Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is shown with a big smile in the first photos released of her since she was shot point blank in the head earlier this year in Arizona.

According to C.P. “After the photos were taken… she continued her remarkable recovery after her last surgery when doctors inserted a plastic implant to replace the piece of skull that had been removed.

Doctors had previously removed the portion of skull to ease pressure on her brain, which swelled after she was shot in the head.”

Well, if that isn’t a determination to live and recover, I really don’t know what is.