Just days after the one year anniversary of her horrific shooting, Gabrielle Giffords has decided to step down from Congress.

"I have more work to do on my recovery, so to do what is best for Arizona, I will step down this week," she said in a statement released Sunday.

Giffords’ courageous efforts to battle back from the brain injury she sustained when shot point blank in the head have inspired everyone around her.  A book about her recovery written by Giffords’ husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, is a best seller.

Giffords will be submitting her letter of resignation this week. One of her last acts as a member of Congress will be attending President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday, where she no doubt will be met by a standing ovation and thundering applause.

For the first time since she was shot in the head last January, we’re hearing the voice of Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords.

In an exclusive interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, Giffords, 41, talks about her long, and difficult road to recovery.

"It's difficult,"  Giffords tells Sawyer in an interview for a special edition of ABC's 20/20, scheduled to air Monday, November 14. (ABC previewed the story on Friday’s Good Morning America.)

In the special, Sawyer also talks with Giffords' husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, and reveals he shot hours of home video footage following her slow and painful recovery.

As part of Gabrielle Giffords' therapy for the severe brain injury she suffered when she was shot, the Congresswoman was shown photographs of famous people and asked their names and what she knew about them.

Her response when shown a picture of Arnold Schwarzenegger was a doozy!

"Messin' around.  Babies!" she said with amazing accuracy.

The story comes from the new book, 'Gabby,' by Giffords' astronaut husband Mark Kelly, with the final chapter by Gabby herself.

Giffords was shot in January and Schwarzenegger went public in May about having fathered a love child by his family's housekeeper.

By the time of the photo therapy session, Giffords' rehab had already included watching some newscasts so she had become aware of Arnold's scandal.

The book also reveals that Giffords and Kelly were trying for a baby when she was shot, and her response when asked if she knew what had happened to her was "Shot. Shocked. Scary."

The book ends with a vow from the courageous Giffords.  "I will get stronger.  I will return."

Sounds like a line from the Terminator himself!

Just nine months after the horrific shootings in Tucson, Arizona, the local branch of the Republican party are planning to raise money by raffling off a Glock handgun, the exact same model that was used that fateful day.

The shootings on January 8 left six people dead, including a federal judge and a nine-year-old girl, and Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords battling for her life.

The Arizona Republic reports that the choice of raffle prize has enraged some locals, who have been slamming the idea as being “insensitive and stupid.”

Almost seven months after being shot in the head Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords returned to the House of Representatives to vote on the debt ceiling bill and RadarOnline.com has video of her triumphant return.

Monday evening Giffords was given a standing ovation and a huge showing of support by her colleagues on the House floor.  Wearing glasses and with very short dark hair the Democrat voted in support of the debt deal.  She was smiling as she was greeted warmly by her fellow representatives, returning to work for the first time since she was shot.

Giffords was critically wounded in a horrifying rampage on January 8 when Jared Lee Loughner allegedly opened fire on an event she was hosting in a Tucson grocery store parking lot.  Fourteen people were wounded in the shooting spree and six people died, including a nine-year-old girl, a federal judge and one of Giffords' staffers.

A federal judge will hold an emergency hearing on Wednesday involving Jared Loughner's petition to stop prison officials from forcibly medicating him with anti-psychotic drugs.

Loughner, 22, is the sole suspect in the Tucson shooting rampage last January that left six people dead, and 13 wounded, including Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords.

U.S. District judge Larry Burns set the hearing for 2 p.m. PT Wednesday  at the U.S. District Court in San Diego, California.

Loughner is being held at a federal prisoners' hospital in Missouri and is not expected to attend the hearing.

Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords has made her very first public appearance since being shot in a Tucson grocery store parking lot last January.

Giffords appeared in front of a crowd of hundreds at a NASA awards ceremony in Houston Monday night.

Giffords, 41, entered the auditorium at Space Center Houston while being pushed in a wheelchair. ABC News reports that she smiled and waved at the crowd and received a rousing standing ovation.

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, and her husband, Mark Kelly have decided to publish a memoir about their careers and the horrific shooting incident that left Giffords fighting for her life, RadarOnline.com has confirmed.

Kelly has also announced that he has decided to retire so that he can be with his wife full time.

PHOTOS: First Pictures Of Gabby Giffords Since Shooting

"Since Jan. 8, it's been really touching to us to see how much support there is for Gabby and her recovery, and how much interest there is in how she's doing and her story," Kelly, a Navy captain, told The Associated Press during a recent interview from Texas.

"After thinking about it, and talking about it, we decided it was the right thing to do to put our words and our voices on paper and tell our story from our point of view."

U2 never disappoints and Friday night in Anaheim was no different.

The Irish band rocked out to a crowd of nearly 50,000 fans and among them was Maria Shriver, who got a special shout out from Bono himself.

PHOTOS: Arnold Schwarzenegger & Maria Shriver Through The Years

"For Maria Shriver who's here tonight!" Bono screamed as he dedicated Pride (In The Name of Love) to the former First Lady of California.

Also on Bono's dedication list was Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who's husband, Mark Kelly opened up U2's Beautiful Day with a heartfelt video message for his wife.

PHOTOS: First Pictures Of Gabby Giffords Since Shooting

"I look forward to coming home. Tell my wife I love her very much. She knows," Kelly said, as the crowd roared with cheers.

Giffords returned home earlier this week to continue healing from a horrific head wound caused by a crazed gunman five months ago.

PHOTOS: Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords With Her Family

The 41-year-old Congresswoman will return to the hospital each day for speech, music, physical and occupational therapy with the same team that has treated her since she arrived in Houston in late January.

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Arizona Representative Gabrielle Giffords has reached another milestone in her remarkable recovery --  she’s returned home to continue healing from a horrific head wound caused by a crazed gunman five months ago.

Although Giffords was discharged Wednesday, she will make daily trips to TIRR Memorial Hermann, the Houston hospital that has cared for since she was injured.

PHOTOS: First Pictures Of Gabby Giffords Since Shooting