Wonderful story, it brought memories back to me as well other than the maternal and paternal for me are the exact reverse. My German mother married an American airman shortly after the war and was stationed in Wiesbaden during my 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade of school where we would travel to Frankfurt to visit my grandparents. The dinners were always a delight, some of my fondest memories. Is the dumpling you describe also called spaetzle? We would have this with a delicious dark brown ginger gravy and sauerbraten. Funny you mention the American farm as my dad came from a farm in Indiana and was of Irish decent!