guest cottage and a storage bam were built on the property using rough-cut cypress and old salvaged windows from New Orleans.
Dear friends, there you have it - a very brief history of the work accomplished. God has blessed this house. This is truly His house. Without Him, none of this would have been possible. He has blessed me beyond compare. He has provided everything. He has a special destiny for this house. Perhaps that destiny will be revealed soon and come to pass. Be blessed my friends, and have a very merry Christmas.
In His Grace,