It’s inevitable that our 24-hour news cycle leaves even major stories slipping through the cracks — when’s the last time we heard about Haiti or the Gulf of Mexico oil spill? — so I appeciate it when there’s a chance to catch up on something that made headlines a whole two months ago — like this story, from a local Houston station, about how Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is doing.

The update on Giffords’ condition, almost eight weeks after she was shot in the head in Tucson, comes from Rabbi David Lyon and includes the following gems:

Lyon said Giffords has an appetite.

“Well, she had a little chicken soup with matzo balls. I think that’s fair to report, and as we know it is Jewish penicillin,” said Lyon. “Gabby is making the kind of progress that all of us would anticipate, whether it’s words or emotions.”

Lyon said Giffords will sometimes wear a wristband that he gave to her and her family.

“A little wristband that many people like to wear for a lot of different causes. It’s an orange wristband and it says in English letters, but it’s a Hebrew phrase. It says ‘Gam Zeh Ya’avor,’ and it means ‘this too shall pass.’ And it means not only will all of this pass, but there are joyful moments that pass into less joyful moments, but even those less joyful moments will pass into more joyful times in the future,” said the rabbi.

The story briefly mentions that her “doting” husband Mark Kelly, is at her side — but the astronaut is also busy preparing for his final NASA shuttle mission, scheduled to launch next month. (I figured her condition must be stable, if not improving, when he announced that he had resumed training.)

Share your thoughts in the Comments sectoin below.

*Click here to subscribe to Belief Beat and click here to follow Belief Beat on Twitter.