breakfast bar in load bearing wall.

[John DeFoor]

Question here is I have a load bearing wall I want to put an opening in it from the kitchen to the living room. The pics are of the living room wall with the air return hole and the other two are inside the wall looking to the top. there appears to be a 2x4 header however I am wanting to cut down about a foot and a half run  new 2x4 studs against the existing stud and put up a new header consisting of 2 2x4s about 6 ft long  to hold across the top of the breakfast bar. however I need to make sure this is sufficient there is no second floor just an attic above the wall. any one have any knowledge of this kind of situation. hope I made sence here.